hristmas came a day early for the chief executive officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S. government-controlled suppliers of funding for home mortgages.

The companies on Thursday disclosed new pay packages under which Fannie CEO Michael Williams and Freddie CEO Charles (Ed) Haldeman Jr. will earn as much as $6 million a year, including bonuses, well above their current terms. The packages came with the blessing of the Treasury, which has pumped a combined total of about $112 billion of capital into the companies over the past year to keep them in operation, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or FHFA, which regulates the companies.

The FHFA said that on average, compensation for executive officers of the companies in 2009 is down 40% from the levels before the government seized control of them in September 2008 as defaults soared on home mortgages guaranteed by the firms. That move, under a legal process known as conservatorship, allows the regulator to control the board and management of the companies, although their common shares remain owned by private shareholders. The Treasury has agreed to supply as much as $200 billion of capital apiece to the companies in return for preferred stock paying a 10% dividend. The Treasury also has a warrant to acquire 79.9% of their common stock.  More here.