Who exactly are Freddie and Fannie?

The Federal Reserve has been forced to bail out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. But how much do you know about these American mortgage behemoths? Tim Bennett fills in some background.

America's government-backed mortgage facilitators are heading for a fall, but they are too big and important to be allowed to fail. Is this America's Northern Rock? Tim Bennett reports

Who are Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae?

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Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.