During the housing boom, lenders created mortgage mills and put people into overpriced homes with mortgages that were difficult to understand and even more difficult to maintain. They often didn't bother to verify incomes or an applicant's long-term ability to keep up with the mortgage payments.

The Great Recession was caused by reckless Wall Street pay and fraud, a breakdown in sound lending standards by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and mortgage mills like Countrywide, and a huge trade deficit with China and on oil.

FBI Special Agent Steven Carter told lenders that Federal investigators have been flooded with complaints about so-called "mortgage mill" operations that specialize in arranging fraudulent loans. … He said that, since many of these new arrivals cannot qualify for a loan, they turn to a mortgage mill.