Here is an interesting excerpt from a recent article over a MSNBC.com:
Bove said he believes Rep. Barney Frank [D-Mass.] is on the right track by proposing that the government set aside $15 billion to $20 billion to purchase whole loan mortgages from banks off their balance sheets and have those loans held temporarily by agencies such as the FHA. That would allow the government to refinance the borrower into a fixed-rate FHA loan or something similar.
If you want to resolve this issue, you need to keep people in their houses, which you cant do by giving them a rule, Bove said.
Despite Congressman Franks best efforts to figure out a way to provide a bailout that doesnt cost the government a load of money, Bove said he doesnt see any way to avoid that.
Franks is one of a handful of proposals for dealing with the crisis. The plan introduced by Senator Christopher Dodd [D-Conn.], chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, resembles a program used during the Great Depression that allows for a government facility to buy loans from banks once their value has been written down to an FHA qualifying level, and, in return, issuing a government-insured bond that would correspond to the homes appraised value.