scratch and dent mortgage
n.— «Founded in 1996, New York-based C-Bass specializes in investing in distressed home mortgage loans. Also known as “scratch and dent” mortgages, these are loans that were either not documented properly or on which borrowers missed a payment but are now current.» —“Jittery Stock Market Drops as Mortgage Fallout Spreads” by Julie Creswell, Vikas Bajaj New York Times Aug. 1, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The words we choose can change attitudes — and change lives. A swing-dance instructor has switched to gender-neutral language when teaching couples. He says that using words like “leader” and “follower” actually works better...
Why don’t we pronounce the letter b in the word subtle? The word derives ultimately from Latin subtilis, meaning “fine, delicate,” and was adopted into Middle English from Old French as sotil. The b was later added back in so that...