Fed Selects Four Firms to Manage MBS Purchase Plan

Fed Selects Four Firms to Manage MBS Purchase Plan


By Craig Torres

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve chose BlackRock Inc., Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Pacific Investment Management Co. and Wellington Management Co. to manage a $500 billion purchase of mortgage-backed securities it plans to complete by June.

Only fixed-rate agency mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae will be eligible for purchase, the central bank said in a statement released in Washington today. The Fed said the purchases, to start early in January, will include securities with maturities of 30, 20, and 15 years, and will exclude riskier securities such as interest-only bonds.

By buying mortgage bonds, the central bank aims to increase money available to purchase and refinance homes and stem the decline in house prices. The collapse of U.S. mortgage finance last year led to the worst credit crisis in seven decades and triggered write downs and losses at financial institutions exceeding $1 trillion.

“The investment managers will be required to purchase securities frequently and to disclose the Federal Reserve as principal,” the central bank said.


The Fed said its exposure to risk on the securities would be “minimal” and “mitigated by the conservative, buy-and-hold investment strategy” of the program.

Fed officials announced the program Nov. 25 and said the action was taken to “reduce the cost and increase the availability of credit for the purchase of houses.”

 

more bullshit from the shit for brain morons who run this whole system

 

This program is going to get the economy moving ahead again a lot faster than most think. Imagine most people saving up to 1000 a month on their mortgage. It will be so cheap to buy a house now, especially with prices down 40% in most places in the West. There are a lot of people with shitty credit scores, but there's even more with really good scores that have been on the sidelines, like myself, waiting for lower interest rates.

 

Might help the new purchase market a bit, but refi's not so much. Serious appraisals will be done and many won't come in high enough to pay off the existing mortgage at 80% LTV. Also, credit will need to be perfect and self-employed need not apply.

 

But isn't this what created the bubble in the first place?

 

banking and insurance 'business' profits by taking on risk.

banks take interest in return for possible loan default
insurance take premium in return for risk of claim

nobody should need to pay more than 25% downpayment on a house which has collateral and paying 5% interest. bank has no risk because the house is 'collateral'

you lose your downpayment is house can't be sold at price you paid.

 

maybe they should take away their MBA etc if they can't even manage a bank or insurance company and still screw up a golden goose business.

these are old fashion businesses.