And Subprime is simply a name given to certain types of loans that are considered to be of a higher credit risk than other loans. The loan tiers that people normally discuss are sub-prime (the worst), Alt-A (the middle), and conforming (the best).


Sub-Prime also refers to the types of loans offered by lenders. It's possible to have a sub-prime lender do a loan for someone with a very high credit score. Sub-prime lenders offer fixed rate mortgages, as do Alt-A, and Conforming lenders.

In sub-prime, you might expect the rate to be higher on a 30 year fixed loan than you would on a conforming loan.

Also keep in mind that "fixed rate" doesn't mean much any more as there are 5 year adjustable loans that have a fixed rate for five years, yet adjust after that. These can be advertised as "five year fixed." Always make sure you know the total length of the loan, and the total length of the fixed period.