"In this environment, principal reductions that restore some equity for the homeowner may be a relatively more effective means of avoiding delinquency and foreclosure," Bernanke said. "Efforts by both government and private-sector entities to reduce unnecessary foreclosures are helping, but more can, and should, be done.
Bernanke said a reduction in principal could increase payoff by reducing default risk, but warned that many servicers and lenders may be wary to modify loans that have been securitized or held by investors.
He said it may be in the best interest of investors to embrace such modifications.
"A writedown that is sufficient to make borrowers eligible for a new loan would remove the downside risk to investors of additional writedowns or a re-default," he said.
If
"New capital raising by the GSEs, together with congressional action to strengthen the supervision of these companies, would allow Fannie and Freddie to expand significantly the number of new mortgages that they securitize," Bernanke said.
The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.