Article • Dean Baker’s Beat the Press
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That’s the obvious question that readers should be asking after seeing the paragraph at the end of an article on the Treasury Department’s plan to help low income people stay and/or become homeowners:
“The Treasury had promised that Mr. Lew would address the expansion of credit to potential home buyers, millions of whom are unable to get a mortgage with today’s tight standards. No new programs were offered, though Mr. Lew said the Treasury was working to jump-start the all-but-vanished market for private mortgage-backed securities, which would help lenders grow more confident and make more loans.”
The clear implication is that lenders would be making loans that don’t meet the standards of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, but would be packaged into mortgage-backed securities by private issuers. Some folks may be old enough to remember the last time we saw something like this.