I was wondering how we managed to get approve...

“I was wondering how we managed to get approved for as much as we did,” she said. This is the story of one of those bonds, GSAMP Trust 2007 NC1. The name is the sort of gobbledygook that is common in the bond market, but it tells a story. The “GS” is derived from Goldman Sachs. The Wall Street firm didn’t actually make mortgages to subprime borrowers that were in the deal. Instead, Goldman bought... [more]

“I was wondering how we managed to get approved for as much as we did,” she said. This is the story of one of those bonds, GSAMP Trust 2007 NC1. The name is the sort of gobbledygook that is common in the bond market, but it tells a story. The “GS” is derived from Goldman Sachs. The Wall Street firm didn’t actually make mortgages to subprime borrowers that were in the deal. Instead, Goldman bought them from a lender called New Century, the “NC” in the title. It was New Century that lent to Wendy Fillmore, when she and her husband wanted to buy their house in Las Vegas in 2006. The home cost $276,000. New Century provided two loans, one for a $221,000 loan and a second mortgage for $53,000. Data for the Goldman deal shows that it contains the Fillmores’ larger loan. Ms. Fillmore’s husband was, and still is, an information technology specialist, and at the time she was working as a transcriber. She recalls the surprise she felt when New Century agreed to the make the mortgages. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/08/12/in-one-bundle-of-mortgages-the-subprime-crisis-reverberates/ [less]