By Nick Timiraos | The Wall Street Journal
Fannie Mae FNMA -3.76% and Freddie Mac FMCC -2.26% raised concerns about aspects of a proposal to wind them down, warning of higher mortgage costs among other potential problems for the housing-finance market.
The concerns, outlined in memos in recent weeks to their regulator, come ahead of a key Senate committee vote set for this coming week on a bill to wind down Fannie and Freddie over a transition period of at least five years. The bill would replace the mortgage-finance firms with a new system in which private companies could package mortgages into federally insured securities.
Fannie and Freddie, which were taken over by the U.S. in 2008, haven’t been allowed to lobby. But the Treasury Department, which injected nearly $188 billion to keep the companies afloat, asked the companies to provide technical input on the Senate bill, which the White House supports. The memos surfaced publicly Friday.
