We examine the factors that determine the likelihood of borrowers using non-traditional mortgages (NTMs) prior to the Great Recession. Borrower choice depends on borrower characteristics such as income, levels of asset holdings, credit score and age and on market factors such as house price...

We exploit the OCC's preemption of national banks from state laws against predatory lending as a quasi-experiment to study the effect of deregulation and its interaction with competition on the supply of complex mortgages. Following the preemption ruling, national banks significantly increased...