Imagine a financial product potentially worth hundreds of thousands of pounds a pop and sold a shade under 150,000 times a year, often by High Street banks and building societies.
People tempted into these deals are regularly putting down their life savings, or a substantial chunk of them, and many are taking their first foray into such investments.
You could be forgiven for thinking that such a concept would be regulated. But, instead, the buy-to-let mortgage remains firmly stuck in the wild west when it comes to consumer protection.
This is something some Bank of Ireland buy-to-let borrowers are finding to their cost. Their tracker mortgages have leapt from a pay rate of 2.25 per cent to 4.99 per cent at the lender's whim.
A similar hike is also hitting some residential mortgage borrowers, but while they can complain to the watchdog landlords cannot, because buy-to-let loans are unregulated.
Is it right that mortgages commonly sold to unsophisticated investors sit in this wilderness, especially when there is pressure for landlords and letting agents themselves to be regulated?
While you can lose a hefty amount to a dodgy landlord or letting agent, you can end up a whole lot more out-of-pocket on a buy-to-let investment that comes crashing down to earth.
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It is also worth noting that the almost complete disinterest in regulating the hardly niche buy-to-let market stands in contrast to the desire to crackdown on offbeat investment schemes in wine and timber.
That juxtaposition is not aimed at belittling the aim of stopping sharp characters flogging suspect investments to the unsuspecting, but seeing as buy-to-let advances make up 10 per cent of gross mortgage lending they may also be worth some attention.
Previous attempts to look at regulation have faltered on technical disputes about where buy-to-let ends and commercial mortgages start.
The cold hard fact remains though that many buy-to-let mortgages are sold to ordinary consumers and they need better protection.