# The beautiful symmetry of the foreclosure racket (Freddie Mac fraud?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 21, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964 "2010-12-21T16:25:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964/1 "2010-12-21T16:25:29Z")
> **[The beautiful symmetry of the foreclosure racket](https://www.opednews.com/populum/page.php?f=The-beautiful-symmetry-of-by-Ted-Newcomen-101220-82.html)** > > Our 'lamestream' media has totally failed to expose the government's culpability in the current foreclosure scandal which sees genuine home buyers outbid by government quangos using taxpayer's money > [@](#): > > The other month I attended a foreclosure auction on the steps of a Maryland courthouse. The property, a small townhouse about 4 years old had been vacated by the owner who just handed his keys in & walked away. The original mortgage holder, Countrywide, was then stuck with the original cost of the home, the missed interest payments, and all legal fees etc. > > Meanwhile, Countrywide had gone out of business and was acquired by Bank of America. A recipient of $45 billion in taxpayer TARP funds which it has since paid back with low-interest loans from the same government but which come with far fewer strings attached -" a slight of hand that appears to go over the heads of our "lamestream’ media. > > Anyway, it was fascinating to watch the foreclosure auction as the bids went up to well over the fair market price of the property and local first-home buyers were effectively locked out of the process. > … > “Well, isn’t that good news for the bank, and ultimately us the taxpayer?’ I hear you say. Not so fast folks -” the winning bid that paid well over the current market price for this home & effectively locked out local people who wanted to get a foot on the property ladder was non other than Freddie Mac… I have no idea if there’s any truth to this article, but if there is… :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964/2 "2010-12-21T18:00:49Z")
First question: does “Freddie Mac” buy property (directly)? I don’t think so. If not, it shoots the entire premise of the article to hell, dunnit? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964/3 "2010-12-21T18:23:57Z")
I don’t know if it does or not. One of my reasons for posting this was to determine if there’s any truth to it. If you can show that Freddie Mac cannot, or at least does not, buy property then that would answer my question. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964/4 "2010-12-21T20:11:19Z")
Well, I have no personal knowledge of how these institutions (might as well get Fannie Mae into it also) actually operate. But my understanding (from Wikipedia and news articles, so I can’t claim my knowledge is actually trustworthy) is that they deal with mortgage-backed **securities** (i.e., pools/packages of mortgages). Again, AIUI and contrary to many peoples’ beliefs, Fannie and Freddie **DO NOT** originate loans, nor even deal with individual loans. If my understanding is correct, this is one reason why the “Fannie/Freddie caused the housing crisis” talking point is overblown, misguided, and (often purposely) misleading. If I’m wrong, I’d sure like to know it… ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964/5 "2010-12-21T20:15:05Z")
I think you’re right about them not originating loans. The question is, do they buy properties outright? If they haven’t in the past, have they started to? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964/6 "2010-12-21T22:48:46Z")
I’m having certain credibility issues with a “citizen-journalist” who uses the phrase “lamestream media”. An actual journalist might have done a better job of explaining how they knew who bought the property and why, if it was Freddie Mac, why they would want it . The article as it stands has the same credibility as “I heard it from a guy who knows someone.” ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964/7 "2010-12-22T18:42:35Z")
Maybe they’re trying to shore up the housing market house by house? ---
**Author:** ![newcomen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecb155/32.png) [@newcomen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomen)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964/8 "2011-09-28T12:43:49Z")
I’m sorry you didnt think I did a good job of explaining the foreclosure racket & how the 2 Freddies buy up properties from the banks - In mitigation I try to keep my reports short & to the point. Too muich detail & most readers will switch off. But I assure you this is a true story & its going on all over the USA. How do I know? Because as the article says I went to the auction and weeks later visted the clerk of the courts & looked up the records of who was doing the purchasing at the auctions, for how much etc. Since then the property has been put back on the market by Freddie & sold to a police officer for about $30,000 less than they paid at the auction! You can check this scam out in your local area - all the info is there . Go to the auctions & visits the local court records for the details. Sorry, if you dont like the term ‘citizen-journalist’ - but I’m not part of the ‘lamestream’ media - I dont know what else to call it but you are being fed a crock of shit by the TV (incl PBS), newspapers etc Ted Newcomen ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964/9 "2011-09-28T12:55:20Z")
Yeah, I’ll get right on that, right after I clean the lint out of my belly button. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964/10 "2011-09-28T13:46:41Z")
At most, Freddie Mac may have purchased the loan from the person who purchased the property, then bundled the loan into a security. That’s the main reason they exist. They do not buy property. ---
**Author:** ![LonghornDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964/11 "2011-09-28T19:22:38Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Meanwhile, Countrywide had gone out of business and was acquired by Bank of America. A recipient of $45 billion in taxpayer TARP funds which it has since paid back with low-interest loans from the same government but which come with far fewer strings attached -" a slight of hand that appears to go over the heads of our "lamestream’ media. This part is not true and fairly easy to debunk. Countrywide had not “gone out of business” when they were acquired by Bank of America. They were clearly in financial distress (although they denied it), but they had not filed bankruptcy or anything like that. Bank of America did have $45 billion of TARP funds, but $20 billion of it was related to Merrill Lynch, which was sort of a forced merger during the financial crisis. The biggest issue that is wrong though is the method of repayment done by Bank of America. They did not simply pay back funds from a government loan. That is blatantly not true. They actually raised capital from outside investors. It could be argued that they repaid a portion of the funds from other government programs, but a big chunk that was paid back obviously comes from an $18 billion stock offering they completed at the same time they paid back TARP. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beautiful-symmetry-of-the-foreclosure-racket-freddie-mac-fraud/564964/12 "2011-09-29T01:15:16Z")
400 Quatloos on the newcomen.