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In 2003, 35 percent of all home purchase mortgage loans in Providence were made through a subprime specialist, and in some Providence neighborhoods the rate was well over 50 percent. Providence was second only to Central Falls, which had a citywide rate of 54 percent.
A subprime mortgage is one granted to a borrower who may have problematic credit or no credit history. In designing these loans, lenders may charge higher interest rates, insist that consumers pay up-front fees, or institute unusual rules or payback schedules as a way to compensate for potential losses from customers who may run into trouble or default. 
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Pulling together data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), the Urban Institute and the U.S Census Bureau, The Providence Plan developed these maps and graphs, which depict the percent of home-mortgage products purchased in 2003 through a “subprime specialist” as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. While subprime specialists can also provide conventional mortgages to consumers, there is a high degree of certainty that most loans provided by subprime specialists are indeed subprime mortgages. HMDA data do not disclose whether individual loans are conventional or subprime and thus the number of institutions selling the mortgage is the most reliable indicator.
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