If you think a mortgage is onerous today, the terms of early mortgages were downright frightful. While the concept has its origins in Persia thousands of years ago, the Romans refined it and took the idea to Britain. There, the terms for borrowing to buy land were varied and always in favor of the creditor. In some cases, the lender would use the collateral property to generate income which paid for the loan. In other cases, the borrower made payments. Whether the borrower got any use of the land at all during this time was on a case-by-case basis, so land loans were often more like a layaway program. But if the lender decided to demand full payment at any time, the borrower might be completely out of luck and lose his entire investment! It's no wonder mortgages weren't all that popular until they were further refined in the United States. Read the history of the mortgage at The Conversation. -via Damn Interesting