:@@: I read a story last week about how the Interest rate 'freeze' is to help sub prime borrowers but the real story is to avert suits, prison.


MORTGAGE MELTDOWN (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/12/09/IN5BTNJ2V.DTL)

This isn't the first article I've read about it.

Foreigners who bought US mortgage bonds are entitled to face value of the bonds if any fraud occurred and it's supposedly yes (95%) had some sort of fraud in it. The bonds face value minus the real value of these properties is how much it will cost the US.

So if you get the crooks now maybe they will be on the hook for it.

This article has a different take.

The highest-profile part of the plan would freeze introductory “teaser” rates on certain subprime mortgages, preventing rates from rising for five years.

This offer would apply only to people living in their homes and who have not missed any payments at the lower rate. It also only would apply to loans taken out between 2005 and this past July 30 and scheduled to rise to higher rates in 2008 and 2009.

The hope is that the five-year freeze will buy time for the housing sales and prices to start rising again. Such a rebound would enable homeowners to refinance their current adjustable rate mortgages into fixed-rate loans with more affordable monthly payments.

http://www.irstaxsupport.com/bush-announces-mortgage-rate-freeze-plan/

It isn't just the resetting of rates that's problematic. FDIC officials note that many subprime borrowers received starter rates that were not especially low at the time: typically around 7% to 9%, when rates as low as 5% were common for borrowers with strong credit.

The plan hatched by government and industry is also intended to benefit investors who purchased these risky mortgages. Agency officials counter criticism from investors concerned the plan will deny them potential profits by arguing they will be better off in the long run through the loan modifications. It spares them the cost of a foreclosure, which can run around $50,000, and decreases the likelihood of default.

"Lenders and investors will ultimately benefit," Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the FDIC, said in an October speech in which she unveiled the idea to investors. "You'll come out ahead of the game with a performing mortgage that's being paid versus having a loan that's in foreclosure."

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/SubprimeBailoutExpertsSeeModestGains.aspx

So if you get the crooks now maybe they will be on the hook for it.
Rather than crooks, a better description would be The Bush Family.

*

"Leverage the Bush family name and a small personal investment into really big money, always provided by others (http://www.sptimes.com/News/102900/Business/Influence_and_bailout.shtml)." (See: China & Japan (http://www.lafn.org/politics/gvdc/Natl_Debt_Chart.html)...presently.)