we changed from 10 to 15% a couple years ago, maybe 8 years or more.
It was abot 6 months before the housing mess started coming out. They wanted to go to 20% we went to 15%, however i beleibe tey became more stringent on buyers money in the bank and their finances in reserve if they lost their job, ie 1 year of maintenance in reserve.
i didn't realize how messed up the mortgages were, when i got my mortgage in 1983, it was pretty strict as far as income and amount borrowed . with the way they were throwing mortgages around i could have bought a i million dollar property for the same money. it was insane.
i see the other post below states PMI, i thought PMI was necessary if you put down under 20%, it was when i bought. i could not believe that it wasn't required anymore under 20%. idiots