A special purpose vehicle for pooling mortgage loans and issuing mortgage-backed securities. Mortgages are held in trust and securities are issued that represent interests in them. Mortgage-backed securities can be issued as sales of assets that remove loans from the lender's balance sheet. They can also be issued as debt financings that keep the loans as balance sheet assets. An investor's REMIC income is taxable, but the REMIC itself is largely exempt from federal tax. REMIC status is available to corporations, partnerships, trusts, and asset pools that have no legal designation. REMICs may engage only in permitted investments, which include foreclosure property, qualified reserve assets, and cash flow investments.