The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. may lower mortgage interest rates for delinquent IndyMac Federal Bank FSB borrowers after suspending foreclosures on $15 billion in loans it’s managing as successor to the failed lender.

The FDIC, which is running IndyMac while seeking a buyer, may also extend repayment terms or base payments on reduced principal to help borrowers, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters.

The program might serve as a “catalyst to promote more loan modifications for troubled borrowers throughout the country,” Bair said.

Bair has led regulators in pressing mortgage-servicing companies to modify loans amid rising foreclosures in the worst housing slump since the 1930s. IndyMac Federal has about 740,000 mortgages that it owns or services for other companies, the FDIC said.

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