Rep. Mike Flood

Mortgage lock-in: where could defeasance fit? U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, September 2, 2026. A continuous excerpt from the exchange between Rep. Mike Flood and witness Alex J. Pollock, Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute. The speakers do not name or endorse Takara in this excerpt. Opening card: Mortgage lock-in. Where could defeasance fit? Rep. Mike Flood and Alex J. Pollock. The portfolio-lender question. Rep. Mike Flood: Well, I appreciate that, because I went down a rabbit hole on the idea of defeasance, and one of the challenges that I am concerned about, because I do really like the concept, and I think it's working in countries like Denmark— Alex J. Pollock: Yes. Rep. Mike Flood: But, and I don't know who this company is or how they're actually doing it, but are they—how do they—how does that reconcile with the mortgage-backed security? I mean, if you're holding mortgage-backed securities and suddenly you think you've got collateral on X, but you really got collateral on Y, how do they navigate that? Alex J. Pollock: The mortgage-backed security makes it harder. This works actually with lenders who have the loan in portfolio and who can deal with their customers and end up in a way where the customer gets the value of the mortgage. Closing card: The portfolio distinction matters. Pollock describes lenders holding loans in portfolio. Read the full exchange and written testimony for context. The excerpt ends here; Pollock continues explaining the economics in the full hearing. Punctuation and caption line breaks are edited for readability. The source footage and speaker order are continuous within the excerpt. Watch the full hearing from this exchange · Official hearing page · Pollock's written testimony