Today's announcement by the Fed that it will purchase direct debt obligations of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks, and also mortgage backed securities guaranteed by Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie Mae, underscores our support for the housing market.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The government, as owner of mortgages and mortgage backed securities, will be allowed to make loan modifications by lowering principal and interest rates on mortgages, or extending the life of the mortgage.

FORBES: A Deal On The Bailout

The group proposes to lessen the risk to taxpayers through guarantee fees for mortgage-backed securities and by requiring mortgage insurance where the borrower is financing 80% or more of the loan value.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The government, as owner of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, will be allowed to make loan modifications by lowering principal and interest rates on mortgages, or extending the life of the mortgage.

FORBES: The Bailout: All Aboard

The plan also offers no "safe harbor" provision to shield mortgage servicers from lawsuits by investors holding the securities backed by a loan being modified.

MSN: Housing plan details which borrowers get help

Loan servicers, which manage loans on behalf of investors in mortgage-backed securities, may fear lawsuits alleging that borrowers have been treated too generously.

ECONOMIST: Economics focus

The Fed has also recorded a handsome profit on its emergency-lending programmes to healthy banks, as did the Treasury on its purchases of mortgage-backed securities and, so far, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on bank-loan guarantees.

ECONOMIST: America's bail-out maths

Some of the soured assets Beal purchased at fire-sale prices were residential mortgage-backed securities that were sold in deals in which banks made representations and warranties about loan quality and promised to repurchase those loans if the representations were no good.

FORBES: Billionaire Banker Targeting Big Banks Over Mortgages