Collapse to view only § 1452. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation
- § 1451. Definitions
- § 1452. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation
- § 1453. Capitalization of Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation
- § 1454. Purchase and sale of mortgages; residential mortgages; conventional mortgages; terms and conditions of sale or other disposition; authority to enter into, perform, and carry out transactions
- § 1455. Obligations and securities of the Corporation
- § 1456. Immunity of Corporation; audits and reporting requirements; data collection; Housing Advisory Council
- § 1457. Prohibited activities; penalties for violations by organizations, officers and members of organizations, and individuals
- § 1458. Territorial applicability
- § 1459. Separability
The Corporation shall have power (1) to adopt, alter, and use a corporate seal; (2) to have succession until dissolved by Act of Congress; (3) to make and enforce such bylaws, rules, and regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes or provisions of this chapter; (4) to make and perform contracts, agreements, and commitments; (5) to prescribe and impose fees and charges for services by the Corporation; (6) to settle, adjust, and compromise, and with or without consideration or benefit to the Corporation to release or waive in whole or in part, in advance or otherwise, any claim, demand, or right of, by, or against the Corporation; (7) to sue and be sued, complain and defend, in any State, Federal, or other court; (8) to acquire, take, hold, and own, and to deal with and dispose of any property; and (9) to determine its necessary expenditures and the manner in which the same shall be incurred, allowed, and paid, and appoint, employ, and fix and provide for the compensation and benefits of officers, employees, attorneys, and agents as the Board of Directors determines reasonable and comparable with compensation for employment in other similar businesses (including publicly held financial institutions or other major financial services companies) involving similar duties and responsibilities, except that a significant portion of potential compensation of all executive officers (as such term is defined in subsection (h)(3)) of the Corporation shall be based on the performance of the Corporation, all without regard to any other law except as may be provided by the Corporation or by laws hereafter enacted by the Congress expressly in limitation of this sentence. The Corporation, with the consent of any such department, establishment, or instrumentality, including any field services thereof, may utilize and act through any such department, establishment, or instrumentality and may avail itself of the use of information, services, facilities, and personnel thereof, and may pay compensation therefor, and all of the foregoing are hereby authorized to provide the same to the Corporation as it may request.
Funds of the Corporation may be invested in such investments as the Board of Directors may prescribe. Any Federal Reserve bank or Federal home loan bank, or any bank as to which at the time of its designation by the Corporation there is outstanding a designation by the Secretary of the Treasury as a general or other depositary of public money, may be designated by the Corporation as a depositary or custodian or as a fiscal or other agent of the Corporation, and is hereby authorized to act as such depositary, custodian, or agent. When designated for that purpose by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Corporation shall be a depositary of public money, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and may also be employed as fiscal or other agent of the United States, and it shall perform all such reasonable duties as such depositary or agent as may be required of it.
The Corporation, including its franchise, activities, capital, reserves, surplus, and income, shall be exempt from all taxation now or hereafter imposed by any territory, dependency, or possession of the United States or by any State, county, municipality, or local taxing authority, except that any real property of the Corporation shall be subject to State, territorial, county, municipal, or local taxation to the same extent according to its value as other real property is taxed.
Notwithstanding section 1349 of title 28 or any other provision of law, (1) the Corporation shall be deemed to be an agency included in sections 1345 and 1442 of such title 28; (2) all civil actions to which the Corporation is a party shall be deemed to arise under the laws of the United States, and the district courts of the United States shall have original jurisdiction of all such actions, without regard to amount or value; and (3) any civil or other action, case or controversy in a court of a State, or in any court other than a district court of the United States, to which the Corporation is a party may at any time before the trial thereof be removed by the Corporation, without the giving of any bond or security, to the district court of the United States for the district and division embracing the place where the same is pending, or, if there is no such district court, to the district court of the United States for the district in which the principal office of the Corporation is located, by following any procedure for removal of causes in effect at the time of such removal.
All mortgages, obligations, or other securities which are or have been sold by the Corporation pursuant to section 1454 or section 1455 of this title shall be lawful investments, and may be accepted as security for all fiduciary, trust, and public funds, the investment or deposits of which shall be under the authority and control of the United States or any officers thereof.
The common stock of the Corporation shall consist of voting common stock, which shall be issued to such holders in the manner and amount, and subject to any limitations on concentration of ownership, as may be established by the Corporation.
The voting common stock shall have such par value and other characteristics as the Corporation provides. The voting common stock shall be vested with all voting rights, each share being entitled to 1 vote. The free transferability of the voting common stock at all times to any person, firm, corporation or other entity shall not be restricted except that, as to the Corporation, it shall be transferable only on the books of the Corporation.
Notwithstanding any other law, authority to enter into and to perform and carry out any transactions or matter referred to in this section is conferred on any Federal home loan bank, the Resolution Trust Corporation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, any Federal savings and loan association, any Federal home loan bank member, and any other financial institution the deposits or accounts of which are insured by an agency of the United States to the extent that Congress has the power to confer such authority.
The Corporation may not implement any new program (as such term is defined in section 4502 of this title) before obtaining the approval of the Secretary under section 4542 1
In this subsection, the term “credit score” means a numerical value or a categorization created by a third party derived from a statistical tool or modeling system used by a person who makes or arranges a loan to predict the likelihood of certain credit behaviors, including default.
Upon establishing the validation and approval process required under paragraph (3), the Corporation shall make publicly available a description of the validation and approval process.
Not later than 30 days after the effective date of this subsection, the Corporation shall solicit applications from developers of credit scoring models for the validation and approval of those models under the process required under paragraph (3).
The Corporation shall make a determination with respect to any application submitted under paragraph (6), and provide notice of that determination to the applicant, before a date established by the Corporation that is not later than 180 days after the date on which an application is submitted to the Corporation.
The Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency may authorize not more than 2 extensions of the date established under subparagraph (A), each of which shall not exceed 30 days, upon a written request and a showing of good cause by the Corporation.
If an application submitted under paragraph (6) is disapproved, the Corporation shall provide to the applicant the reasons for the disapproval not later than 30 days after a determination is made under this paragraph.
If the Corporation elects to use a credit score under this subsection, the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency shall require the Corporation to periodically review the validation and approval process required under paragraph (3) as the Director determines necessary to ensure that the process remains appropriate and adequate and complies with any standards and criteria established pursuant to section 4548(1) of this title.
The Corporation is authorized, upon such terms and conditions as it may prescribe, to borrow, to give security, to pay interest or other return, and to issue notes, debentures, bonds, or other obligations, or other securities, including without limitation mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Association in the manner provided in section 1721(g) of this title. Any obligation or security of the Corporation shall be valid and binding notwithstanding that a person or persons purporting to have executed or attested the same may have died, become under disability, or ceased to hold office or employment before the issuance thereof.
The Corporation may, by regulation or by writing executed by the Corporation, establish prohibitions or restrictions upon the creation of indebtedness or obligations of the Corporation or of liens or charges upon property of the Corporation, including after-acquired property, and create liens and charges, which may be floating liens or charges, upon all or any part or parts of the property of the Corporation, including after-acquired property. Such prohibitions, restrictions, liens, and charges shall have such effect, including without limitation on the generality of the foregoing such rank and priority, as may be provided by regulations of the Corporation or by writings executed by the Corporation, and shall create causes of action which may be enforced by action in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia or in the United States district court for any judicial district in which any of the property affected is located. Process in any such action may run to and be served in any judicial district or any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
The provisions of this section and of any restriction, prohibition, lien, or charge referred to in subsection (b) shall be fully effective notwithstanding any other law, including without limitation on the generality of the foregoing any law of or relating to sovereign immunity or priority.
The Corporation may have preferred stock on such terms and conditions as the Board of Directors shall prescribe. Any preferred stock shall not be entitled to vote with respect to the election of any member of the Board of Directors.
All securities issued or guaranteed by the Corporation (other than securities guaranteed by the Corporation that are backed by mortgages not purchased by the Corporation) shall, to the same extent as securities that are direct obligations of or obligations guaranteed as to principal or interest by the United States, be deemed to be exempt securities within the meaning of the laws administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Except for fees paid pursuant to sections 1452(c) 1
In addition to the authority under subsection (c) of this section, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to purchase any obligations and other securities issued by the Corporation under any section of this chapter, on such terms and conditions as the Secretary may determine and in such amounts as the Secretary may determine. Nothing in this subsection requires the Corporation to issue obligations or securities to the Secretary without mutual agreement between the Secretary and the Corporation. Nothing in this subsection permits or authorizes the Secretary, without the agreement of the Corporation, to engage in open market purchases of the common securities of the Corporation.
Upon exercise of this authority, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on the Budget, Financial Services, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget, Finance, and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate as to the necessity for the purchase and the determinations made by the Secretary under subparagraph (B) and with respect to the considerations required under subparagraph (C), and the size, terms, and probability of repayment or fulfillment of other terms of such purchase.
The Secretary of the Treasury may, at any time, exercise any rights received in connection with such purchases.
The Secretary of the Treasury may, at any time, subject to the terms of the security or otherwise upon terms and conditions and at prices determined by the Secretary, sell any obligation or security acquired by the Secretary under this subsection.
The authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to hold, exercise any rights received in connection with, or sell, any obligations or securities purchased is not subject to the provisions of paragraph (4).
For the purpose of the authorities granted in this subsection, the Secretary of the Treasury may use the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued under chapter 31 of Title 31, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under chapter 31 of Title 31 are extended to include such purchases and the exercise of any rights in connection with such purchases. Any funds expended for the purchase of, or modifications to, obligations and securities, or the exercise of any rights received in connection with such purchases under this subsection shall be deemed appropriated at the time of such purchase, modification, or exercise.
The authority under this subsection (l), with the exception of paragraphs (2) and (3) of this subsection, shall expire December 31, 2009.
The Director shall have the power to approve, disapprove, or modify the executive compensation of the Corporation, as defined under Regulation S-K, 17 C.F.R. 229.
All rights and remedies of the Corporation, including without limitation on the generality of the foregoing any rights and remedies of the Corporation on, under, or with respect to any mortgage or any obligation secured thereby, shall be immune from impairment, limitation, or restriction by or under (1) any law (except laws enacted by the Congress expressly in limitation of this sentence) which becomes effective after the acquisition by the Corporation of the subject or property on, under, or with respect to which such right or remedy arises or exists or would so arise or exist in the absence of such law, or (2) any administrative or other action which becomes effective after such acquisition. The Corporation is authorized to conduct its business without regard to any qualification or similar statute in any State.
Except as expressly authorized by statute of the United States, no individual or organization (except the Corporation) shall use the term “Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation”, or any combination of words including the words “Federal”, and “Home Loan”, and “Mortgage”, as a name or part thereof under which any individual or organization does any business, but this sentence shall not make unlawful the use of any name under which business is being done on July 24, 1970. No individual or organization shall use or display (1) any sign, device, or insigne prescribed or approved by the Corporation for use or display by the Corporation or by members of the Federal home loan banks, (2) any copy, reproduction, or colorable imitation of any such sign, device, or insigne, or (3) any sign, device, or insigne reasonably calculated to convey the impression that it is a sign, device, or insigne used by the Corporation or prescribed or approved by the Corporation, contrary to regulations of the Corporation prohibiting, or limiting or restricting, such use or display by such individual or organization. An organization violating this subsection shall for each violation be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000. An officer or member of an organization participating or knowingly acquiescing in any violation of this subsection shall be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. An individual violating this subsection shall for each violation be punished as set forth in the sentence next preceding this sentence.
Notwithstanding any other law, this chapter shall be applicable to the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories and possessions of the United States.
Notwithstanding any other evidences of the intention of Congress, it is hereby declared to be the controlling intent of Congress that if any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of this chapter, or the application of such provision to persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid, shall not be affected thereby.