The Subprime Mortgage Crisis in the U.S Essay

The mortgage crisis of 2007 marked catastrophe for millions of homeowners who suffered from foreclosure and short sales. Most of the problems involving the foreclosing of families’ homes could boil down to risky borrowing and lending. Lenders were pushed to ensure families would be eligible for a loan, when in previous years the same families would have been deemed too high-risk to obtain any kind of loan. With the increase in high-risk families obtaining loans, there was a huge increase in home buyers and subsequently a rapid increase in home prices. As a result, prices peaked and then began falling just as fast as they rose. Soon after families began to default on their mortgages forcing them either into foreclosure or short sales. Who was to blame for the risky lending and borrowing that caused the mortgage meltdown? Many might blame the company Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but in reality the entire system of buying and selling and free market failed home owners and the housing economy.

The bursting of the housing bubble, known more colloquially as the 2008 mortgage crisis, was preceded by a series of ill-fated circumstances that culminated in what has been considered to be the worst financial downfall since the Great Depression. After experiencing a near-unprecedented increase in housing prices from January 2002 until mid-2006, a phenomenon that was steadily fed by unregulated mortgage practices, the market steadily declined and the prior housing boom subsided as well. When housing prices dropped to about 25 percent below the peak level achieved in 2006 toward the close of 2008, liquidity and capital disappeared from the market.

The recent mortgage crisis in the US was unprecedented. It led to a massive clampdown of financial institutions, occasioning one of the worst financial melt-downs the US has ever faced (Jaffe, 2008). Quite naturally, it would be necessary to examine the cause of the crisis in order to draft prophylactic measures that would prevent the same financial disaster in the future. This paper will discuss the events that led to the mortgage crisis.

The financial crisis emerged because of an excessive deregulation of business operation of financial institutions and of abusing the securitization mechanism in the absence of clearly defined rules to regulate this area in the American mortgage market (Krstić, Jemović, & Radojičić, 2013). Deregulation gives larger banks the opportunity to loosen underwriting lender guidelines and generate increase opportunity for homeownership (Kroszner & Strahan, 2013). After deregulation, banks utilized many versions of mortgage loans. Mortgage loans such as subprime and Alternative-A paper loans became available for borrowers challenged to find mortgage lenders before deregulation (Elbarouki, 2016; Palmer, 2015). The housing market has been severely affected by fluctuating interest rates and the requirement of large down payment (Follain, & Giertz, 2013). The subprime lending crisis has taken a toll on the nation’s economy since 2007. Individuals who lacked sufficient credit ratings or down payments resorted to subprime mortgages to finance their homes Defaults on subprime and other mortgages precipitated the foreclosure crisis, which contributed to the recent recession and national financial crisis (Odetunde, 2015). Subprime mortgages were appropriate for borrowers with substandard credit and Alternate-A paper loans were

The mortgage crisis we are experiencing in the United States today is already ranking as among the most serious economic events since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Hardly a day goes by without a story in the newspaper or on the cable news stations reporting about the increase in the number of foreclosures across the United States. The effects of this crisis have spread across all financial markets, where in the end all of us are paying a price for this home mortgage crisis. When the housing market collapsed, so did the availability of credit which our economy depends upon. The home mortgage crisis, the financial crisis and overall economic crisis all need to address by the

In these days of economic upheaval, rising unemployment, increasing bankruptcies, and car and credit card loan defaults, perhaps nothing is more frightening than the rising rates of home foreclosures. Owning a home has long been considered the cornerstone of the Great American Dream, and now for many that dream has turned into a nightmare, from which there seems no escape. The combination of predatory lending practices and consumers who have for to long lived beyond their means has created an escalating problem. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers.

The foreclosure crisis in America has impacted everyone- even those who don’t own homes. Our nation is currently struggling with high unemployment, a relatively illiquid credit market, and a deficit that raises serious concerns about the value of the US Dollar in the not too distant future. With interest rates already at historic lows and the government pursuing an unprecedented policy of quantitative monetary easing, options for government intervention are limited. While there is no simple solution to this problem, I think that we must look at the reasons the housing market went into crisis, and based on that develop a regulatory system that will allow us to avoid another situation like this in the future. If Americans believe

During 2007 through 2010 there existed what we commonly refer to as the subprime mortgage crisis. Through deduction of readings by those considered esteemed in the realm of finance - such as Ben Bernanke - the crisis arose out of an earlier expansion of mortgage credit. This included extending mortgages to borrowers who previously would have had difficulty getting mortgages; this both contributed to and was facilitated by rapidly rising home prices. Pre-subprime mortgages, those looking to buy homes found it difficult to obtain mortgages if they had below average credit histories, provided small down payments or sought high-payment loans without the collateral, income, and/or credit history to match with their mortgage request. Indeed some high-risk families could obtain small-sized mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), otherwise, those facing limited credit options, rented. Because of these processes, home ownership fluctuated around 65 percent, mortgage foreclosure rates were low, and home construction and house prices mainly reflected swings in mortgage interest rates and income.

Within the past three to four years, the United States has seen the dramatic collapse of the housing market. The housing bubble spurred by ill-advised loans to individuals who could not afford a mortgage, complicated contracts which had interest rates and payments changing without reason, and the mass purchasing of bad loans by lending superpowers, had popped. The rapid increase in the value of homes across the country for the previous decade, had been a falsity, in which billions of dollars funded by investments and home purchases were lost within a few months (Wikipedia.org: United States housing bubble). Millions of home owners were found to be unable to pay their mortgages, leading to hundreds of thousands of foreclosures. These

The foreclosure crisis in Cleveland has imposed significant financial burdens upon taxpayers and area residents who have been forced to shoulder burdens that are rightfully the responsibility of borrowers, mortgage lenders and others that are direct parties to the mortgage transaction. Indeed, “the failure of borrowers and lenders

Foreclosure is one over arching problem facing the United States of America today with no one perfect solution. Each person in the US suffering from foreclosure has a unique circumstance and situation that has led them to the economic turmoil they face, and that uniqueness therefore requires any solution to the overall issue of foreclosure to be versatile to a plethora of situations. There is not one faultless way to resolve the crisis, but with a combination of different measures, the foreclosure crisis can be slowed.

The housing market crash, which broke out in the United States in 2007, was caused by high risk subprime mortgages. The subprime mortgage crisis resulted in a sudden reduction in money and credit availability from banks and other lending institutions, which was referred to as a “credit crunch.” The “credit crunch” and its effect spread across the United States and further on to other countries across the world. The “credit crunch” caused a collapse in the housing markets, stock markets and major financial institutions across the globe.

The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was a set of events that led to the 2008 financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage defaults and foreclosures. This paper seeks to explain the causes of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and how this has led to a generalized credit crisis in other financial sectors that ultimately affects the real economy. In recent decades, financial industry has developed quickly and various financial innovation techniques have been abused widely, which is the main cause of this international financial crisis. In addition, deregulation, loose monetary policies of the Federal Reserve, shadow banking system also play

One of the first indications of the late 2000 financial crisis that led to downward spiral known as the “Recession” was the subprime mortgages; known as the “mortgage mess”. A few years earlier the substantial boom of the housing market led to the uprising of mortgage loans. Because interest rates were low, investors took advantage of the low rates to buy homes that they could in return ‘flip’ (reselling) and homeowners bought homes that they typically wouldn’t have been able to afford. High interest rates usually keep people from borrowing money because it limits the amount available to use for an investment. But the creation of the subprime mortgage

Due to such events as the subprime mortgage crisis, the auto market and Wall Street’s failure, the United States suffered a severe economic blow. Looking at the situation from an economic view, supply is supposed to equal demand. Due to the mortgage crisis and the careless attempts of some to make money, there is a superfluous amount of empty homes throughout the United States. In the subprime mortgage crisis, the nature of the failure was the inability to account for money given to individuals, who lack the appropriate requirements. In order to obtain a loan, collateral is needed. References were not being checked and poor credit history went ignored. People were obtaining loans and not paying attention to the interests rates associated. “This time around, the slack standards allowed millions of high-risk borrowers to get easy home mortgages. When this so-called subprime market collapsed beginning about a year ago, ordinary working people bore the brunt” (Gallagher, 2008). Companies were so anxious to place people in homes, that it cost them billions of dollars and