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sub-prime

This buzz word of the financial industry dates back at least to the beginning of the decade in North America but has only recently started to appear in British newspapers. It refers to a group of potential borrowers who would in plain language be called bad risks — former bankrupts, those with court judgements against them, or who have financial problems due to redundancy or divorce. There have always been firms prepared to lend money to people in these groups, at a price, but in the nineties there has been a significant tendency for established lenders to move into this market, particularly to provide mortgages. As a result, a number of euphemisms have surfaced, such as sub-standard, impaired credit, and non-conforming, but it seems that sub-prime is the most common and is likely to be the most enduring

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Originally posted by missann:
Thus we will now be bombarded with sub-prime sports scores, sub-prime beer, sub-prime spouses, etc. Remember, you heard it here first!