By Mark Leeds and Steven Garden (September 13, 2018, 9:29 PM EDT) -- The United States residential mortgage market is among the most complex financial ecosystems in the world. Although the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation — Freddie Mac — has been in conservatorship since Sept. 6, 2008, it continues to be an important player in this market. Specifically, Freddie Mac purchases mortgages and mortgage loan participations from unrelated financial institutions, packages the mortgages in trusts, wraps the trusts with its guarantee and then sells interests in the trusts — referred to as "participation certificates" or "PCs" — to investors worldwide. The mortgage servicing on PCs is labor intensive and payments are made over an extended part of the month. As a result, payments on the mortgages are passed through to investors 45 days after the first day of the month in which the payment is received. The time between payment on the mortgage and the distribution of cash to investors is referred to as the "remittance cycle."...