Paulson Sees Credit Crisis Easing
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the "worst is likely to be behind us" in the lingering credit crunch in an interview published Wednesday in
The Wall Street Journal
.
Paulson said it would take several months more to sort out the full effects of the credit markets' disruptions that began last summer and further "bumps along the road" remain, the
Journal
said.
But he pointed to actions by the
Federal Reserve
-- including the central bank's aid to
JPMorgan Chase
(JPM) - Get Report
in buying a near-bankrupt
Bear Stearns
(BSC)
in March and unprecedented actions to provide liquidity to commercial and investment banks -- as soothing to the markets, the paper said.
On the political front, Paulson urged Congress to approve legislation improving the regulation of government-sponsored mortgage lenders
Fannie Mae
(FNM)
and
Freddie Mac
(FRE)
, the
Journal
reported.
That comes as the White House signaled it would veto a bill sponsored by Democrats that would provide Federal Housing Administration insurance for $300 billion in troubled mortgages.
Treasury also met with about 10 home lenders, including
Countrywide Financial
(CFC)
,
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
and
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
to urge them to standardize voluntary procedures for helping qualified borrowers modify existing mortgages into more affordable terms, the
Journal
reported Tuesday.
This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com.