Freddie Mac

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.

The FHLMC was created in 1970 to expand the secondary market for mortgages in the US.

Along with the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), Freddie Mac buys mortgages, pools them, and sells them as a mortgage-backed security (MBS) to private investors on the open market. This secondary mortgage market increases the supply of money available for mortgage lending and increases the money available for new home purchases.

The name "Freddie Mac" is a variant of the FHLMC initialism of the company's full name that was adopted officially for ease of identification.

Freddie Mac was chartered by Congress in 1970 to support the U.S. housing finance system and to help ensure a reliable and affordable supply of mortgage funds across the country. 

Rather than lending directly to borrowers, Freddie Mac operates in the U.S. secondary mortgage market, buying loans that meet our standards from approved lenders. 

Those lenders are then, in turn, able to provide more loans to qualified borrowers and keep capital flowing into the housing market. Freddie Mac then pools the mortgages it buys into securities, which they sell to investors around the world.