Act II: Option ARMs

We've been warned in the past that Option ARMS (as separate mortgage instruments from sub-prime loans) would be the next possible domino to fall, and now it seems it is happening. From today's L.A. Times and as noted on the L.A. Land blog:

Numbers from industry trackers suggest that these borrowers -- most of whom boast respectable and often top-tier credit scores and appear to have substantial incomes and home equity -- are starting to create a second tide of defaults for lenders swamped by the meltdown in sub-prime loans made to people with bad credit or overstretched finances.

Option ARM delinquencies are at double-digit levels in many areas of California, including the Inland Empire...

The percentage of option ARMs with payments behind by at least 60 days in California is in double digits in the Inland Empire, San Diego County, Santa Barbara County, Sacramento, Salinas and Modesto, according to data provided to The Times by mortgage researcher First American Loan Performance.

The more recent loans appear to be faring the worst, reaffirming the conclusion that lending standards had become overly lax throughout the mortgage industry in the middle of this decade, as competition for fewer good loans intensified amid skyrocketing home prices.

In Yuba City, north of Sacramento, 15% of option ARMs made in 2005 were delinquent at the end of October, the Loan Performance tally showed, and in Stockton-Lodi the delinquency rate on option ARMs from both 2005 and 2006 was over 13%.

"It is astonishing how fast the credit deterioration has occurred," said Paul Miller, an analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. who follows the savings and loans that specialize in these mortgages. "It took me and everybody else by surprise."

Oh, really. EVERYBODY? Did you actually interview 'everybody?'

Option ARM loans have been around for awhile, but were generally used by the more sophisticated borrower who had wide fluctuations in monthly income. More recently, however, the combination of 'stated income' loans and the Option ARM flexibility helped sell a lot of homes at the height of the boom:

Option ARMs present borrowers with a choice every month: pay the interest due and some of the principal; pay interest only, leaving the loan balance untouched; or pay less than the interest due, making the loan balance rise.

After a specified time, typically five years, the options disappear and regular payment obligations kick in, often at a level two or more times the initial minimum. This jolt can occur after only three years if the borrower has been making the lowest payments and the balance rises high enough.

Traditionally, good candidates for stated-income option ARM loans were self-employed professionals, small-business owners and salespeople with complicated finances and fluctuating earnings. But many other people received them in recent years.