A new Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac refinance program could bring significant relief for the mortgage crisis. According to Rodney Anderson, the nation's #1 producer of FHA and VA loans, initiating streamline refinances for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will enable more homeowners to transition into quality loans, which would not only prevent future foreclosures, defaults and delinquencies, but would also help stimulate the economy and provide the government with a monthly influx of mortgage insurance revenue.

The proposed program, which was conceptualized by Anderson, a 20+ year mortgage industry veteran who has appeared as a mortgage expert on national and local television shows, is modeled after the FHA's and VA's streamline refinance programs - refinancing options that for the past two to three decades have successfully helped borrowers in FHA and VA loans to quickly reduce their mortgage rates, without having to provide standard documentation and oftentimes without an appraisal.

"Both the FHA and VA have been using streamline refinance programs with great success for more than 20 years," says Anderson. "The Fannie/Freddie streamline refinance program would simply take what we know has worked in the past, make a few common sense adjustments and implement it on a wider scale. There's no need to reinvent the wheel. By offering streamline refinance programs through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, countless numbers of reliable, low-risk homeowners can be saved from the risk of default and foreclosure."

The government's existing streamline refinance programs allow borrowers that have been current on 12 or more of their most recent FHA or VA mortgage payments to refinance into new lower rate loans without having to re-qualify as if they were a new borrower. Anderson proposes that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac implement a similar program for borrowers with conforming loans and a record of on-time payments for the most recent 12-month period.

"This is not about making hasty, rash decisions or enabling unqualified borrowers with new loans," says Anderson. "This is about common sense, responsible lending. Thousands of homeowners want to do the right thing - they want to keep paying their mortgage payments on time. This proposal is designed to help borrowers that are caught in the middle - people that have good credit, but because of an unstable housing market, are unable to sell their homes or refinance out of higher interest rate loans to make their debt loads more manageable."

To protect lenders and prevent further damage to the lending industry, Anderson suggests mandating mortgage insurance backed by the federal government on each new loan, but rather than protecting to the standard 22 percent, it should protect the lender to 30 or 40 percent.

To protect borrowers from unscrupulous practices, Anderson suggests that closing costs should be capped as well. As an added benefit, the federal government would receive a monthly influx of revenue from the monthly mortgage insurance premiums paid by borrowers.

"With the number of struggling homeowners, and the proven success of the government's existing streamline refinance programs, this is an idea whose time has come," says Anderson. "It certainly offers a positive alternative to the current practice of waiting until a borrower is 60 days late before extending a helping hand. While the program isn't designed to single-handedly save the housing industry, it is designed to help a significant segment of American homeowners, and in doing so, to provide a strong building block to getting the nation back on its feet."