"The most in a decade" is where all the shenanigans of the article lie.

Let's say Peak 2006, Sub-Prime Loan was $600B

Let's say the average, natural Sub-Prime Loan is $100B

After the crash, may be the market over-corrected way to much and slowly crawling back to it's natural $100B.

With this perspective, the narrative becomes totally different. The lending standard is still too tight and still way below what the natural / average economy support. Remember there has to be a balance between exuberance and over-cautious. A journalist should find out, what the happy medium is

That's why numerical literacy is important