First, Congress requires them to buy insurance on the riskiest loans.

The company must deal with both risky loans and slow investment banking business, he said.

Lenders in California say big investment banks encouraged and pushed them to make risky loans.

There's a reason the riskiest loans have very high interest rates.

"We will take on a more risky loan," she said.

One reason for this is that the majority of these people have borrowed with risky subprime loans.

It was only seven years ago that banks were vowing to never again make risky loans.

When this bubble collapsed, many of these risky loans lost their value.

But many also result from risky loans given to home buyers during the recent real estate boom, officials say.

A government guarantee of risky loans to new ventures makes more sense.