This paper offers evidence on the design of subprime mortgages as bridge-financing products. We show that the viability of subprime mortgages was uniquely predicated on the appreciation of house prices over short-horizons. High rates of early prepayments on subprime mortgages are suggestive of...

This paper introduces a measure of credit score performance that abstracts from the influence of “situational factors.” Using this measure, we study the role and effectiveness of credit scoring that underlied subprime securities during the mortgage boom of 2000-2006. Parametric and...