Henry "Hank" Paulson, Treasury Secretary may grant $24.4 billion for loans

According to the recent statement of Henry Paulson, Treasury Secretary the administration is looking for more ways to tap a $700 billion financial rescue program.The final decision will be taken after consulting with Congress and the incoming Obama administration. The Huffington Post reports that Paulson said the program has distributed $150 billion out of the $250 billion earmarked to buy stock in banks as a way to boost their resources so they can lend more. The administration also is looking at other ways to utilize the rescue package, including alternatives for providing capital to financial institutions.

One of such ways can be the offered by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair. The FDIC plan would use the rescue fund to help guarantee mortgages that have been reworked to lower monthly payments as a way of helping more people stay in their homes. Last month Bair said that she needed $24.4 billion from those $700 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program in order to modify loans. The only answer of Hank was that he felt an "awesome responsibility" to use the rescue program correctly. "We are continuing to examine potential foreclosure mitigation ideas that may be an appropriate and effective use of TARP resources," he said.