FROZEN RATES?

Bush administration: Agreement near on effort to freeze mortgage rates


WASHINGTON (AP) – Dec. 3, 2007 – Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday he is confident there will soon be an agreement to help thousands of American homeowners avoid mortgage defaults by temporarily freezing their interest rates.

Paulson told a national housing conference that this effort involved a “pragmatic response” to current realities as the U.S. economy goes through the worst housing slump in more than two decades. The number of homeowners struggling to meet higher payments because their initial introductory rates are resetting is currently soaring.

Paulson and other top Treasury officials have been holding talks with major players in the mortgage industry over the past several weeks to hammer out an agreement that would freeze the lower introductory rates to keep them from resetting to higher levels for a period of years.