These three are credited as the fathers of the mortgage-backed security and the process of securitization.

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Now, more on something that Congressman Blunt alluded to, how do you place a value on a mortgage-backed security when there's no market for it?

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It is one thing to assess the effects of modifying terms on a single mortgage-backed security, which is likely to have one firm servicing it.

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For that reason, it's not as risky as a mortgage-backed security.

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In its role as conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSE) that have been kept afloat with billions of taxpayer dollars since 2008, the FHFA noted that it has not filed suit against every issuer, nor on every private label mortgage-backed security (PLS) purchased by one of the GSEs.

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Steve DeLaney of JMP Securities says REITs can borrow against 95% to 97% of a government-backed mortgage security's value in the repo market.

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