Founded in 1991, EquiFirst Corporation grew to become one of the largest non-bank subprime mortgage lenders in the United States. The company specialized in providing residential mortgages to borrowers with impaired credit histories. It was acquired by Regions Financial Corporation in 1999. In April 2007, at the peak of the subprime market, Barclays acquired EquiFirst for $225 million. However, due to the rapidly deteriorating market conditions of the subprime mortgage crisis, Barclays announced the closure of EquiFirst's lending operations just four months later in August 2007, resulting in significant job losses and financial writedowns for Barclays.

Founded in

United States