How Bill Pulte has reshaped FHFA and the GSEs

The first hint that people may have gotten about Pulte’s unconventional nature as the head of a regulator likely comes from his background.

As the scion of a family that created one of the nation’s largest homebuilding companies, Pulte gained notoriety on social media for his philanthropic activity in giving cash to users on X, formerly Twitter, alongside his outspoken support of President Donald Trump.

Run-up to confirmation, early days on the job

Pulte filed his financial disclosure forms shortly before his Senate confirmation hearing in February. During that event — shared with other nominees, including a now-withdrawn name to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — Pulte laid out his vision for FHFA under a second Trump administration.

Bill Pulte

He briefly addressed the potential to bring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of conservatorship while primarily being grilled by senators about his support for existing housing programs.

In Senate terms, the body moved quickly to confirm and seat Pulte as FHFA director by mid-March. His confirmation was one of the few Trump cabinet nominations to receive at least some bipartisan support.

His first week on the job was an active one. He made immediate waves on March 17 by removing 14 board members across the two GSEs, adding several new ones while also appointing himself as chair of both boards.

A Fannie Mae board member with links to Elon Musk’s business empire and the U.S. DOGE Service who was appointed as a replacement ended up leaving the board only a day later.

He quickly pledged to scrutinize the GSEs by calling them “underperforming,” and to root out mortgage fraud. He alluded to reviews of remote-work policies and appeared on national TV to criticize the lack of workers at the Freddie Mac offices.

Staff cuts, board shakeup, unconventional comms

Soon afterward, Pulte started cutting staff, a consistent priority of many Trump-appointed agency leaders and cabinet members.

He championed a return-to-office mandate, and on the same day reports emerged about staff dismissals, top executives at the FHFA and Freddie Mac were dismissed. They included Freddie Mac’s CEO, chief operations officer and head of human resources, along with the FHFA’s COO and head of HR. Freddie President Michael Hutchins was named interim CEO.

Pulte soon afterward began to issue policy announcements via his X profile, consisting of photos of FHFA proclamations and other policy documents that were posted as tweets. Use of traditional communications channels dwindled, complicating the ability of news outlets — including HousingWire — to verify the information with other company or agency officials.

In one such slew of postings in late March, Pulte tweeted out housing orders that terminated special purpose credit programs (SPCPs) and rescinded a 2024 advisory bulletin detailing the agency’s enforcement against unfair or deceptive acts or practices (UDAP).

In that same series of posts, he also ordered the rescission of an advisory bulletin requiring the GSEs to model risk based on climate factors.

That same day, Pulte also indicated he would not cut the conforming loan limits for mortgages bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This ended speculation that the Trump administration would look to shrink the size of the GSEs by limiting the size of loans they could buy.

Targeting mortgage fraud and increased productivity

Housing groups chafed at the unconventional approach to key policy announcements. Senate Democrats questioned the legality of Pulte’s rapid moves.

In April, more than 100 workers at Fannie Mae were reportedly fired over what Pulte referred to as “unethical conduct.” The FHFA soon afterward set up a “tip line” to accept public information about possible mortgage fraud.

Over the next couple of weeks, Pulte declared that he was done making major leadership changes at the GSEs, and he shared a plan to improve their productivity in which he again highlighted a return to in-office work, went after mortgage fraud and projected cautious willingness to examine a release of the GSEs from conservatorship. Pulte maintained that the final decision would be made by the president.

More recently, Pulte made an explosive claim in an interview that North Korean and Chinese nationals had been working at the GSEs and were referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Pulte also referred New York Attorney General Letitia James, a political foe of Trump, to the DOJ over allegations of mortgage fraud.

The road to release?

In a public appearance this month, Pulte reiterated the president’s final decision making authority over GSE conservatorship. But he also labeled the companies as “obese” and shared more of his thinking behind the controversial shakeup of their governing boards.

Pulte also publicly questioned why the cost of FICO credit reports have increased so sharply — news that was quickly drowned out by Trump’s declaration that he was giving “serious consideration” to releasing the GSEs.

This week, Pulte called on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, a day before the president declared he would take the GSEs “public” with an implicit guarantee.

This week, FHFA announced a partnership between Fannie Mae and Palantir Technologies to root out mortgage fraud.