The risk of default by these countries is much less now than it was three years ago.

They are allowed by law to charge for the higher risk of default.

Its current maximum is about $42,000 a year for people who are 65 or older at the time of default.

"We found out the owners were in some kind of default."

Hence the bank will want to keep the risk of default low.

If there is a 1 in 20 chance of default then the fee would be 5 percent or so.

"They want to have some kind of default," she said.

Would you sell a mortgage to someone who had a high risk of default?

There are other ways to eliminate or reduce the risk of default.

"It will be interesting to see the amount of defaults in this program."