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I’m a REALTOR, not a lender, but from where I sat, yeah, the US had some very "creative" ways of qualifying borrowers.
There were all sorts of loans available, including:
The NINJAs, but not really since borrowers did need to show some assets – just what is an asset? Ask the lenders that made the loans. Oh yeah, they all took their money and ran.
The 80-20 – that was basically 103%+ because so many borrowers rolled their closing costs, pre-paids into the loans – and avoided PMI so there was nothing securing the loans.
The Hybrid ARMs – where "marginal" borrowers (at best) were qualified based on the lower "teaser rate" for new "lower end" houses. And, in the case of new homes here (Austin, TX), property tax appraisals based on "lot" value before the home was built. So even though the ARM interest rate hadn’t adjusted (yet), the monthly payment went up $300 or more after the property taxes were assessed on the value AFTER the home was built.
How about homeowners in areas of rapid appreciation like CA & NV who bought for $40,000 and homes now appraised for $400,000+ (like a friend of mine who owns a little condo in LA) who took out HELOCs and bought "investment" properties in lower priced places?
No PMI to secure these loans. And there were lots of other ways to become a homeowner with no money out of pocket and over-valued property prices.
Then there was the bundling of these very risky assets into mortgage backed securities that were sold to investors all over the world.
Yeah, some nasty business here.
I think it started with de-regulation of lending practices and was aided along after the Tech Bust (which started in 2000).
Yes, it really WAS that easy to borrow money. sigh.