Fannie Mae makes it possible for low, moderate, and middle income families to buy homes of their own. Since Fannie Mae began in 1968, they have helped more than 63 million families achieve the American dream of homeownership.
A mortgage on which the lender is insured against loss by the Federal Housing Administration, with the borrower paying the mortgage insurance premium. The major advantage of an FHA mortgage is that the required down payment is very low, but the maximum loan amount is also low.
Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress to increase the supply of funds that mortgage lenders, such as commercial banks, mortgage bankers, savings institutions and credit unions, can make available to homebuyers and multifamily investors.
Ginnie Mae is a slang term universally used to denote the Federally owned corporate entity that purchases, on the secondary market, residential real estate mortgages that were originated by local lenders. Ginnie Mae, or the association, then issues federally insured securities backed by the mortgages. The real abbreviation is GNMA, standing for the Government National Mortgage Association.
A Veterans Administration (VA) Mortgage is a Mortgage with no down payment requirement, available only to ex-servicemen and women, on which the lender is insured against loss by the Veterans Administration.