FACTBOX: Presidential candidates on the mortgage crisis

(Reuters) - Mounting U.S. mortgage foreclosures have spooked financial markets around the globe in recent months. The Bush administration is near a deal with lenders that could save struggling homeowners who borrowed at low teaser rates from foreclosure by freezing those rates before they reset sharply higher.

Here are proposals by some 2008 presidential candidates on how to deal with the mortgage crisis:

NEW YORK DEMOCRATIC SEN. HILLARY CLINTON:

- said on December 3 that the Bush administration should freeze the interest rates on adjustable-rate subprime mortgages for at least five years

- called on the Bush administration to impose a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures of subprime mortgages on owner-occupied homes

- said she might offer legislation that would allow lenders to restructure troubled loans without investor permission

- proposed $5 billion for counseling and other measures to reduce foreclosures

- on her Web site, Clinton says she would limit prepayment penalties for those who refinance.

FORMER NORTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC SEN. JOHN EDWARDS:

- said on December 5 that any interest-rate freeze should last seven years

- said lenders should help those facing foreclosures by converting their loans to a fixed rate, reducing their interest rates, forgiving a portion of their loans, or capitalizing their delinquent payments

- said he would establish a fund to help borrowers restructure their mortgages

- said he would allow bankruptcy judges to rewrite mortgages

- On his campaign Web site, Edwards says he would prohibit balloon loans, steep prepayment penalties, mandatory arbitration clauses, and other "excessive" fees.

- would regulate all lenders and strengthen underwriting standards

- would ban "yield-spread premiums," the incentives paid by lenders to brokers who steer customers to more expensive loans