HENRY Paulson, the United States treasury secretary, is planning a US$15 billion capital injection into American mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Times of London reported.

The plan is "high" on the list of solutions to the nation's mortgage crisis, the newspaper said. In exchange for the capital, the US government would get a new class of shares, the paper reported, without naming its source, Bloomberg News reported.

Paulson's plan would also allow the two mortgage firms to use the Federal Reserve's discount window so they could borrow from the central bank, the Times said.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have shares lost about half their market value.