United States subprime mortgage crisis

The subprime mortgage crisis was a collapse in the United States housing market that began as borrowers with poor credit histories, who had been granted loans on easy terms during a housing boom, started to default in large numbers. Many of these mortgages had been bundled into securities and sold to investors around the world, so the losses spread through banks and financial markets. Several large financial institutions failed or had to be rescued, including Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and AIG, and the crisis grew into the global financial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession. It led to government bailouts, a wave of financial regulation, including the Dodd-Frank Act, and long-lasting political effects.

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