Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) announced Thursday evening it lost $18.9 billion in the third quarter as the number of delinquent loans it holds continues to surge.  The loss is larger than a year ago, when the company was in the red by $14.8 billion.

Struggling to keep its net worth above zero all year; with this loss Fannie Mae now has a net deficit of $15 billion as of third quarter close, ended September 30, 2009.

The third quarter loss has prompted, on November 4, the Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to submit a request for $15.0 billion from Treasury on the company’s behalf.  FHFA has requested that Treasury provide the funds on or prior to December 31, 2009. 

If the request for Treasury funds is approved, that will raise the American taxpayer’s bill to roughly $60 billion for Fannie Mae.

The mortgage lender, which was seized by the government in September of 2008, said total nonperforming loans in its portfolio hit $198.3 billion, up considerably from $119.2 billion at the end of 2008.

Loans that are considered delinquent surged past 4 percent of total outstanding, more than double the amount in the third quarter of last year.  The increase was led by the state of Florida, which was one of the hardest hit states by the housing collapse, where the delinquency rate on Fannie loans has hit 11 percent.

Fannie Mae’s per share loss worked out to $3.47 in the third quarter, compared to a loss of $2.67 as share in the same period a year earlier. 

The company did see a 6 percent rise in net revenue for the third quarter, to $5.9 billion, up from $5.6 billion last year.

Fannie Mae attributed losses to $22 billion in credit related expenses during the quarter, used to build loss reserves and take fair value losses on mortgage-backed securities.

However, Fannie Mae has been working hard to prevent foreclosures.  As of September 30, 2009, approximately 189,000 Fannie Mae loans were in a trial period or a completed modification under the Home Affordable Modification Program.