Countrywide CEO Finds Struggling Homeowners “Disgusting”
Facing the potential loss of his home, Daniel Bailey decided to do what his lender, Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC), said to do: contact them to work out a deal so he can keep his house. Mr. Bailey didn’t expect, however, to receive a reply from the CEO, Angelo Mozilo.
Mr. Mozilo, meaning to forward the message along with his response to a colleague, accidentally replied to Mr. Bailey’s email saying, “This is unbelievable. Most of these letters now have the same wording. Obviously they are being counseled by some other person or by the internet. Disgusting.”
Now, I don’t know if I even need to say it, but Mozilo’s reply is what is disgusting. This is a guy who led the nation in predatory lending, and is one of the people who is most responsible for the current situation homeowners like Mr. Bailey are in.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a strong believer in letting real estate speculators - those who bought an additional house banking on the fact that real estate would continue to climb higher - lose their property. That’s simply a fact of life when gambling. What I’m not happy about is letting homeowners who bought just one home, their primary residence, fall flat on their face because they were duped into a bad loan.
There should be assistance for first-time buyers who were taken advantage of. Do I want to assist them? If necessary, but I believe that people like Mr. Mozilo, who raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from these loans, should foot the bill.
It’s apparent from this debacle that Mr. Mozilo doesn’t care at all about the people he swindled money from. In fact, he thinks they’re disgusting. While it’s true he may be directing his “disgusting” comment towards those who created the email template that Mr. Bailey used, that almost makes it worse. The people at LoanSafe.org, those who created the template, are simply trying to help homeowners keep their homes. It’s a non-profit organization created to clean up Mr. Mozilo’s mess. How dare he attack them for helping people keep their homes. Furthermore, it was Countrywide that suggested struggling borrowers contact them!
I wonder how Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), who will likely buy Countrywide, feels about this. It’s certainly not good for their image. It really doesn’t matter much anyway; Mr. Mozilo already made his fortune and he’s probably out golfing somewhere in Florida.
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This article has 25 comments:
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H2O
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146 Comments
My Website
May 22 09:47 AMKInd of like them faking all those apprasers is it not - and he gets mad - Now he's caught - and Now the next Great American squatters take place.
Can You Claim Sexism – If it’s Your Husband – That’s Sexist?
But then again – Can you call people a sexist – If your one too?
"Bitches," "Whores," "Sluts," "Trailer Trash" who must be "destroyed" - how Hillary refers to Bill's sex victims and girlfriends.
"If you want to remain on this detail, get your f*cking ass over here and grab those bags."
Hillary gave this order to a Secret Service agent who wanted to keep his hands free in case of an incident (as he was trained and supposed to do) and who, therefore, was hesitant to carry her bags. According to countless witnesses over many years, this kind of demanding and demeaning behavior was and still is common for Hillary Rodham Clinton. In fact, Chris Mathews-a left-leaning news commentator who is often an apologist for Democrats-said years later that he had seen Senator Hillary Clinton using a Secret Service agent to carry her bags on the Washington to New York shuttle. "Who in the Senate gets a sherpa to carry their bags for them? Who pays the airfare for this guy? Who pays for his life-style? Who pays his salary to walk around carrying her bags? This looks pretty regal" (Hardball, 08/01, quoted on Newsmax.com, 07/17/01).
"I am proud that my husband has stood up as president to confront the violence and to protect American women."
Regarding Bill Clinton's position on the issue of violence against women (Issues2000.org 01/21/03).
Note: When Bill Clinton saw that Juanita Broaddrick had a swollen lip, he advised, "You'd better put some ice on that" (The Wall Street Journal, 02/19/99).
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krtrlb
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1 Comment
May 22 10:35 AM-
Ryan
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62 Comments
My Website
May 22 10:52 AM-
Major
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2 Comments
May 22 10:57 AMWhat needs to happen is for people to realize what they can and cannot afford. The government may need to step in with some form of lending reform. And companies need to do a better job of managing risk.
I have to say I am a little tired of everyone saying it was all the fault of the financial industry. Last I looked at the Arthur Murray catalog - it sure does take two to tango.
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exCFC emp
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2 Comments
May 22 11:03 AM-
Ryan
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62 Comments
My Website
May 22 11:32 AMYes, it takes two to tango, but potential homeowners didn't stand a chance when barraged with such "fantastic" loan terms. The lenders were in a position of power, both financially and intellectually, and they abused it. Plain and simple.
exCFC emp,
So what if they have the same wording? Many individuals who were caught in this scheme are probably not too smart, and need help drafting a letter that maximizes their potential for being helped. CFC specifically TOLD borrowers to talk to them. They didn't say "don't use a template!" And why would they?
Bottom line, good people who didn't know what they were getting into need help, and Angelo, in his mansion, calls them disgusting. What a sad world we live in.
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exCFC emp
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2 Comments
May 22 11:49 AMBy the way...not all of these people were taken advantage of. Most knew what they were doing and now using this as an excuse.
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SoCaJack
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1 Comment
May 22 12:32 PMof the worst hit places in the country, only 10% of the people could
afford a home. The average home went from about 250 grand in 2001 to about 600 grand in 2007. Housing was California's latest gold rush.
People have been living off their homes for years. NO ONE has to take a loan, and you have a choice as to terms. Some ARM's were
a gamble for many people, they bet the home would increase before
the loan went up. Many put up nothing or very little, wanted to flip
the house and guess what, they bought too high. They took a shot,
and lost. Just like buying stocks, except you don't have to put all the money up front. Sure some of the loans were risky, but here
in SoCal people went for the gold. Oh, the 90% who couldn't afford
to buy, they saw their rents go sky high, due to high home values.
In Summary, 40 grand down in 2001 got you in a home that you
could have sold 6 years later and cleared 300 grand. Even today
after the downturn, you can still net 200 grand on that same investment. Lots of people made fortunes on this gold rush. Anyone
who spent 550 grand for a 60 year old 1000sqft home in a run down
neighborhood made a bad choice, but if they have owned it more
than 5 years, they made money. Oh, I live in a Mobile home here,
they even were selling for 250 grand and you have to pay rent of
$800/ month.... guess why? Lot's of speculation, Let's think " Oil "
if it falls back to $90 a barrel, are you going to blame the guys that
sold todays contracts for $130 plus. Gee, are the buyers being misled. Just like a superbowl bet, some win, some lose. I think
countrywide is sick of being a scapegoat. Heck, a lot of people
made fortunes off those loans.
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H2O
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146 Comments
My Website
May 22 01:10 PMChina Needs Our Help!!!
Okay we all have tents lying around – Lets figure out a way to get them to the People in China!
Maybe Feed the Children will help get them there – we just give them – and let the gov - fund feed the children – To get them shipped there.
China Needs Our Help!!!
"We need more than 3.3 million tents," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters, adding that 400,000 tents have already been delivered. It was the second call for tents from China in recent days.
"We hope and welcome international assistance in this regard. We hope the international community can give priority in providing tents," he said.
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H2O
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146 Comments
My Website
May 22 01:22 PMSHOW US - YOU HAVE SIGNED - TITLE - TO THE PROMISARY NOTE !!!!!!!!!!!!!
When a Default and Foreclosure Take Place
When a mortgage goes into default (or when a servicer PRECIPITATES a default by fraud), the servicer typically orchestrates the foreclosure. But very often the servicer does this by engaging the servicers of national “foreclosure specialists”, such as Fidelity, FANDO, and or NDex. These institutional “foreclosure specialists” take charge and call the shots.
There is also some indication that some foreclosure specialists and/or servicers begin fabircating documents in support of the foreclosure.
Bear in mind that the Servicer is SELDOM the owner of the mortgage debt except in variant “A” or “B” where whole loan ARMs are held by depository institutions. (The portfolio loans are mostly Treasury Indexed or Cost of Funds Indexed. The LIBOR indexed ARMs are mostly for securitization and sale to foreign investors.)
As explained above, the servicer is also not typically the HOLDER of the promissory note.
But servicers are in a hurry to initiate foreclosure and rely upon the fact that most borrowers do NOT defend against the foreclosure suit. So the servicer never bothers to obtain the promissory note before initiating foreclosure.
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Richard Weed
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18 Comments
May 22 01:57 PM-
come on
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1 Comment
May 22 02:00 PMI can't imagine any CEO who would apprec. being spammed with a form letter from oodles of his company's customers. And I can't imagine that people think this will be helpful.
(And I do think it is pretty bad for a website supposedly to help customers would facilitate this. How hard is it to hand out the Hope No?)
I'm suprised he forwarded it. I would have deleted it in his situation.
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H2O
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146 Comments
My Website
May 22 02:11 PMOkay - it's like this - say i bought a car - and the loan was sold - but no where is it registered as a lien on the car - you bought the loan - but did not register with the state - you have the lien now.
same ole same ole with - housing liens - you bought the loan - but didn't place a registered lien with the state or county.
So basically - investors have a worthless piece of paper they bought.
You heard of statue of limitations? you had a time limit to file your claim.........
Countrywide ripped everybody off...........
Don't you love it??????????
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cwlo
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1 Comment
May 22 02:20 PMA few facts:
Most of the loans in default were not originated by Countrywide but from mortgage brokers, who sold them to Countrywide. If you want to fault Mr. Mozilo for making money, fine. But if you want to look to someone else besides you to blame, go to the mortgage broker who advised you on the loan and the closing attorney who, as a final stop gap, informed you as to the terms and risks of the loan.
Loan fraud cannot be accomplished by the lender alone. It takes the borrower to sign the documents on all loan products, including the "liar loans". Do not state you make $100k a year working at Walmart if you don't. If the LO puts down on the application that you do, don't sign it.
I also find it odd that these same people who say that borrowers are too dumb to write their own letters are the same ones that pushed lenders to come up with these loans for these borrowers who are "entitled" to be homeowners.
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blanco-dee
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17 Comments
May 22 02:29 PMsometimes instinct is important, I think he looks and acts like a sleazy guy, so I'm not surprised he's taken alot of people for alot of money. Bank of America already has plans to get rid of him, though not involving cement galoshes i'm sure
BDO
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Ryan
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62 Comments
My Website
May 22 04:41 PM-
Ryan
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62 Comments
My Website
May 22 04:42 PMYou sir, are misinformed. The letter sent to Mozilo by Mr. Bailey was not simply a template. He let Countrywide know about his circumstances. Do a little more research before you spew misinformation. You think that every reporter got it wrong and you're right? hah! good one.
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golfprowannabe
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2 Comments
May 22 04:45 PM-
Richard Weed
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18 Comments
May 22 06:45 PMYou sir, need to learn to read better. Mozilo's comments were that pieces of the letters he has been inundated with all have the similar/same text from consumer advocacy websites' form letters and credit counsellors. If you need anything else interpreted, please let me know. I know these tricky articles are hard for some people to understand. And I'll leave the spewing to your wife...
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tginomorebush
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100 Comments
May 22 07:40 PM-
Ryan
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62 Comments
My Website
May 22 09:06 PMSO WHAT?! Why does that matter? People need help! He's bashing a site that helps people get the help they need. If that's disgusting, I don't want to know what isn't disgusting to Mozilo. Actually, wait, I already know: ripping people off and cashing out before the fall.
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Richard Weed
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18 Comments
May 22 11:53 PMNice sophomoric answer "SO WHAT". Obviously Mozilo feels like a lot of us; that we're tired of the 'woe is me' attitude out there. People got themselves in over their heads as much as Countrywide did. If they weren't saavy enough to understand the documents they signed, then BOO HOO to them. Caveat emptor; the keystone of capitalism...
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blahblah
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1 Comment
May 23 12:21 AM-
brewboy
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6 Comments
May 23 12:41 AM-
william of san antonio
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4 Comments
May 23 02:35 PMOn May 22 06:45 PM Richard Weed wrote:
> Ryan,
>
> You sir, need to learn to read better. Mozilo's comments were that
> pieces of the letters he has been inundated with all have the similar/same
> text from consumer advocacy websites' form letters and credit counsellors.
> If you need anything else interpreted, please let me know. I know
> these tricky articles are hard for some people to understand. And
> I'll leave the spewing to your wife...