Former Fannie Executive Offers Insight

Edward Pinto was the chief credit officer at Fannie from 1987 to 1989. He is now a consultant for the industry.

Pinto told a Wall Street Journal reporter that problems began in the late nineties “as HUD, particularly Andrew Cuomo as the secretary of HUD, starts announcing that the goals are going to be boosted substantially” for low- and very low-income borrowers.

“Those are the borrowers that really need the loosened lending the most,” Pinto said. “They need almost no down payments in order to qualify. They need other advantages in terms of loosened lending.”