Are subprime loans an unethical financial instrument, or are they ethical but misused in a way that created ethical issues?
Subprime loans are not considered to be an unethical financial instrument. However, their misuse results in both ethical and legal issues. Original goal of subprime lending is helping borrowers with low credit ratings or those who cannot maintain their repayment schedule to receive loans at a rate above prime loans.
Subprime loans appeared in 1970s, when social activists mobilized President Administration and U.S. Congress to deal with social injustices in home ownership, and provide loan opportunities to people from low-income neighborhoods (Eastburn 14). Since then lenders could charge higher rates to this kind of borrowers due to added risk, and ...
