Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation · McLean, VA United States ·(NYSE: FRE)

Freddie Mac (officially the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) is a government-sponsored enterprise that, along with its sister agency the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), creates liquidity in the residential mortgage market by guaranteeing, purchasing, securitizing, and investing in home loans. The company buys conventional residential mortgages from mortgage bankers, mitigating risk and letting them provide mortgages to those who otherwise wouldn't qualify. It also provides assistance for affordable rental housing. In September 2008 the government seized the company, crippled by the mortgage crisis, in one of the largest government interventions in business since the Great Depression. To read the full description, subscribe now.