by Calculated Risk on 10/23/2007 10:52:00 PM

From the WSJ: 'Option ARM' Delinquencies Bleed Into Profitable Prime Mortgages

Subprime mortgages aren't the only challenge facing Countrywide Financial Corp. ... Some loans classified as prime when they were originated are now going bad at a rapid pace.

These ... option ARMs ... typically have low introductory rates and allow minimal payments in the early years of the mortgage. Multiple payment choices include a minimum payment that covers none of the principal and only part of the interest normally due. If borrowers choose that minimum payment, their loan balances grow -- a phenomenon known as "negative amortization."

Click on graph for larger image. This chart from Credit Suisse via the IMF shows the heavy subprime resets in 2008, plus it shows the reset problems with Alt-A and Option ARM loans in later years.

... An analysis prepared for The Wall Street Journal by UBS AG shows that 3.55% of option ARMs originated by Countrywide in 2006 and packaged into securities sold to investors are at least 60 days past due. That compares with an average option-ARM delinquency rate of 2.56% for the industry as a whole and is the highest of six companies analyzed by UBS.
...
The deteriorating performance of option ARMs is evidence that lax underwriting that led to problems in subprime loans is showing up in the prime market, where defaults typically are minimal. Challenges could grow, as from 2009 to 2011, monthly payments on some $229 billion of option ARMs will be adjusted to include market-rate interest and principal, according to Moody's Economy.com.
...
It now appears that many borrowers who moved into option ARMs were attracted by the low payments and may have been staving off other financial problems. More than 80% of borrowers who are current on these loans make only the minimum payment, according to UBS. emphasis added

These Option ARMs, especially the low doc, minimal downpayment Option ARMs, are ticking time bombs.