Fannie Finally Unveils Warehouse Pilot

After months of planning, Fannie Mae on Monday finally unveiled new details on its warehouse lending pilot, a $1 billion effort designed to provide additional funding to nonbank residential lenders. Its partner in the pilot is Natty Mac of Florida, a warehouse lender owned by Guggenheim Partners LLC. The program will provide credit lines for 10 to 12 lenders in 2010, the GSE said. "In this market, lenders who rely on warehouse funding are struggling to sell their loans and replenish their funds in a timely way," said Fannie Mae CEO and president Michael Williams. "We are taking action now to help fill the gap by providing a billion dollars of critical liquidity targeted at smaller lenders across the country." Fannie would not identify the lenders that will be on the receiving end of the credit lines. National Mortgage News Online reported last week that the pilot was on the verge of being launched.