During the summer’s credit crisis, investors concluded that the default rates on subprime mortgages made last year would probably prove to be the highest in the industry’s history.

But there now appears to be another contender for that dubious honor: loans made in the first half of this year. Borrowers who took out loans in the first six months of 2007 are falling behind on payments faster than homeowners who took out loans last year, according to a report by investment bank Friedman, Billings, Ramsey.

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