In this segment from The Motley Fool's everything-financials show, Where the Money Is, analysts David Hanson and Matt Koppenheffer take a listener's question regarding private mortgage insurers like Radian, MGIC Investment, and Genworth Financial. The question is:
I've got a somewhat dated question for you regarding the housing crisis and mortgage lending industry. If I understand correctly, borrowers are required by most banks to have private mortgage insurance if their down payment is less than 20% of the sale price. I don't think it's a stretch to assume that most "subprime" loans would have been subject to this. Ever since the crisis, I've wondered what happened to the PMI companies. Shouldn't responsibility have fallen to them to remunerate the banks for the losses? Isn't that their prime responsibility?
