Between 2004 to 2007, many home-owners apparently logged Mr Greenspan's endorsement of "financial innovation" and took out mortgages with exotic names such as Option ARM.

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The option ARM allows borrowers to pay less interest than the formal rate for a limited period (the vast majority of customers choose this option).

ECONOMIST: American housing 2: Ticking time bomb | The

But when house prices are falling and refinancing is difficult, as is now the case, the option ARM is the financial equivalent of a bikini in winter.

ECONOMIST: American housing 2: Ticking time bomb | The

Her natural targets other big banks with units that underwrote large amounts of subprime, Alt-A, or option ARM mortgage-backed securities during the housing boom include JPMorgan Chase , Royal Bank of Scotland , Wells Fargo , Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley , Citigroup , Goldman Sachs and Ally Financial.

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The folks who championed all those neg-am option-ARM mortgages (Alan).

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Dr Mahathir's preferred option now appears to be to order Khazanah, the government's investment arm, which he chairs, to bail out Time.

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Some of the creative ARM products that flourished of late included interest-only and payment-option loans.

NPR: Mass. Homeowners Rally Against Foreclosures