Mortgage credit availability increased in September as more investors offered streamlined refinancing programs to borrowers with FHA and U.S. Department of Agriculture rural housing loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s mortgage credit-availability index (MCAI) report. The government MCAI, one of four component indices of the trade group’s MCAI, saw the greatest increase in availability over the month (up 1.9 percent). Conventional MCAI also was up 0.7 percent and so was the conforming MCAI by the same percentage. The jumbo MCAI rose by 0.6 percent. The increases reflected an improvement in the MCAI, which grew 1.4 percent to 167.0 in September. A drop in the MCAI indicates a tightening of lending standards, while an increase suggests loosening of credit, the MBA said. “Streamline [refinancing] programs allow borrowers who have been consistently making their ...