Alternatively, they could advance principal and interest payments only as they come in – a so-called “actual/actual” schedule. Either change would affect the payment streams to investors, but I would imagine that participants in the secondary markets would be able to model with some confidence how this would affect the value of securities and adjust pricing accordingly.
The following trade-off should be borne in mind here. The more comprehensively any future steps are outlined, the more accurately market expectations can be steered. As a result, uncertainty decreases as market participants’ room for interpretation regarding future interest rates diminishes.