Subprime Mortgage Crisis: A Horror Story

If the Halloween season has whetted your taste for horror stories, why not go for something scarier than a chain saw massacre or a boy with scissor fingers?  Go for a subprime mortgage crisis.  Fortune Magazine has one for you called "House of Junk."

Fortune asked around regarding which pool of mortgages really, really stinks.  They found one of the worst, then delved deeply into it.  With the name of that obscure pool (GSAMP Trust 2006-S3), you can even go to Edgar and see the actual filings on which Fortune based its article.  The prospectus makes interesting reading, in a macabre sort of way.

If you are not familiar with how the mortgage industry slices and dices individual mortgages into Wall Street securities, this article will make fascinating reading.  But don’t blame me if you have nightmares.