FDIC Faces $10 Billion Blast on IndyMac Loans

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. — while supposedly rid of IndyMac Bank via a sale agreement with a consortium of private-equity investors last week — may face $10 billion in previously-unknown liabilities linked to mortgages the failed thrift sold to Fannie Mae (FNM), the New York Post reported Sunday. Fannie Mae and the FDIC have been battling over the problematic mortgages for months, the Post said. Fannie Mae wanted IndyMac, while under the supervision of the FDIC, to repurchase the loans, citing violations of representation and warranty agreements — meaning the loans were allegedly made under fraudulent terms or had early payment defaults. Housing Wire reported last Tuesday the sale of IndyMac hit a snag, as sources close to the sale negotiations revealed to HW that Fannie Mae was actually holding the deal hostage and threatening to jeopordize the potential sale, due to questionable loans — albeit the giant $10 billion price tag on the loans, was not yet publicly known. Nonetheless, the sale was finalized on Friday. Under the terms of the agreement, the FDIC, which has run the bank since its failure on July 11, agreed to share losses with buyer IMB HoldCo, led by Steven Mnuchin, former Goldman Sachs partner, on a portfolio of qualifying loans. The liability for the Fannie mortgages, however, was not transferred to the buyers, according to the Post. Sources close to the buyers told the Post that Mnuchin successfully negotiated a release from Fannie’s claims. Not a bad gig for Mnuchin’s team, considering IndyMac currently services the Fannie mortgages in question and collects fees for that service. As for the FDIC, such a monstrous liability to its $34.6 billion insurance fund, could unfortunately leave the Agency less equipped to handle the number of bank failures this year, The Post noted. Write to Kelly Curran at [email protected]. Disclosure: The author held no relevant investment positions when this story was published. Indirect holdings may exist via mutual fund investments. HW reporters and writers follow a strict disclosure policy, the first in the mortgage trade.