By now you have read all about the debacle in the sub-prime lending market. What you might not know is the number of investment banks involved in the business.
So, what is a sub-prime lender? They are lenders who loan money to borrowers who do not qualify for loans from mainstream lenders. Borrowers who a very high credit risks cannot qualify for prime financing, and often have low credit scores. Usually these borrowers are a high risk, and have to pay higher rates than those who are able to borrow from a prime lender.
Basically, these are loans issued to people with lower incomes, so they get screwed when they borrow by paying a higher interest rate.
The favorite mortgage of choice for these sub-prime lenders is none other than the infamous Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM).
As you are well aware, (and I have written about this several times over the past two years) the interest rates on ARM's have jumped up dramatically.
Here is a list of the Top 25 Subprime Lenders (www.mortgageimplode.com)
Please note the number of investment banks involved in the business.
1. Wells Fargo
2. HSBC Household Finance [rumored to be up for sale]
3. New Century [restating '06 earnings downwards; major shareholder lawsuits]
4. Countrywide
5. Fremont
6. Option One [H&R Block; up for sale]
7. Ameriquest [owned by ACC; shut most offices, settled with 30 states over predatory lending]
8. WMC [subsidiary of GE Money]
9. Washington Mutual [closed 80 branches in late 2006]
10. CitiFinancial
11. First Franklin [acquired by Merrill Lynch from National City for $1.3bln]
12. GMAC [Major layoffs in ResCap]
13. Accredited Home
14. BNC [Lehman bros. subsidiary]
15. ChaseHome Finance
16. Novastar
17. OwnIt, 2006-12-07 [partially-owned by Merrill and BofA]
18. Aegis [recently closed two subprime operations centers]
19. MLN, 2006-12-29 [reportedly bought out by Lehman]
20. EMC
21. ResMAE,2007-02-13 [in bankruptcy; being funded by Credit Suisse]
22. FirstNLC
23. Decision One [owned by HSBC; rumored to be up for sale]
24. ECC/Encore [fire-sale bought out by Bear-Stearns]
25. Fieldstone [2007-02-16, bought by C-Bass]
