Can You Take This Risk For Me?

Marketwatch: Fed’s Quarles: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ‘probably’ doesn’t need government backstop

At a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles was asked by Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, Democrat for North Dakota, whether a government guarantee was “essential” for “retaining” the 30-year mortgage instruments. Quarles replied: “My belief today is probably not.”

Heitkamp indicated she disagreed strongly.

“There are a number of people in smaller or mid-sized institutions who believe it would be difficult to take a 30-year interest-rate risk without some kind of assurance they could offset that risk,” Heitkamp said.