Government could keep backing big loans

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration may keep backing larger mortgages past a year-end deadline, according to Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd. The federally-backed loan limits of up to $729,750 in high-cost areas will fall to $417,000 at the start of 2010 unless a Housing and Urban Development department appropriations bill extends the provision. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were seized by regulators last year and are being supported by $400 billion in capital lifelines amid the housing slump, and have been relied upon to provide financing in a collapsed housing market. [Sun-Sentinel]