The American economy, like most world economies today, is run on a system of fiat money, or money that is assigned its value by government decree. Since this money has no intrinsic value of its own, its value and supply must be carefully managed and regulated, not just within the nation’s borders but also in accordance with the economies of all other nations. In light of this need for careful stewardship of the economy, the United States maintains a central bank, called the Federal Reserve (or, more commonly, the Fed).

The Fed as it exists today is actually the United States’ fourth attempt at founding a central bank. In the midst of the Revolutionary War, America’s Continental Congress ratified the Articles of Confederation, which, among other edicts, gave Congress the power to issue bills of credit. A private national bank, modeled after the Bank of England, was established shortly thereafter, but was denied the opportunity to become a central national bank due to unease about foreign influence and other political concerns. The official First Bank of the United States was created in 1791, and lasted 20 years before being denied a renewal of charter by President James Madison. The Second Bank of the United States opened in 1816, and it too only lasted 20 years before President Andrew Jackson shut it down. Political opposition to the very idea of a central bank had been a chief culprit of these failures, and it would be almost a century before the United States would try again.

In 1907, a profound financial panic occurred, a direct result of a failed attempt by stock traders to corner the market on shares of the United Copper Company. The failure created a series of bank runs on those institutions that had backed the bid. As is often the case with bank runs, the atmosphere of worry spread nationwide, causing other banks to suffer runs and even leading to the collapse of, at the time, the third-largest financial trust in New York City, the Knickerbocker Trust Company. With no central bank in existence to attempt stabilization of the economy with an infusion of currency, the only reason that the crisis did not fling the country into irreparable economic turmoil was the work of private business tycoons such as J.P. Morgan, who banded together and contributed much of their own capital to bolster the banks. It was this barely dodged catastrophe that led to a series of financial reforms over the next few years, culminating in 1913 when Congress and President Woodrow Wilson passed the Federal Reserve Act.

In structure, the Federal Reserve is unique among the world’s central banks. Although it is designed to function as an entity “independent” of the federal government, thereby limiting its exposure to political influence, the Fed also employs a mixture of private and public sections in its operation—most similar banks in the world operate under either entirely private or entirely public ownership. It is also the only such bank to not make its own currency (which is instead printed by the United States Treasury). The Fed is managed by a Board of Governors, all of whom are presidential appointees, and is also comprised of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and representatives from twelve other Federal Reserve Banks located throughout the country.

The Fed has been reformed a number of times since 1913, especially so after the recovery from the Great Depression. Currently, its chief mandate is to provide the means to deal with bank panics, but it also sets interest rates, operates as a lender of last resort in case the banking system is in need of capital, and generally regulates the entire money supply by balancing the factors of employment rates and inflation. The importance of these functions to the American economy cannot be overstated. Any competent financial player in any market knows that a key component of success or ruin is an ability to observe, analyze, and possibly predict the actions of The Fed…and any competent Board of Governors is aware that The Fed is being closely watched.

Many of the laws and regulations in place within the housing market are designed to protect buyers from fraudulent practices or other malicious enterprises. However, investors and lenders also need some form of protection against financial loss when a buyer fails to hold up his or her end of the transaction. For these creditors, there is mortgage insurance.

Like other forms of insurance, the mechanism behind mortgage insurance—also known as a mortgage guaranty—is that the insurer receives a premium, which will then be used to cover losses in case the borrower defaults on their mortgage. Generally, a lender will require that mortgage insurance be purchased if the mortgage loan is higher than 80% of the property’s sale price. The lender will decide the amount of loss coverage, which can range from 20–50%, or possibly even higher. The borrower may see the mortgage insurance premium reflected as a part of their mortgage payments, or in some cases the lender will choose to pay these premiums.

Some form of mortgage insurance has existed in the United States since 1880, although it remained an unregulated entity until 1904, when the state of New York passed laws authorizing private companies to issue insurance. At the time, however, insurers were only allowed to cover payments on mortgages owned by the original lender. In 1911, this law was amended to allow lending institutions to purchase and resell loans, and insurers were then encouraged to guarantee the property title as well, to make the mortgages more attractive to investors. For the next two decades these private companies thrived as real estate values climbed, and lenders were pleased to discover that few defaulted properties would sell at a loss. However, the real estate market collapse at the start of the Great Depression severely tested the myriad of bad business practices within the mortgage insurance industry, and as a result, the industry failed.

This failure led to government involvement in the mortgage market, specifically through the creation of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance fund, managed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The FHA uses the fund to insure their own loans to prospective homebuyers, and was expanded after World War II to include war veterans through the Veterans Administration (VA) department. However, both the FHA and VA mortgage insurance programs have legislatively mandated limits to their scope—underwriting guidelines often exclude many prospective homebuyers, for example, and there is a ceiling value past which mortgages may not be insured.

Today, private mortgage insurers succeed or fail based on their ability to identify mortgage risk and decide if they wish to cover it. They may decline to cover a certain mortgage, or adopt strict underwriting conditions based on the property, the buyer’s credit history and job status, or a number of other factors. Within state regulations, they may raise premiums on riskier sales or use methods such as reinsurance or risk pooling to mitigate potential loss. Some mortgage insurers will adopt a strategy of trying to help borrowers in danger of default, through credit counseling and debt management, with the understanding that foreclosure on a property tends to be an unpleasant and costly process for all parties involved.

A home is a major investment for its buyer, which is why smart homeowners purchase adequate insurance to shield them against disaster. The mortgage, however, is an investment by the lender in the dependability of the borrower—and as such, it’s equally as important for them to purchase mortgage insurance to provide a safety net in case the borrower is unable to pay back the loan. Such systems are in place in order to maintain the stability of the housing market, and when they work well, all parties benefit.

Signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1977, the Community Reinvestment Act followed in the footsteps of previous legislation, including the Fair Housing Act (1968), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (1974), and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (1975). Although each act mandated a different set of regulations for various aspects of the housing market–the first two working to prohibit discrimination in property transactions, the latter to require transparency from mortgage and lending institutions–the CRA specifically regulates banks.

Any bank that receives FDIC insurance protection is bound under the CRA to submit to an examination of their lending practices, in order to assess whether they are offering loans and credit with consistent standards in all communities, regardless of income, in which they are chartered. Prior to the CRA, banks were free to discriminate against low- or moderate-income home buyers, who were often minorities. The CRA does not force banks to approve high-risk loans, but it does require them to answer for the credit applications they reject. Each bank is reviewed in the context of its community, and assigned an assessment rating that is used to monitor the bank’s record.

The CRA has been revised by legislative action a number of times since its passage. In some cases, the revision allowed for greater oversight of banks by public action groups as well as government regulators. In others, the FNMA and FHLMC (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) were mandated to devote a percentage of their lending to affordable housing. Most recently, in 2008, Congress passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which adds to CRA compliance criteria an examination of how and to whom the bank provides low-cost education loans. A number of other proposed revisions have been considered in recent years, particularly in light of the provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also known as the stimulus bill).