(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-03 20:09

In an attempt to fight a massive wave of home foreclosures, the White House and the mortgage industry are working on a proposal to temporarily freeze interest rates on certain subprime mortgages.

The administration was still talking Friday, attempting to finalize details of the proposal, which could be unveiled as early as this week. Some indications of the outlines of the proposal may come in a speech Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is scheduled to deliver to a national housing conference Monday.

The talks have involved all the federal banking regulators and major players in the mortgage industry such as Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and Countrywide Financial Corp.

The major target of the proposal would be to get lenders to extend for a number of years the low, introductory rates that were offered on subprime mortgages, loans usually offered to borrowers with weak credit histories.

An estimated 2 million of those initial low, teaser rates are scheduled to reset to much higher levels by the end of next year, pushing the payment on a typical mortgage from $1,200 per month to $1,550. The concern is that many homeowners will not be able to meet the higher payments, triggering hundreds of thousands of defaults.

By offering a broad approach to extend the teaser rates for a certain period - officials and the industry are debating time periods of two to five years - it would allow homeowners to keep making payments while the housing industry regains its footing.

Once the industry stabilizes and home prices are no longer falling, it will be easier for homeowners to refinance their adjustable rate loans to more favorable fixed-rate mortgages.

The plan under consideration does not include any government funds, but it would mean losses for investors who purchased mortgage-backed securities because they would be getting a lower income stream reflecting the delay in having the introductory interest rates reset. But it would still represent more money than if the mortgage went into default.