Hey, they are margin calls; this is not the end of the world. And, okay, a couple default notices. Not exactly spilled milk, but we are sure it aspires to be. True, we’re talking about more margin calls than is strictly ideal, but if you don’t have anyone whining at you now and then to pay the piper, we posit you probably aren’t pushing the envelope far enough. Just one way to look at it.

Carlyle Capital added to worries about forced liquidations of residential mortgage-backed securities after failing to meet margin calls on its $21.7 billion portfolio.

It’s been a short and unhappy life so far for Carlyle Capital. After listing last July the mortgage-backed securities fund, a so-called permanent capital vehicle for private equity group Carlyle, almost immediately hit trouble.

Its share price slid, and it had to turn to its namesake for help in meeting margin calls in August – twice. Unfortunate and embarrassing for Carlyle, who were forced to apologise for lapses in communication when investors started asking more probing questions about the fund’s difficulties.

Carlyle Capital’s fortunes haven’t improved. It has now missed margin calls from four of its repo counterparties and has received a default notice – with another thought to be on its way.

But the fund is still sticking to its original line - that its $21.7bn of investments in AAA-rated securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are good, carrying the “implicit guarantee of the US government”. They’re being mis-assessed by their counterparties.

In fact, it looks like a stand-off. Carlyle has already paid out $60m in margin calls since the beginning of the month but:

However, on March 5, the Company received additional margin calls from seven of its 13 repo counterparties totaling more than $37 million. The Company has met margin calls from three of these financing counterparties that have indicated a willingness to work with the Company during these tumultuous times, but did not meet the margin requirements of the four other repo financing counterparties.

There’s bad blood between funds and their banks. And aggrieved Carlyle seems to be picking who it pays. Peloton has pointed to the doubling or tripling of cash required to be put up for loans in its own demise. Of course, everyone thinks they should be the exception as the banks turn off the liquidity spigot. After all, only a couple of weeks ago we were being told that all would be well this time round, as prime brokers and lenders would be more discerning in pulling the rug from under hedge funds.

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