Borrowed time.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: TILTING at windmills - Brief article

If you're worried about those no-down-payment mortgages, you will not be comforted to know that a rapidly increasing number of mortgages are in default. Called "sub-prime," these mortgages have often been issued on the basis of little evidence of the home owners' credit-worthiness. To compound the problem, many mortgages, and not just those of the sub-prime variety, require payment on the interest only in the early years, meaning that home owners are in for a major shock when payments on the principal begin to be required. Many mortgages issued in 2005 and 2006 are "defaulting...