​​​​​​Washington, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today issued its annual report on single-family guarantee fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises). Guarantee fees are intended to cover the credit risk and other costs that the Enterprises incur when they acquire single-family loans from lenders. These costs include projected credit losses from borrower defaults over the life of the loans, administrative costs, and a return on capital.

The report compares year-over-year 2020 to 2019 and provides statistics back to 2018. Significant findings of the report include:

• For all loan products combined, the average single-family guarantee fee in 2020 decreased 2 basis points to 54 basis points.  The upfront portion of the guarantee fee, which is based on the credit risk attributes (e.g., loan purpose, loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, and credit score), decreased 2 basis points to 11 basis points on average. The ongoing portion of the guarantee fee, which is based on the product type (fixed-rate or adjustable-rate, and loan term), remained unchanged at 43 basis points on average.

• The average guarantee fee in 2020 on 30-year and 15-year fixed rate loans remained unchanged at 58 basis points and 36 basis points, respectively. The fee on adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loans increased 1 basis point to 57 basis points.
  

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 requires FHFA to conduct ongoing studies of the guarantee fees charged by the Enterprises and to submit a report to Congress each year.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Single-Family Guarantee Fees in 2020​