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WASHINGTON (AP) - Troubles with risky mortgages have given the entire industry a black eye, a top mortgage-banking executive said Tuesday.
"It's not just our reputations that have been damaged. People have been hurt. ... All because of a very few unethical actors," John Robbins, chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said in a speech at the National Press Club. He didn't mention anyone by name.
Lenders to subprime borrowers — people with blemished credit histories — have been battered. Rising interest rates and weak home prices have made it increasingly difficult for these borrowers, especially those with adjustable-rate mortgages, to keep up with their mortgage payments. Delinquencies and foreclosures in the subprime mortgage market have jumped. Looser lending standards have been partly blamed for the problem.
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