Here’s one taxpayer bailout that worked.
Fannie Mae, which posted net income of $6.5 billion from October through December, will have repaid its full government bailout after paying its fourth-quarter dividend.
Fannie said Friday that its full-year profit of $84 billion for 2013 was boosted by rising home prices and an accounting move capitalizing on tax benefits it had accumulated from losses on mortgages during the financial crisis.
In the fourth quarter — Fannie’s eighth straight profitable quarter — profit slipped from earnings of $7.6 billion in the same period of 2012.
Washington-based Fannie will pay a dividend of $7.2 billion to the U.S. Treasury next month. With its previous payments totaling about $114 billion, it will have more than fully repaid the $116 billion it received from taxpayers.
The government rescued Fannie and smaller sibling Freddie Mac at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008 when both veered toward collapse under the weight of losses on risky mortgages. Together the companies received taxpayer aid totaling $187 billion. Freddie also has repaid its bailout.
The gradual recovery of the housing market has made Fannie and Freddie profitable again. Their repayments of the government loans helped make last year’s federal budget deficit the smallest in five years.