[lookout123]

something important to understand is that no lender was holding their paper much past the first payment. When that is the case, likelihood of repayment is no longer the primary concern. When a bank holds it's paper it will make profit from the interest over a period of years. When a bank sells it's paper it makes profit on the fees charged to close the loan. Sub-prime loans charged much higher upfront fees, therefore were much more profitable to the loan origination company. Repayment? That's someone else's problem.

I will tell you this, though, ACORN and others like them shoulder a lot of the responsibility for this. The tactics and pressure they applied to companies to approve loans for lower income and lower credit quality applicants was obscene. It got to the point that underwriters often joked that the applications should just be sent to ACORN since they seemed to want anyone with a pulse approved.