Fannie Mae seeking extra $US15 billion in aid after quarterly loss

US mortgage lender Fannie Mae has posted another big quarterly loss, saying it needs an extra $US15 billion ($A16.46 billion) from taxpayers.

The state-controlled Fannie Mae reported a net loss of $US18.9 billion ($A20.74 billion) in the third quarter on Thursday, 35 per cent smaller than a year ago but sharply higher than its $US14.8 billion ($A16.24 billion) loss in the second quarter.

Combined losses to date stand at $US56.8 billion ($A62.33 billion).

Fannie Mae said the third-quarter results were largely due to $US22 billion ($A24.14 billion) of credit-related expenses, "reflecting the continued build of the company's combined loss reserves and fair-value losses".

It attributed the losses to "the increasing number of loans that were acquired from mortgage-backed securities trusts in order to pursue loan modifications".

The bailed-out lender has been buying mortgage-backed securities whose value has soured, part of the Government's efforts to support the ailing housing market after a price bubble collapsed in 2006.

Fannie Mae said that, at the end of the third quarter, the company was in the hole for $US15 billion ($A16.46 billion) and, as a result, had turned to the Treasury Department on Wednesday to seek public funds to keep it operating.

"The acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency submitted a request for $US15.0 billion dollars from Treasury on the company's behalf. FHFA has requested that Treasury provide the funds on or prior to December 31."

Fannie Mae and its fellow state-controlled mortgage lender Freddie Mac have already received hundreds of billions of dollars as part of a Government takeover aimed at avoiding their collapse in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis.