Nearly $15 billion of consumer loan-backed bonds have sold ahead of the loan application deadline for a Federal Reserve program Tuesday.

Investors can borrow money from the central bank through its Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF, to buy these bonds. Tuesday is the deadline for the fourth round of loan applications. The Fed's loans are non-recourse, which means the bank takes the bulk of the loss if the bond purchase goes awry.

This makes the investment more attractive and "protects you from the downside," said Robert Lee, a partner and portfolio manager at Lord Abbett in Jersey City, N.J., who believes the TALF program is a "prime example of what has been working."

That said, the Fed has had to cajole investors to participate in its program and fine-tuned it to make the terms more enticing for buyers. It has increased the length of the loans to five years from three and said it will offer loans to investors to buy existing commercial mortgage bonds.

About a dozen deals emerged ahead of the fourth loan-application deadline for the Fed's program to revitalize the asset-backed securities market.

Ford Motor Co. (F) sold two bonds that are eligible for TALF. Other auto makers selling bonds include BMW and Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY).

John Deere Owner Trust, Chesapeake Funding LLC and PFS Financing Corp. also sold bonds Tuesday.

One $275 million triple-A rated tranche of the PFS deal with a duration of 1.94 year sold at 150 basis points over one-month Libor while the second $275 million tranche, with a 2.68 year duration, sold at 180 basis points over one-month Libor.

Friday, American Express Co. (AXP) sold a $1 billion credit-card loan-backed deal at 135 basis points over one-month Libor. Monday, Citigroup Inc. (C) sold its $4 billion credit-card loan-backed deal at 210 basis points over one-month Libor.

Also Monday, First National Bank Of Omaha sold its $600 million credit-card loan-backed deal at 135 basis points over one-month Libor.

Many of the TALF-eligible deals have grown in size, such as one of the Ford deals, dubbed Ford Credit Auto 2009-B, which doubled to $2 billion from $1 billion.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) issued a non-TALF eligible deal Monday that was increased in size to $1.5 billion from an original $750 million.

Until this round of issuance, TALF-eligible bonds worth more than $25 billion were sold this year.

-By Anusha Shrivastava, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2371; anusha.shrivastava@dowjones.com

(Michael Aneiro contributed to this report)