Subprime

Technically it was people, not home loans, that were classified as ‘subprime’: they were a less-than-ideal class of borrower, not quite perfect. This was a lot kinder than calling them ‘deadbeats’. Probably no large financial institution would ever have bought a tranche of securitized ‘deadbeat mortgages’. And then the financial crisis would never have happened.

Citigroup settles over ‘subprime’ lawsuits

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