Fly-by-night brokers were writing mortgages for anyone who could fog a mirror, and not because the CRA forced them to. They weren't banks, the CRA didn't even a

Fly-by-night brokers were writing mortgages for anyone who could fog a mirror, and not because the CRA forced them to. They weren't banks, the CRA didn't even apply to them. They wrote the mortgages because every single one was quickly profitable. If you know Wall Street is eager to buy every MBS anyone can put together, and it no longer matters to you how stupid those loans are (because you won't be on the hook for any of them and you know some bent appraisers), you want to write as many mortgages as you can possibly unload before the music stops. Even for the banks to which the CRA did apply, it required the same lending standards for buyers in redlined neighborhoods, not lower standards.