On the other hand, if financial institutions try to avoid such a predicament by taking excessive risks to increase revenues, such actions themselves would introduce new sources of instability to the financial system.
All told, the rate of serious delinquencies for subprime mortgages with adjustable interest rates – corresponding to mortgages in the foreclosure process or with payments ninety or more days overdue – has risen to about  BIS Review 59/2007  1  12 percent, roughly double the recent low seen in mid-2005.