Mortgage meltdown goes beyond subprime

Read this excellent LA Times article to see how this is about a lot more than just subprime.

Thought the mortgage meltdown was just a sub-prime affair? Think again. There’s another time bomb waiting to explode, experts say: risky loans made to people with good credit.

So-called pay-option adjustable-rate mortgages, or option ARMs, were the easiest and most profitable home loans for lenders and brokers to make for much of this decade. Last year, they accounted for about 9% of the volume of all mortgages made in the U.S. and were especially popular in California, Florida and Nevada — states where home prices rose the most during the housing boom and are now falling most sharply. - By National Bubble