U.S. consumers are finding it easier to get a mortgage, after years of near frozen credit following the financial crisis. This, in turn, is giving way to more creative loan products, as well as more unusual ways of using existing loan products.
The heat behind the credit thaw is simple clarification. After the crash of the subprime mortgage market, lenders were hit with billions of dollars in lawsuits and loan buybacks by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the federal government. Afraid of having to buy back future loans, even pristine ones, lenders shut the door to anyone without virtually pristine credit. That is finally changing.
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