Released: November 30, 2007

Paulson says housing help is on the way

Source: Jane Sasseen, BusinessWeek

Passing squall or supersized economic blowout? However the housing and credit-market upheavals play out, they will shape the legacy of Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. From the start, he has tried to orchestrate a private-sector-led response to the wave of home loan defaults and price declines under way. But progress has been glacial.

Yet a comprehensive program may be within reach. It would get mortgage lenders, servicers, and investors to help eligible homeowners to renegotiate adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) that will reset and become far more expensive. “Well before the end of the year, we will have a template—and the infrastructure in place to make it easier to handle the wave [of resets] that is coming at us,” he said in an interview with BusinessWeek.

Read Full Article: Paulson says housing help is on the way