Predatory lending is the unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent practices of some
lenders during the
loan origination process. While there are no legal definitions in the United States for predatory lending, an audit report on predatory lending from the office of inspector general of the
FDIC broadly defines predatory lending as "imposing unfair and abusive loan terms on borrowers." Though there are laws against many of the specific practices commonly identified as predatory, various federal agencies use the phrase as a catch-all term for many specific illegal activities in the
loan industry. Predatory lending should not be confused with
predatory mortgage servicing which is the unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent practices of lenders and servicing agents during the loan or mortgage servicing process, post loan origination.