Fannie and Freddie delay foreclosures for holiday season

Mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are suspending foreclosures for about 16,000 homes during the holiday season. They are halting foreclosures sales between November 26th and January 9th while they evaluate whether borrowers qualify for a new loan-modification program announced last week. Around 10,000 households will be affected with Fannie and 6,000 households with Freddie. This change does not apply to vacant homes. Fannie and Freddie were seized by the government on September 7th. The companies chief executives were ousted and the government now has direct control over the pair. Fannie and Freddie's loan modification plan aims to help abate the foreclosure crisis.

Information gathered from article by Alan Ziebel of The Associated Press