How to Serve Legal Papers on Fannie Mae: A Comprehensive Guide

Serving Legal Papers on Fannie Mae: Conservatorship Routing, Charter Authority, and the Service Traps That Void Claims

Fannie Mae presents a service architecture unlike any other defendant in federal litigation: privately chartered under federal statute, operating under an FHFA conservator who assumed “all rights, titles, powers and privileges” of Fannie’s board and officers in September 2008, yet still suable in its own name at its own address under its own statutory sue-and-be-sued clause. Counsel who conflate conservatorship with corporate merger — routing service to FHFA’s Constitution Center at 400 7th Street SW rather than to Fannie’s Office of General Counsel at 1100 15th Street NW — find service rejected at intake and Fannie’s 60-day FRCP 12(a)(2) answer clock frozen. Undisputed Legal routes service directly to the Office of General Counsel at Fannie Mae Midtown Center, executing under 12 U.S.C. § 1723a(a) and FRCP 4(j)(2) every business day.

The FHFA conservatorship, now in its eighteenth year, does not dissolve Fannie Mae as a legal entity or redirect its litigation address to FHFA’s building. Under 12 U.S.C. § 4617, FHFA as conservator succeeded to Fannie’s operational authority — board functions, officer authority, asset management — but Fannie retained its corporate identity and its capacity to be sued under 12 U.S.C. § 1723a(a). The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA, Public Law 110-289) placed Fannie under conservatorship to stabilize its operations. It did not extinguish the statutory mechanisms through which Fannie is brought into court. Service of process is among those mechanisms, and it runs to Fannie’s own Office of General Counsel, not to the federal agency that oversees it.

That distinction matters at every stage of litigation. The Supreme Court’s 2017 decision in Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortgage Corp., 137 S. Ct. 553 (2017) — a case arising directly from Fannie Mae’s own charter language — resolved that 12 U.S.C. § 1723a(a)’s sue-and-be-sued clause does not independently confer federal subject matter jurisdiction. Counsel must establish independent SMJ under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question) or § 1332 (diversity). Service executed correctly under FRCP 4(j)(2) into a court that lacks independent jurisdiction produces a dismissal regardless of procedural compliance. Getting the routing right is necessary; getting the jurisdictional predicate right is the separate obligation that must be completed before the papers are filed.

Fannie Mae also has no state-by-state registered agent network. Unlike private state-chartered corporations — banks, insurance carriers, retail entities that maintain CT Corporation or CSC as designated agents in each state — Fannie Mae is federally chartered and has not designated commercial registered agent services to accept service on its behalf in any jurisdiction. Service attempts routed through registered agent infrastructure produce returns marked as non-service. The affidavit cannot be sworn; the deadline passes; and the limitations clock does not pause while counsel corrects the error.

Call (800) 774-6922 before your FRCP 12(a)(2) clock starts.

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Fannie Mae Service of Process: Quick Reference

As of 2026, Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) is a privately chartered GSE in FHFA conservatorship since September 6, 2008. Service goes to the Office of General Counsel, 1100 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20005, under 12 U.S.C. § 1723a(a) and FRCP 4(j)(2). Fannie Mae has 60 days to respond under FRCP 12(a)(2).

Why Serving Fannie Mae Is Procedurally Complex

Four structural features of Fannie Mae’s legal architecture generate the failure modes that recur in service attempts against this defendant. Each operates independently; counsel who avoid one remain exposed to the others. All four must be understood before drafting the summons, because a service error that voids the attempt does not toll the limitations clock — it simply passes time while the window closes.

The first and most operationally consequential trap is address confusion driven by FHFA conservatorship. Since September 2008, counsel unfamiliar with GSE structure have assumed that Fannie’s conservator and Fannie itself share a service address. They do not. FHFA operates from Constitution Center at 400 7th Street SW, Washington DC 20219. Fannie Mae operates from Midtown Center at 1100 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20005. The two buildings are approximately four miles apart and serve entirely different institutional functions. Service delivered to FHFA’s address — regardless of how the envelope is labeled — does not constitute valid service on Fannie Mae. FHFA staff have no authority to accept service on behalf of a separate corporate defendant, and papers delivered there are rejected at intake. Because no valid service was effected, Fannie’s 60-day FRCP 12(a)(2) answer clock never starts. If the limitations period expires before counsel re-serves at the correct address, the action is barred.

The second structural trap is the FRCP 4(i) misapplication. Counsel handling federal-government litigation routinely invoke FRCP 4(i) for federal defendant service — serving the local U.S. Attorney’s office and the Attorney General in addition to the named defendant. Fannie Mae is not a federal agency. The Supreme Court held in Lightfoot that Fannie’s sue-and-be-sued clause does not confer federal agency status for jurisdictional or procedural purposes. FRCP 4(j)(2) — the provision for service on federally chartered corporations — is the controlling rule. Counsel who attempt FRCP 4(i) service on Fannie without serving Fannie directly execute procedurally defective service. A motion to quash based on improper method is granted; service is voided and counsel must re-serve within whatever limitations window remains.

The third structural trap is defendant-identity confusion generated by the HERA conservatorship architecture. Counsel in HERA-era mortgage servicing, foreclosure, and net-worth-sweep cases sometimes name FHFA as co-defendant alongside Fannie, or name only FHFA when Fannie is the appropriate defendant. FHFA’s conservatorship authority under 12 U.S.C. § 4617 does not make FHFA a substitute defendant in litigation directed at Fannie’s corporate obligations. The entities are legally distinct, maintain separate addresses, and bear separate answer obligations. Serving FHFA when only Fannie is named produces a service failure on the intended defendant and a potential jurisdictional complication; serving Fannie when FHFA should also be named produces an incomplete defendant roster.

The fourth structural trap is the registered-agent paradigm. Counsel who serve private corporations daily through CT Corporation, CSC, or NRAI assume that Fannie Mae, despite its private charter, will have a designated statutory agent in each state. It does not. Federal chartering does not create state-by-state registered agent obligations, and Fannie has not contracted with commercial registered agent services in any jurisdiction. An attempt to serve Fannie through CT Corporation or CSC is returned as non-service. No proof-of-service affidavit can be sworn on a return that does not document valid acceptance. The service deadline passes without a compliant attempt on the record, and service that cannot be documented is service that did not happen for litigation purposes.

Five Procedural Traps When Serving Fannie Mae

Trap 1: Invoking FRCP 4(i) as if Fannie Mae Were a Federal Agency

Fannie Mae’s federal charter and its decades of government-aligned mortgage market activity lead many practitioners to treat it as a federal agency for service purposes. The impulse is understandable and legally incorrect. FRCP 4(i) governs service on the United States, its agencies, corporations, officers, and employees. Fannie Mae is none of these. It is a federally chartered, privately owned Government-Sponsored Enterprise operating under a statutory sue-and-be-sued clause at 12 U.S.C. § 1723a(a). FRCP 4(j)(2) — the provision for service on federally chartered corporations — is the applicable rule. Service on a federal corporation under FRCP 4(j)(2) requires delivery to the corporation’s registered office or its chief executive officer; for Fannie Mae, that means the Office of General Counsel at 1100 15th Street NW.

Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortgage Corp., 137 S. Ct. 553 (2017), settled the jurisdictional dimension of this question in a case arising directly from Fannie Mae’s own charter language. The Supreme Court held unanimously that § 1723a(a)’s sue-and-be-sued clause does not independently confer subject matter jurisdiction on federal courts. Counsel who file in federal court relying on Fannie’s federal charter as the standalone jurisdictional anchor — without establishing independent SMJ under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question) or § 1332 (diversity) — face dismissal for lack of jurisdiction. FRCP 12(a)(2) grants Fannie 60 days to answer after proper service, but a case dismissed for jurisdictional defect never reaches that answer period. The dismissal precedes the answer clock.

Jurisdictional competence and service competence are sequential obligations, not concurrent ones. A process server who delivers papers to 1100 15th Street NW, in the correct form, by personal delivery or Certified Mail RRR, has performed a compliant service act under FRCP 4(j)(2). Whether the court has subject matter jurisdiction to hear the matter is counsel’s obligation, confirmed before filing — not after Fannie moves to dismiss for lack of SMJ. Correct service into a court without independent jurisdiction produces a case that is dismissed regardless of service compliance. Counsel cannot cure a jurisdictional defect by pointing to a clean proof-of-service affidavit.

Trap 2: Routing Service to FHFA Instead of Fannie’s Office of General Counsel

The FHFA conservatorship creates the single most operationally consequential service failure in Fannie Mae litigation. Counsel who know that FHFA “immediately succeeded to all rights, titles, powers and privileges of Fannie Mae and of any stockholder, officer or director of Fannie Mae with respect to our business and our assets” — language drawn directly from Fannie’s own SEC filings describing the 12 U.S.C. § 4617 succession — sometimes conclude that Fannie’s conservator is effectively Fannie for service purposes. Papers routed on that theory are rejected at FHFA intake. FHFA staff accept service on behalf of FHFA as an institutional defendant; they do not accept service on behalf of Fannie Mae as a separate corporate entity.

Fannie Mae remains a suable legal entity in its own name under 12 U.S.C. § 1723a(a), and service of process on Fannie runs to Fannie’s Office of General Counsel at 1100 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20005. The FHFA Constitution Center at 400 7th Street SW is FHFA’s address, not Fannie’s. FHFA’s conservator authority under § 4617 is operational — it controls Fannie’s business decisions, asset dispositions, and governance — but it does not redirect Fannie’s litigation machinery to FHFA’s building. These two federal addresses serve entirely different institutional functions, and the distinction is not visible from a standard address lookup that returns “FHFA / Fannie Mae” results without distinguishing between them.

Service papers delivered to Constitution Center are rejected; Fannie’s 60-day FRCP 12(a)(2) answer clock never starts; and the action stalls. The FHFA conservatorship does not toll the limitations period while counsel corrects the routing error. If the statute of limitations expires before re-service at 1100 15th Street NW, the action is barred — not delayed, not curable by amendment, but barred. This is the information asymmetry that distinguishes experienced federal GSE litigators from counsel encountering Fannie Mae for the first time: the conservatorship is the distractor that sends service to the wrong building four miles away.

Trap 3: Structuring Relief Without Accounting for HERA § 4617(f)

Counsel seeking injunctive relief in Fannie Mae litigation — restraining a foreclosure, staying a property disposition, ordering FHFA to alter conservatorship management decisions — encounter a statutory bar that operates independently of service mechanics and procedural compliance. Section 4617(f) of Title 12, enacted as part of HERA in 2008, prohibits any court from taking any action to restrain or affect the exercise of FHFA’s powers or functions as conservator or receiver. The provision is categorical, not qualified. It bars certain injunctive relief as a matter of statutory command regardless of the merits of the underlying claim.

The practical consequence is that relief framed as “directing FHFA to reverse its conservatorship decision regarding Fannie Mae property” or “restraining FHFA from implementing its net-worth-sweep agreement with Treasury” is barred under § 4617(f) regardless of service quality or substantive equities. Counsel must structure pleaded relief to run against Fannie Mae as the corporate defendant on its own obligations — not against FHFA’s conservatorship conduct — or the claim is dismissed for failure to state a claim within the statutory framework. The Supreme Court addressed the HERA conservatorship architecture in Collins v. Yellen, 141 S. Ct. 1761 (2021), confirming the scope of FHFA’s authority and the limits on judicial intervention in conservatorship decisions.

The § 4617(f) issue and service mechanics are sequential, not concurrent. Counsel must first confirm that the relief sought does not run into the § 4617(f) bar — that analysis belongs in the complaint drafting stage. Then service is executed on Fannie at 1100 15th Street NW. A complaint correctly served but seeking relief § 4617(f) bars is dismissed on the merits after Fannie’s 60-day answer window. Both analyses must be completed before the complaint is filed; relief denied under § 4617(f) does not toll the statute of limitations, and re-pleading after dismissal consumes the limitations period.

Trap 4: Attempting Service Through CT Corporation, CSC, or Another Registered Agent Service

State-chartered private corporations — banks, insurance companies, major retailers, commercial real estate entities — maintain designated registered agents in each state where they do business. CT Corporation, Corporation Service Company, and National Registered Agents Inc. handle millions of service transactions annually for these entities and are deeply integrated into commercial litigation workflow. Counsel who serve private corporate defendants daily operate with the reasonable assumption that all corporations, including federally chartered ones, maintain this infrastructure. For Fannie Mae, the assumption is wrong and the service attempt fails on the first contact.

Fannie Mae was chartered by Congress under the National Housing Act and operates under the federal charter codified at 12 U.S.C. §§ 1716–1723i. Federal chartering does not create state-by-state statutory agent obligations, and Fannie has not designated CT Corporation, CSC, NRAI, or any commercial registered agent service in any state to accept service on its behalf. An attempt to serve Fannie through a registered agent service produces a return as non-service: the agent has no authority to accept, the paperwork is refused or returned, and no signed acceptance record exists. Because no valid delivery was made to an authorized recipient, no proof-of-service affidavit can be sworn. The service deadline passes without a compliant attempt on the record, and service that cannot be sworn is service that is invalidated for all litigation purposes.

The correct approach is direct service on Fannie’s Office of General Counsel at 1100 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20005, by personal delivery or USPS Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested. Personal delivery by a licensed process server generates a GPS-verified affidavit identifying the accepting OGC staff member, the address of acceptance, and the timestamp of delivery. Certified Mail generates the PS Form 3811 signed green card as the proof-of-delivery record. Both methods create the evidentiary documentation FRCP 4(l) requires. Neither method routes through an intermediary with no agency relationship to Fannie; service reaches the defendant’s actual legal department and is documented accordingly.

Trap 5: Using First-Class Mail Instead of Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested

Fannie Mae’s Office of General Counsel accepts two methods of service: personal delivery by a licensed process server, and USPS Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested. Ordinary first-class mail, priority mail, FedEx commercial carrier, and UPS overnight delivery do not satisfy Fannie’s service requirements under FRCP 4(j)(2) because none of these methods generates the signed proof-of-delivery documentation that federal courts require for service on corporate defendants. Tracking information confirming delivery to a ZIP code is not a signed acknowledgment from the defendant’s authorized representative; it documents that a carrier delivered a package to an address, not that a corporate defendant’s authorized recipient accepted legal process.

The evidentiary standard under FRCP 4(l) requires the server’s affidavit for proof of service. For personal delivery, the affidavit identifies the recipient by name or title, the location, the date, and the time. For Certified Mail, the PS Form 3811 signed return receipt — the green card — provides the equivalent documentation because it bears the authorized recipient’s signature, the delivery date, and the delivery address. Fannie OGC is not obligated to sign for non-certified deliveries and in practice does not treat unsigned carrier deliveries as formal service. The volume of correspondence received at a major corporate legal department makes unsigned delivery by FedEx or UPS functionally indistinguishable from ordinary commercial correspondence.

When Fannie moves to quash service based on defective method, the absence of a signed return receipt or a process server’s personal-delivery affidavit is dispositive. The motion is granted; service is quashed; counsel must re-serve within whatever limitations window remains. Counsel who use Certified Mail RRR as the mail option eliminate this exposure entirely — the green card is the record, and the record is unambiguous. Voided service based on method defect is the most avoidable failure in Fannie Mae litigation; it requires only correct method selection at the time of the first attempt.

Statutory and Regulatory Framework for Serving Fannie Mae

As of 2026, the framework governing service of process on Fannie Mae draws from four statutory and procedural layers that operate in sequence. Each layer must be satisfied independently. A failure at any layer — wrong defendant, wrong rule, wrong method, wrong court — produces a result that service compliance at the other layers cannot cure.

12 U.S.C. § 1723a(a) — The Sue-and-Be-Sued Clause

Section 1723a(a) grants Fannie Mae the capacity to “sue and be sued, complain and defend, in any court of competent jurisdiction.” This language is the foundational statutory basis for Fannie’s suability and the provision most frequently misconstrued by counsel unfamiliar with GSE litigation. As the Supreme Court held in Lightfoot, § 1723a(a) creates Fannie’s capacity to be sued; it does not create a federal court’s power to hear the case. The clause does not confer subject matter jurisdiction. Counsel must establish independent SMJ under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 or § 1332 before filing in federal court; the sue-and-be-sued clause does not substitute for that analysis. Fannie’s suability is not in question — the forum in which it can be sued requires independent jurisdictional analysis.

12 U.S.C. § 4617 — FHFA Conservator Authority and the § 4617(f) Bar

As of 2026, the FHFA conservatorship established under HERA (Public Law 110-289) remains operative. Section 4617 granted FHFA, as conservator, succession to all of Fannie’s rights, titles, powers, and privileges — including authority to manage Fannie’s assets, business operations, and governance. This operational succession is what generates the address confusion described above: counsel associate FHFA’s operational authority over Fannie with FHFA’s physical address, and route service there. That association is operationally wrong. Section 4617 succession is operational; it does not redirect litigation service to FHFA’s building. Section 4617(f) imposes the categorical anti-injunction bar on judicial relief affecting FHFA’s conservatorship powers. Counsel structuring injunctive claims in Fannie Mae litigation must analyze whether pleaded relief runs against Fannie’s corporate obligations (permissible) or against FHFA’s conservatorship conduct (barred). The distinction is not always obvious in mortgage servicing, foreclosure, or HERA-vintage cases where Fannie’s decisions and FHFA’s conservatorship management are operationally intertwined. The analysis belongs in the pleading stage.

FRCP 4(j)(2) — Service on Federally Chartered Corporations

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(j)(2) is the controlling service provision for Fannie Mae. Service on a federally chartered corporation is effected by delivering a copy of the summons and complaint to the corporation’s chief executive officer or to the corporation’s registered office — for Fannie, the Office of General Counsel at Midtown Center, 1100 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20005. Personal delivery by a licensed process server, or USPS Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested directed to that office, satisfies FRCP 4(j)(2). Counsel who attempt FRCP 4(i) service on Fannie — serving the United States Attorney and the Attorney General without serving Fannie directly — execute service on parties who have no power to accept on Fannie’s behalf. The motion to quash is granted and service is voided.

FRCP 12(a)(2) — Fannie’s 60-Day Answer Period

Under FRCP 12(a)(2), a United States agency or corporation properly served has 60 days to answer — not the standard 21-day window that applies to private corporate defendants. The 60-day clock begins on the date of proper service on Fannie’s Office of General Counsel. Service at FHFA’s Constitution Center address, through a commercial registered agent, by first-class mail, or on any address other than 1100 15th Street NW does not start the clock. Until proper service is effected, Fannie has no obligation to answer and the action cannot proceed. Counsel seeking default judgment against Fannie before the 60-day window has opened are denied; the court will not enter default against a defendant whose answer period has not begun because service was defective.

Scope of Services: What Undisputed Legal Does and Does Not Do

Undisputed Legal delivers documents prepared by counsel. We do not prepare Notices of Claim, classify matters, track statutory deadlines as a compliance service, verify caption sufficiency, or review pleadings. Counsel performs all legal acts. We perform service acts and produce GPS-verified affidavits.

In Fannie Mae litigation, the division of responsibility operates as follows: Counsel prepares the summons and complaint, confirms federal subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 or § 1332, and tracks the FRCP 12(a)(2) 60-day answer period after we confirm service. We deliver the served copy to Fannie’s Office of General Counsel at 1100 15th Street NW and provide the GPS-verified affidavit documenting place, time, and accepting party at Fannie’s OGC.

Counsel structures the pleaded relief to avoid the HERA § 4617(f) bar on certain injunctive relief directed at FHFA’s conservatorship conduct. We serve as counsel directs. Counsel confirms defendant identity — Fannie Mae at 1100 15th Street NW versus FHFA at 400 7th Street SW — before issuing service instructions. We execute on those instructions, document service in the form federal courts require, and return the GPS-verified affidavit as the proof-of-service record.

Where to Serve Legal Papers on Fannie Mae

Office	Status	Type	Authority	Address
Fannie Mae Office of General Counsel	Active — correct service address	Federal corporation service	12 U.S.C. § 1723a(a); FRCP 4(j)(2)	Fannie Mae Midtown Center, 1100 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20005
FHFA Headquarters — Constitution Center	NOT a Fannie Mae service address	Federal conservator/regulator only	12 U.S.C. § 4617 (conservator authority)	400 7th Street SW, Washington DC 20219
Computershare Transfer Agent	NOT a service address	Shareholder and stock transfer services only	Not applicable for legal service	Computershare Trust Company, N.A., College Station, TX 77845

Our Process for Serving Fannie Mae

Undisputed Legal executes service on Fannie Mae through licensed process servers operating in Washington DC and, where coordinated multi-district matters require it, through our nationwide network. Service on Fannie Mae’s Office of General Counsel at 1100 15th Street NW is available every business day. We do not route service through intermediaries; every attempt is documented with GPS coordinates, delivery timestamp, and the name or title of the accepting party at Fannie’s OGC. That documentation package is produced as the proof-of-service affidavit before we close the service record.

For personal service, our GPS-verified affidavit records the address of acceptance, the time of delivery, the identity of the server, and the identity or title of the accepting party at Fannie’s Office of General Counsel. This documentation format is accepted in every federal circuit and satisfies FRCP 4(l)’s proof-of-service requirement without supplemental documentation. For matters where counsel specifies Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested as the service method, we execute the certified mailing to Fannie OGC and preserve the signed PS Form 3811 return receipt as the proof-of-delivery record for the case file.

Fannie Mae’s FHFA conservatorship complicates service routing for attorneys who have not previously litigated against GSE defendants. Counsel who know their client’s case but have not handled a Fannie Mae defendant before sometimes proceed on the assumption that Fannie and FHFA share infrastructure. Our operators confirm the service address — 1100 15th Street NW, not 400 7th Street SW — before dispatching on every Fannie Mae matter. The Fannie/FHFA address distinction is not something we ask counsel to have independently verified; it is a routing decision our team handles as a matter of operational protocol on every GSE assignment.

Rush and same-day service are available for matters approaching the FRCP 4(m) service deadline or the applicable statute of limitations. When counsel directs service under time pressure, we deploy within the requested window and return the affidavit the same day service is completed. The FRCP 12(a)(2) 60-day clock starts on the date the affidavit records — not the date counsel mailed the complaint, not the date the case was filed. Precision in execution matters more when the matter is time-sensitive.

This is the routing failure that voids service. Call (202) 655-4450.

Service of Process Pricing for Fannie Mae

Service Tier	Description	Price Range
Routine Service	Standard service window for non-time-critical matters	$100-$150
Rush Service	24-48 business hour completion for matters approaching FRCP 4(m) deadlines	$200-$250
Same-Day Service	Same-day attempt for matters within 72 hours of statute of limitations	$250-$300
Stake-Out Service	Repeated attempts at residence or office over multi-hour windows	$325-$425
Skip Trace	Defendant location research when current address is unverified	$75

Frequently Asked Questions: Serving Fannie Mae

Why does Fannie Mae’s FHFA conservatorship affect service of process?

The conservatorship placed FHFA in operational control of Fannie Mae under 12 U.S.C. § 4617 beginning September 6, 2008, but Fannie retained its identity as a separately suable legal entity under 12 U.S.C. § 1723a(a). Service of process still runs to Fannie Mae’s Office of General Counsel at 1100 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20005 — not to FHFA at Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW. The conservatorship creates widespread confusion about where to route service because counsel associate FHFA’s operational authority over Fannie with FHFA’s physical address. That association is operationally wrong. Papers delivered to FHFA are rejected; Fannie’s 60-day FRCP 12(a)(2) clock never starts; and the action stalls while the limitations period continues to run.

Should I serve FHFA instead of Fannie Mae?

Only if FHFA is an independently named defendant in your complaint. If your complaint names Fannie Mae as defendant, service on Fannie goes to Fannie’s Office of General Counsel at 1100 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20005. If FHFA is also named, FHFA is served separately at 400 7th Street SW, Washington DC 20219. The two entities are legally distinct defendants with separate service addresses, separate answer obligations, and separate defenses. FHFA’s conservatorship authority over Fannie does not make FHFA a proper service recipient for Fannie’s litigation, and serving FHFA when only Fannie is named does not constitute service on Fannie. Defendant identity drives service routing; conservatorship is not a proxy for corporate identity.

Does FRCP 4(i) apply to Fannie Mae?

No. FRCP 4(i) governs service on the United States, its agencies, corporations, officers, and employees. Fannie Mae is a privately chartered GSE — not a federal agency. The Supreme Court held in Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortgage Corp., 137 S. Ct. 553 (2017), that Fannie’s sue-and-be-sued clause under 12 U.S.C. § 1723a(a) does not confer federal agency status for jurisdictional or procedural purposes. FRCP 4(j)(2), governing federally chartered corporations, is the applicable rule. Counsel who attempt FRCP 4(i) service on Fannie — by serving the U.S. Attorney and the Attorney General rather than Fannie’s OGC directly — execute defective service. Fannie moves to quash; the motion is granted; service is voided; and counsel must re-serve within the remaining limitations window.

How long does Fannie Mae have to respond to a complaint?

Sixty days from the date of proper service, under FRCP 12(a)(2). This extended answer period applies to United States agencies and corporations — not to private corporate defendants, which answer within 21 days. The 60-day clock begins on the date of valid service on Fannie’s Office of General Counsel at 1100 15th Street NW. Service routed to FHFA’s Constitution Center, executed by improper method, or delivered to a registered agent with no authority to accept on Fannie’s behalf does not start the clock. Until proper service is effected, Fannie is under no obligation to answer, and the 60-day period has not begun. A motion for default judgment against Fannie before the 60-day window opens will be denied.

Can I serve Fannie Mae through CT Corporation or another registered agent?

No. Fannie Mae is federally chartered under 12 U.S.C. §§ 1716–1723i and has no state-by-state registered agent network. CT Corporation, CSC, NRAI, and similar commercial registered agent services have no authority to accept service on Fannie’s behalf and have not been designated as Fannie’s agents in any jurisdiction. An attempt to serve Fannie through a registered agent service is returned as non-service: the agent refuses or returns the papers, no authorized recipient has signed, and no proof-of-service affidavit can be sworn. The service deadline passes without a compliant attempt on record. Service goes directly to Fannie’s Office of General Counsel at 1100 15th Street NW by personal delivery or Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested — not through any registered agent intermediary.

What happens if I serve Fannie Mae at the wrong address?

Service at the wrong address — including FHFA’s Constitution Center, any commercial registered agent office, any Fannie Mae regional office not designated as an OGC service point, or any address other than 1100 15th Street NW — is rejected and treated as non-service for all litigation purposes. Fannie’s 60-day FRCP 12(a)(2) answer period never begins. The limitations clock does not pause while counsel locates and corrects the error; it continues from the date the cause of action accrued. If the limitations period expires before re-service at the correct address is completed, the action is barred. Address error is the most common and most consequential service failure in Fannie Mae litigation — and the one with the least opportunity for remediation once the limitations window closes.

Does Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortgage affect my Fannie Mae case?

Yes — directly, because Lightfoot is Fannie Mae’s own case. Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortgage Corp., 137 S. Ct. 553 (2017), addressed whether 12 U.S.C. § 1723a(a)’s sue-and-be-sued clause independently confers federal subject matter jurisdiction over cases involving Fannie Mae. The Supreme Court held unanimously that it does not. If you intend to file in federal court, you must establish independent SMJ under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question) or § 1332 (diversity). Filing in federal court on the theory that Fannie’s federal charter creates SMJ — without an independent jurisdictional basis — results in dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, regardless of how correctly and completely service was executed. Lightfoot carries more authoritative weight in Fannie Mae litigation than in analogous GSE cases; Fannie’s own charter was the subject of the ruling.

Does HERA § 4617(f) bar my injunctive relief against Fannie Mae?

Section 4617(f) bars judicial relief that would restrain or affect FHFA’s exercise of its powers or functions as conservator or receiver. If your injunctive relief is framed as directing FHFA to reverse a conservatorship decision — restraining a property disposition, modifying Fannie’s conservatorship governance structure, or ordering FHFA to forego a conservatorship action — the § 4617(f) bar applies and the claim is dismissed. Relief framed against Fannie Mae’s own corporate obligations as the named defendant — breach of contract, servicing obligations, discriminatory lending claims that run to Fannie’s conduct rather than FHFA’s conservatorship decisions — is not categorically barred by § 4617(f). Counsel must analyze which entity’s conduct the pleaded relief targets before filing; the § 4617(f) analysis belongs in the complaint drafting stage, not the post-motion-to-dismiss briefing.

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Service routed to FHFA at Constitution Center is rejected — Fannie’s 60-day FRCP 12(a)(2) clock does not start until proper service at OGC, and the action stalls.