The United States Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (commonly referred to as HERA) was designed primarily to address the subprime mortgage crisis.

It authorized the Federal Housing Administration to guarantee up to $300 billion in new 30-year fixed rate mortgages for subprime borrowers if lenders wrote down principal loan balances to 90 percent of current appraisal value.

It was intended to restore confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by strengthening regulations and injecting capital into the two large U.S. suppliers of mortgage funding.

[5] As of February 2009, only 451 applications had been received and 25 loans finalized, far short of the estimated 400,000 homeowners who were expected to participate.

[6] "Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act" (12 United States Code, Section 5100, et seq.

States can operate their own systems, subject to stringent federal standards, or they can participate in the Nationwide Multi-State Licensing System and Registry (NMLS), a service operated jointly by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators (CSBS/AARMR).

The objectives of the SAFE Act include aggregating and improving the flow of information to and between regulators; providing increased accountability and tracking of MLOs; enhancing consumer protections; supporting anti-fraud measures; and providing consumers with easily accessible information at no charge regarding the employment history of and publicly adjudicated disciplinary and enforcement actions against MLOs.