Would-be mortgage borrowers have rushed to refinance their loans and even weighed plans to buy homes following the government’s move this week to loosen consumer lending. With interest rates suddenly plummeting, “the phone is ringing, the e-mails keep coming,” said one mortgage adviser.

Almost immediately after the Federal Reserve announced plans Tuesday to buy a sizable chunk of mortgage-based securities, interest rates dropped to the mid-5 percent range and stayed there through yesterday. The move is giving borrowers a “taste of the bailout pie,” said analyst Mike Larson of Weiss Research. Until now, most government mortgage initiatives have been aimed at lenders or at distressed borrowers.

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