There is little question that the recent booming housing market and the state of the economy in general were fueled by sub prime loans-loans to folks who otherwise would've never gotten one. While one can argue that is was good to get more homeowners, the cost of that "goodness" is now manifesting itself.

The lowering of standards and the widening range of products to induce minorities of black and Hispanic borrowers into home ownership- "The American Dream" accounted for much of the growth. From 1995-2005, they accounted for a huge 49% of the growth to be specific.

Now when reality is starting to set in and those loans are due to reset their rates, an alarming percentage are going bad.

It is no wonder that this market of minorities were targeted in advertising by sub prime lenders.

• They were virtually untapped as a source of new loans.

• They are for the most part undereducated.

• They typically don't trust traditional lenders like banks.

• Regulation of the mortgage business is very lax.

• And believe it or not, lenders had allies in community groups and politicians eager to see an increase in minority home ownership. What a great accomplishment- getting homes for minorities.

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In other words they were ripe for the picking.

A perfect storm of conditions made it acceptable to prey on those who should have never gotten a loan in the first place. Throw in a huge amount of greed.

National standards for the lending industry are being considered by Congress. Lenders are setting up programs to help people out of bad loans. It is going to be a rough recovery that may take years. Some individuals may never recover.

Jack Krohn is a leading free lance writer on Home Equity and Mortgage issues with over 35 articles to his credit. He is also the #1 author of Home Security Articles in the country according to Ezine Articles.