WSJ Misses Fraud Behind Alien “Mortgage Boom” By Edwin S. Rubenstein

While the overall mortgage market is shrinking, one type of loan is bucking the trend: mortgages for illegal immigrants.

Known as ITIN mortgages because most illegals have individual taxpayer identification numbers instead of Social Security numbers, they’ve apparently escaped the sub prime meltdown.

A recent Wall Street Journal article, Unlikely Mortgage Winner [subscriber link, also here] October 9, 2007, by Miriam Jordan [email her], gloats: 

“For loans more than 90 days in arrears, ITIN mortgages have a delinquency rate of about 0.5%, according to independent estimates. That compares with 1% for prime mortgages and 9.3% for subprime mortgages extended to those with spotty credit histories.”

As to why illegals rarely default, claims Jordan:

WSJ Misses Fraud Behind Alien “Mortgage Boom” ...

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