It's a tale of woe:

"If you would have [asked] for a couple of bank statements, that would have proved that they could have gone prime, but if the sub-prime loan officer [has] already been able to sell that rate to that customer, then why would you take it prime and cut your commission by two-thirds?"

Liar loans

Under a sub-prime mortgage customers didn't have to prove their income. They didn't have to pay a deposit. The lender made a lot of money - and the customer typically ended up paying a much higher rate of interest.

There has been some anecdotal evidence that companies were deliberately pushing people into such loans when they simply weren't suitable.

Beth Jacobson is one of the first to lift the lid on what was going on, and therefore to shine some light onto the origins of the housing crisis which helped ignite the global recession.

"I think to some degree you knew you were putting people into loans they really didn't need to be, but we were doing exactly what the company asked. At that time in the office we'd say 'we're riding the stagecoach to hell'."