what is original face 
original face is the par value of a mortgage backed security mbs at the time it is issued an mbs is an investment that contains a number of mortgage home loans from various banks in which investors earn income from those loans the original face is the total principal amount originally owed on all of the mortgage loans and represents how much the mbs is initially worth original face is also referred to as original face value the mortgage backed security s original face value is helpful since it tells investors the initial total of all of the loans within the mbs however the original face value does not provide investors with the value of the mbs in the future understanding original facemortgage backed securities mbss are home loans that are sold by their issuing banks to a government sponsored enterprise gse or financial company and then bundled together into a single investable security unlike most other types of bonds mortgage backed securities return both principal and interest to the holder in periodic payments usually on a monthly basis 