Speaking at a virtual conference of the Mortgage Bankers Association, Calabria said that without the fee, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “will fail in a serious housing crisis.”
“Fannie and Freddie’s combined leverage ratio is now down to roughly 250 to 1," Calabria said of the mortgage lending giants, which his agency oversees. “This is certainly better than 1,000 to 1. But it is not close to safety and soundness.”