Subprime Lending
Also called: subprime, subprime borrower, near-prime
Subprime lending is credit extended to borrowers with weak credit histories, priced with much higher rates to compensate for the higher default rate. It is not inherently predatory — someone has to lend to a 580 score — but it is where predatory structures cluster, and it was the raw material of the 2008 crisis once subprime mortgages were packaged into securities rated as safe. The modern volume centre is subprime auto lending.