ever since the recession that began in 2008, which was caused by bad mortgages that never should have been written and derivatives based on them, there are 20 million more people in the u.s. who rent (rather than own a home) than there were before the crash.

the 2008 recession tightened criteria for mortgages at many banks and brought about an unprecedented number of foreclosures. the average credit score of a foreclosed home between 1997 and 2004 was 537. after that, it rose to 571.