Risk-based pricing is alive and well in the subprime market and borrowers are benefiting from prepayment penalties on their loans. Those were the key findings from two studies commissioned by the National Home Equity Mortgage Association. The studies, conducted by researchers at the University of Virginia, analyzed the characteristics of more than 900,000 first-lien mortgages originated last year that were included in a database compiled by law firm Sirote & Permutt, an Alabama-based firm that…