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In separate online posts this past week, President Donald Trump says he is considering privatizing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both banks hold roughly half of all mortgages in the U.S.Some economists worry that privatizing both mortgage companies could make buying a home more expensive. But President Trump has pushed back on those concerns, saying that he would continue the government's "implicit guarantees" for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, meaning that if something goes wrong, the government would step in to save them. This would be similar to what happened after the 2008 financial housing collapse, when the government bailed out both companies for $187 billion. That amount has since been paid back, plus some, and the companies have been under government control ever since.Returning the banks to the private sector has long been a Republican goal, with the argument that the government should not be responsible for spending billions of taxpayer dollars on bailing out both companies. But without the government's support, some Democrats and economists say mortgage costs would jump, as both companies would need to raise their fees to compensate for the increased risks of private lending.A 2015 analysis suggested that privatizing the companies could cause mortgage rates to rise between roughly 0.5% and 1%.