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As Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac struggled in the wake of the U.S. real estate and financial disaster, several key executives of the two major mortgage players continued to earn hefty salaries.
A recently conducted Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) review, the top six Fannie and Freddie execs received a combined $35.4 million in 2009 and 2010. The firms were in federal receivership during this time span.
The chief execs at Freddie and Fannie received $17 million. It could have been a lot more. If the CEOs hit their performance goals they would have combined for a staggering $24 million over the two year span.
Freddie Mac's CEO is Charles Haldeman; Fannie Mae's CEO is Michael Williams.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored enterprises that buy home loans and convert them into assets to sell off to investors. Freddie and Fannie are behind the huge chunk of the U.S. mortgages. The organizations were bailed out by the federal government in 2008 when the housing bubble burst due to massive losses on risky loans. Freddie and Fannie have received over $150 billion in taxpayer assistance.
A spokesman for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the regulator and conservator of Fannie and Freddie, said FHFA has decided to keep 2011 compensation at last year's level, which was reportedly the lowest level in 12 years. |
