Fannie May or Fanny Mae
There is a lot of confusion due to some recent news about Fanny Mae funding Barack Obama’s Acorn. Fannie Mae ( or Federal National Mortgage Association) is a lending company that suffered heavy losses due to the mortgage crisis in the USA from late 2007 onward and became financially unsound, to the point that it was put into conservatorship on September 7, 2008. Fannie Mae does not make home loans directly to consumers, but rather functions as a leading participant in the U.S. secondary mortgage market. In an effort to limit risky borrower behavior, Fannie Mae announced a new round of mortgage guideline changes last week.
There is another company with similar name called Fannie May. It is a Chicago-based chocolate confectioner. Even though they produced the best confectioneries their history is not as sweet as their product. They faced bankruptcy problem a few years ago and fortunately got their problems solved. In fact, during World War 2, Fannie May could have put itself out of business because they refused to cut back on the original ingredients and go with available substitutes. They had to make due with the resources at hand and cut back on production to continue to provide the best quality candies they could manufacture.