The protestors took their case directly to the lenders. The executives from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were on stage when a Code Pink protestor joined them and asked for a freeze on foreclosures. She was escorted off stage. The chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said this about a new day in lending:
"The team is rethinking pricing, rethinking how we evaluate risk and rethinking the risk-return trade off," said David Moffett, CEO, Freddie Mac.
"So far this year we have prevented about 300,000 foreclosures, but all of that is not good enough and we have to ramp up our activities even further," said Herbert Allison, CEO, Fannie Mae.
Other speakers said the market needs confidence and what the government did with the $700 billion bailout gave them a little bit of breathing room. Another executive said that everyone needs a roof over their head, but not everyone should be a homeowner.
This mortgage meeting will continue for several more days.