As a veteran of the 2007-2008 turmoil, I am focused on one in particular: "covenant-lite" loans.

WSJ: Current Account: Cheap Junk Leads to Expensive Mistakes

Issuers also took advantage of their technical advantage to structure 55% of new loans as covenant-lite.

FORBES: February Analysis - US Leveraged Loan Market

Issuers continued to press their technical advantage to structure more than half of new loans as covenant-lite.

FORBES: March Analysis, US Leveraged Loan Market

Although lending costs inched up, the percent of new issues structured as covenant-lite reached a five-year high of 45%.

FORBES: May 2012, US Leveraged Loan Market Trends and Analysis

Covenant-lite loans removed some of those safeguards, creating the risk that default, when it occurred, would be more painful for creditors.

ECONOMIST: What isn't known about bad debts

In all, 43.2% of sponsored-backed new-issue volume since Oct. 1 is covenant-lite.

FORBES: Connect

And, in a sign of the times, Husky International waded into the market on July 30 to reprice its covenant-lite loan (the plastics company originally tested the market for a lower spread in May before shelving the transaction amid deteriorating market conditions).

FORBES: Leveraged loan technicals strengthen in July as supply shrinks