The "Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation" or "FHLMC", also known as Freddie Mac, is a quasi-governmental, publicly-traded (NYSE ticker: FRE) company that purchases mortgages and other securities and then sells securities, many of which are secured by the mortgages, on the secondary market. The debt securities that are secured by mortgages are called mortgage backed securities (MBS), and Freddie Mac makes money by charging investors a small guarantee fee in exchange for Freddie Mac's assumption of the credit risk.