Countrywide CEO Calls on Congress for Fannie & Freddie Cap Increase

Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide Financially CEO, announced today in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that he felt Congress should increase Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA loan limits to $625,000.

James Lockhart, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversite director, announced on November 27th that due to the decline in the housing market Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits would remain at $417,000.

Mozilo wrote today that the increase “should be enacted as part of a broader package of reforms to ensure that these linchpins of our mortgage system can aggressively support the housing market in a time of need, and that the appropriate controls and oversite are in place to protect taxpayers.” He also suggested that the increase should be implemented for up to a year.

This increase would have obvious benefits to Countrywide, which now mostly makes home loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy. Countrywide eased out of the riskier loan market after delinquencies and defaults contributed to a 1.2 billion dollar third quarter loss.

To read more about Countrywide CEO seeks 625,000 Fannie / Freddie cap, head on over to Reuters.