EVERYONE INVOLVED IN the mortgage business got rich during the housing boom, including Wall Street. The biggest firms bought all the loans they could get their hands on, repackaged them, and sold them for a fee to hedge funds and other investors. Mortgage-backed securities issuance soared from 184.5 billion dollars in 2000 to nearly 1 trillion dollar in 2005, generating more than 1 billion dollar in fees last year. But now that the real estate tide is ebbing, trash is starting to wash up on shore. Mortgage delinquencies are zooming-bad news for the banks, Wall Street firms, and investors holding loans. In some cases, the original lenders are taking the biggest hits. In typical deals, banks agree to buy mortgages back from Wall Street in the case of a payment default within the first 90 days. Now some are writing big checks. H&R Block Inc., owner of Option One Mortgage Corp., reported a fiscal 2007 first-quarter loss of 219 million dollars as it set aside cash for buy-backs. Defaults forced Net-Bank Inc. and Fremont General Corp. to buy back more loans as well. Fremont paid 238.4 million dollars in the second quarter, up from 67.7 million dollars a year earlier.
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机译：在房地产繁荣期间，包括华尔街在内，参与抵押贷款业务的每个人都变得富有。最大的公司购买了他们可以动用的所有贷款，重新打包，然后出售它们以收取一定的费用，以对冲基金和其他投资者。抵押贷款支持的证券发行从2000年的1,845亿美元激增至2005年的近1万亿美元，去年产生了超过10亿美元的手续费。但是现在房地产浪潮正在减弱，垃圾开始在岸上被冲走。对于银行，华尔街公司和持有贷款的投资者而言，抵押贷款违约率是一个坏消息。在某些情况下，原始贷方受到的打击最大。在典型交易中，如果在前90天内发生违约，银行同意从华尔街购回抵押贷款。现在有些人正在写大支票。 H＆R Block Inc.是Option One Mortgage Corp.的所有者，该公司报告了2007财年第一季度亏损2.19亿美元，原因是该公司为回购预留了现金。违约迫使Net-Bank Inc.和Fremont General Corp.也回购了更多贷款。弗里蒙特第二季度支付了2.384亿美元，高于去年同期的6770万美元。
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