How to buy Freddie Mac stock
Freddie Mac’s official name is the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FMCC). In 1989, Congress reorganized FMCC to be a publicly owned company.
How to buy Freddie Mac stock
Shares of Freddie Mac can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include WeBull, Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Robinhood, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab.
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How does Freddie Mac differ from Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae?
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have substantially similar charters, Congressional mandates, and regulatory structures. Both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are publicly traded corporations. Ginnie Mae is a government-owned corporation within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that guarantees mortgage-backed securities backed by federally insured or guaranteed loans. Unlike Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Ginnie Mae does not purchase mortgages from lenders, nor does it buy, sell, or issue securities.
Why is Freddie Mac stock so low?
During the Great Recession, Fannie and Freddie took on too much exposure to sub-prime mortgages and had very little in capital reserves to cover their exposure. As the losses began to pile up, the government concluded that it would have to step in, to protect the liquidity of the mortgage market. The Treasury Department agreed to provide up to $100 billion each in taxpayer funds for Fannie and Freddie in return for senior preferred stock. The deal also meant putting the two companies under government conservatorship under the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which regulates the now government-sponsored entities.
