It cannot just be assumed that most people who during the housing boom bought homes with adjustable-rate mortgages, or mortgages with prepayment penalties, or mortgages that required a low or even no down payment, were fools or victims of fraud.

WSJ: The Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act Is Flawed

That pushed the rates on adjustable loans to historic lows as well, helping to fuel the housing boom.

WSJ: How Government Stoked the Mania

The SEC says Mozilo, former chief operating officer David Sambol and ex-chief financial officer Eric Sieracki deliberately misled investors about the nature of Countrywide's business, including the degree to which it had deviated from underwriting mostly prime loans toward riskier subprime and option adjustable-rate mortgages, both of which began to crumble when the housing bubble burst in 2007.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Add the likelihood of some 1m more repossessions as adjustable-rate mortgages are reset, and you have the makings of a housing glut.

ECONOMIST: America's housing market

The nation's housing market is likely to get more of that tough love this year and next as nearly 2 million adjustable mortgages reset.

NPR: Adjustable-Rate Mortgages Fuel Foreclosure Crisis