President Bush signed a massive mortgage relief bill that will help hundreds of thousands of homeowners refinance their unaffordable mortgages into fixed rate government backed loans rather than lose their homes to foreclosure. The bill also put tighter reigns on Freddie and Fannie, says the Associated Press.

Bush had originally threatened to veto the bill over the inclusion of $3.9 billion in “neighborhood grants” which he claimed would benefit the lenders who caused the mortgage meltdown, but relented as the credit crisis deepened.

Bloomberg says that the big losers in the bill may be Freddie and Fannie shareholders, who could lose their equity if the US Treasury uses its new authority to take over the GSEs.

Bush signs housing bill to provide mortgage relief [AP]
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

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