# FHFA Independent federal agency created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 to regulate [[Fannie Mae]], [[Freddie Mac]], and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Since September 2008 it has also served as **conservator** of Fannie and Freddie, giving its director direct control over the two entities that stand behind most of the US residential mortgage market — and, with that, over their loan-level data holdings. **Why this page exists in this vault:** the conservatorship makes the FHFA director an unusually powerful single official, and under [[Bill Pulte]] that power was turned toward political targeting. Pulte used access to Fannie and Freddie mortgage databases to refer at least four Democratic officials to DOJ for prosecution, a record that became the stated qualification for his appointment as acting director of [[ODNI]] in June 2026. He retained the FHFA directorship and the Fannie/Freddie chairmanships throughout that acting tenure, and returned to FHFA full-time after [[Jay Clayton]] was sworn in on 2026-08-03. ## Stub — to build out - Statutory authority and the scope of conservatorship powers - Director's term protections and the removal-power litigation (*Collins v. Yellen*) - The mortgage-referral episode in full, and the [[Government Accountability Office]] investigation it triggered - The late-August 2026 Fannie Mae senior-executive firings - Any move toward ending the conservatorship / GSE privatization ## Related - [[Bill Pulte]] - [[Fannie Mae]] - [[Freddie Mac]] - [[ODNI]] - [[DNI Succession News Log]]