Housing Policy in the New Millennium, Proceedings

In recent years there has been a large increase in the number of mortgage loans made by lenders specializing in lending to borrowers with imperfect credit histories, especially in the home equity loan market.1 Most \“subprime\” lenders are mortgage or finance companies, but they can also be thrifts or even banks. Some of the largest subprime lenders are affiliates of banks. Subprime firms typically charge borrowers higher fees and interest rates than \“prime\” lenders, which include most banks and thrifts as well as many mortgage companies.