Report Fraud, Waste or Abuse

Please contact FHFA-OIG if you have any information about the following which involve the regulated entities:  

• Possible fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, or other misconduct involving FHFA employees, programs, operations, contracts, subcontracts, or grants;  

• Possible violations of Federal laws, regulations, rules, or policies pertaining to FHFA or to any of the regulated entities; 

• Possible unethical activities involving employees of FHFA or of the regulated entities 

• Single-Family and Multifamily loan origination and refinance fraud  

• Loan modification and foreclosure rescue fraud 

• Short sale Fraud 

• Embezzlement of closing proceeds 

• Property flipping 

• Deed theft

We ask you to provide us with specific information about your complaint to help us accurately and efficiently evaluate the matter. Before you file your complaint, gather as much information about it as possible. When submitting your complaint, please provide us with the following information: 

• Name and contact information of the person(s), company, or organization who committed the potential wrongdoing, including addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses if available. 

• Detailed narrative describing what the individual or entity did that you believe is wrong, and how they did it. 

• When (what time frame) the alleged wrongdoing occurred. 

• Why the person or entity did it. 

• Location where the activity took place and the specific address(es) involved (e.g., if the complaint involves a mortgaged property, provide the property’s address if known). 

• Name and contact information of other persons who can corroborate your allegations or who may have knowledge of the potential wrongdoing. 

• Supporting evidence in electronic format that can be uploaded with your report.* 

*Please upload any relevant electronic data through our Online Report Form – do not mail or ship us computers or other electronic devices (e.g., phones, iPads, etc.), or any other digital media including flash drives. 

FHFA-OIG’s authority is limited to matters related to FHFA programs, operations, contracts, subcontracts, or grants; Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; any of the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks), or the FHLBanks’ Office of Finance. We also investigate wrongdoing that hinders FHFA’s ability to supervise its regulated entities and allegations of misconduct by FHFA employees. If your complaint does not meet any of these criteria we cannot take any action. In such cases, we may refer it to another federal, state, or local agency that has jurisdiction over the matter. 

If FHFA-OIG is not the correct agency to handle your complaint, we encourage you to report the matter to the appropriate agency. Click on the link below for guidance that may assist you in directly contacting the correct federal agency with your complaint. 

Resources for complaints Not Covered by FHFA-OIG

The quickest and most efficient way to report fraud, waste, or abuse to FHFA-OIG is our Online Report Form. This Form will guide you to provide the information we need to review your complaint, and you will enable you to upload documents and other files to support your complaint. 

Other ways to contact FHFA-OIG to submit a complaint are: 

• Call the telephone Hotline at 1-800-793-7724 

• Fax a written report to 202-318-0358 

• Send a written report by postal mail to: 

Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General 
Attention:  Office of Investigations - HOTLINE 
400 7th Street, SW 
Washington, DC 20219 

You are not required to provide your identity to FHFA-OIG when submitting a complaint. However, voluntarily providing your identity and contact information will help us evaluate and investigate your complaint. If you do provide your identity, we understand you may want to remain confidential. 

When submitting a Hotline complaint you have three options: 

• Waive Confidentiality: Under this option, you provide us with your identifying information, and you allow us to provide this information outside of FHFA-OIG if we determine it is necessary to pursue your complaint. This option will enable us to more fully evaluate your complaint and to obtain the additional information we need to determine the best course of action. 

• Remain Confidential: Under this option, you provide us with your identity and contact information, but we will protect your identity to the fullest extent permitted by law. We will not share your identity outside of FHFA-OIG without your consent unless the Inspector General determines that it is unavoidable during the course of the investigation, we are compelled to disclose it by court order, or disclosure is otherwise required by law. This option will enable us to contact you for additional information, but it may hinder us from obtaining other information we need to fully review and resolve your complaint. 

• Remain Anonymous: Under this option you do not provide us with your identity or contact information. While you may choose to submit your complaint anonymously, we encourage you to provide us with your name and contact information so that we can contact you for additional details if the need arises as we evaluate your complaint. If you remain anonymous and we cannot contact you to obtain additional information, it may prevent us from investigating your complaint.

FHFA-OIG will thoroughly review the details of your complaint. If you do not file anonymously, someone may contact you for additional information so we may properly assess the matter. Once we assess the complaint, we may: 

• Initiate an FHFA-OIG review, investigation, inspection, evaluation, or audit; 

• Refer the matter to a regulated entity or government agency for appropriate action; 

• Refer the allegation to another Federal, state, or local law enforcement agency, including other Offices of Inspector General; 

• Close the matter with no further action. 

The information you provide will be processed according to our internal policies and guidelines, and appropriate action will be taken pursuant to those policies and guidelines. The decision to initiate a review, investigation, inspection, evaluation, or audit, or otherwise, based on a Hotline complaint, is made solely by FHFA-OIG.