Posted on 01/10/2008 1:33:55 PM PST by Republican Extremist
We all know that HUD Secretary under Clinton, Henry Cisneros began pushing for a relaxation of the rules to help lower class (AKA: people who cannot afford a home) people buy houses.
I now have the smoking gun that proves that Liberalism, as practiced by the head of the largest home lender in the country actually caused this problem.
We are talking about Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial, the largest lender of mortgages in the country.
Mozilo gave a speech on Feb 4th, 2003 at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.
In this speech, Mozilo lays out the reasons why unqualified people should get mortgages because of their race, and how the rules should be relaxed to help them.
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Countrywide's Chairman Mozilo Delivers John T. Dunlop Lecture
- Leader Calls on Mortgage and Housing Industries to Address Homeownership Gap -
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Angelo R. Mozilo, chairman, CEO and president of Countrywide Financial Corporation, Inc., (NYSE: CFC), urged mortgage professionals, housing experts and others to address the obstacles that create an "intolerably wide" gap between minority and lower-income homeownership and what is classified as white homeownership.
Mozilo delivered the John T. Dunlop Lecture sponsored by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University and the National Housing endowment on Tuesday night.
In his presentation entitled "The American Dream of Homeownership: From Cliche to Mission," Mozilo told his audience, "Expanding the American dream of homeownership must continue to be our mission, not solely for the purpose of benefiting Corporate America, but more importantly, to make our country a better place." He went on to outline bold suggestions that the mortgage industry and others should consider to overcome barriers to homeownership. These include elimination of mortgage down payment requirements, educational efforts to make the home loan process easier to comprehend, and reduction and streamlining of loan application documentation.
Mozilo drew upon his 50 years of experience in the mortgage industry and cited Countrywide's successful efforts to increase homeownership opportunities for minority and lower-income borrowers. From these perspectives, he identified and commented on several structural obstacles within residential finance business practices that adversely impact home-buying among these constituencies:
-- The loan underwriting process: "We must look for ways to capture 'alternative' payment histories and to properly factor in cultural differences in credit, income and spending habits, so that we can say 'yes' to borrowers who have the ability and willingness to make their mortgage payments. Credit scores must not be the dominant factor for assessing risk. Non-traditional factors such as rent and utility payment history should be imbedded in the automated underwriting process."
-- Loan performance measurement: "Let's focus on the majority of people who are successfully managing their loans and living their dream. Let's not be obsessed by the few that fail, but instead be encouraged by the vast majority who succeed. Let's look for every possible reason to approve applicants, not to reject them.
-- Counter-productive regulatory efforts: "With respect to predatory lending, enough of the mania. Let's be mindful that reputable lenders cannot operate under hundreds of laws that only have one thing in common -- the word 'predatory.' Subprime lending and predatory lending are not the same thing. Brushing them with one broad stroke only wipes out the opportunities for omeownership for too many deserving low-income and minority home buyers.
Mozilo spoke of the importance of homeownership to families, communities and the nation. "In addition to increasing personal wealth and adding to our national economy, creating more homeownership opportunities and narrowing the homeownership gap increases social capital. In other words, it ties families, neighborhoods and communities together," he explained. Citing several studies, he noted that children living in owned homes have higher math and reading achievement levels, and homeowners are more likely than renters to belong to civic groups, such as parent-teacher organizations.
In conclusion, Mozilo said, "Housing is critical to our nation's welfare and to our communities' well-being. Let's make sure that the American dream of Homeownership is never a cliche, and always our cause, and always our steadfast mission. We have the resources. Together, as partners, let's show the will."
The John T. Dunlop Lecture was held at the National Housing Center in Washington, DC. The Dunlop Lecture series honors a distinguished member of the Harvard community in recognizing the contributions of emeritus professor John T. Dunlop and his distinguished career at the University, in government, and in the private sector. Dunlop played a key role in establishing the Policy Advisory Board of the Joint Center for Housing Studies. Mozilo serves on that board, as well as the Board of Trustees of the National Housing Endowment, and has been inducted into the National Association of Home Builders Hall of Fame.
Founded in 1969, Countrywide Financial Corporation, Inc. (formerly Countrywide Credit Industries, Inc.) is a member of the S&P 500, Fortune 500 and Forbes 500. Countrywide, through its family of companies, provides mortgage banking and diversified financial services in domestic and international markets. Consumer businesses include mortgages, insurance and other financial products. Business-to-business activities encompass capital markets, transaction processing and insurance. The company is headquartered in Calabasas, California, and has 30,000 employees with more than 500 offices nationwide. For more information about the company, visit Countrywide's Web site at http://www.countrywide.com.
SOURCE Countrywide Financial Corporation, Inc.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-04-2003/0001885208&EDATE=
A year ago we were all talking about Banks giving home loans to Illegals. Now we’re talking about Default loans and the sub-prime “Crisis”.
It was PC business practices, irresponsible lending and a vain attempt by lending institutions to make a political statement.
They made their statement. Now they want bailed out of the mess that was inevitable.
screw ‘em
He received an award at a conference I was at in 2006. He basically said the same thing then and I rolled my eyes. A friend of mine is a reputable mortgage banker and he helped a guy get a 5.50% interest only loan fixed for 10 years. 6 months in Countrywide refinanced him at 2.675% but with negative amortization (the principal went up each month as 2.675% was only a portion of the real interest rate). This guys just got foreclosed. Scummy.
There’s a better smoker here -
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Assault+on+the+mortgage+lenders:+in+the+name+of+racial+justice,+the...-a014779796
“QUIETLY, behind the scenes, the Clinton Administration is preparing for the biggest regulatory crackdown of recent years. Attorney General Janet Reno is linking up with banking regulators and with HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros to end the supposed epidemic of discrimination against minorities in making home loans. The implications for society at large are ominous.”
This is nothing more than scapegoating of the worst kind.
Bttt,
Morgage lender running around yelling don't blame me, so called real estate agents running around yelling don't blame me, real estate appraisers running around yelling don't blame me.
It's sickening! Blame the buyer, they know more about the market than we do! It's sick!
Countrywide is racist in their lending policies........I know this because that is who our mortgage is with. 18 months ago we wanted to refinance for a lower rate, they strung us along for over 4 months and then denied the refinance because the house didn’t appraise for what they said it needed to appraise at for our refi amount.
Had they bothered to tell us that the appraisal had to come in at over $20K more than we knew the property to be worth we would have just dropped it.
Of course they don’t want to allow us to drop our interest rate..........stable income, never a late mortgage payment, etc., etc.............
However, we are NOT considered a “minority”
“Countrywide taps Henry Cisneros to help lead $1 trillion home initiative”
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2005/01/10/daily37.html
Then, when the feces impacted the air accelerator,
he resigns from the Board.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/51289-countrywide-s-henry-cisneros-was-a-useless-board-member
I have such contempt for this man and the other idiot, criminally negigent CEO’s of companies like Citi Group, BofA, Merrill Lynch, etc etc.
In fact I have utter contempt for the greedy bastards on the front lines: the scumbag mortgage brokers, many of whom are just out-and-out criminals—perfectly dressed and magnificently coifed and manicured to be sure, but still criminals!
Then I go right up the greed trough:
(1) The banks that enabled these scumbag mortgage brokers;
(2) The ‘quasi-government’ agencies, specifically Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac run (and destroyed) by incompetent clinton lackies who bought those guaranteed-to-default “loans” from the big giant banks like WAMU, BofA, Wells, etc;
(3) The investment bankers and harvard MBA-types that packaged and securitized these shit-sandwich mortgage-backed securities, and;
(4) The vaunted Wall Street investment firms and investors who willingly invested in these bonds and securities that offered ridiculous returns with no thought of the danger of taking the risk required for that return. And I’m not talking about folks whose life savings were tied up in retirement funds that their employers or stockbrokers put them in, with no real choice to the participant, or those who were just plain dumb enough not to know better—ah well, a fool and his money...
And to top it off, these incompetent bank CEOs tell the Wall Street Masters of the Universe that they underestimated the amount of their writeoffs by just a bit (Citi Group for example, who started out a few months ago lowballing the writeoff to a couple billion... then it went to $6 billion, now it’s upwards of $16 billion, and you KNOW it ain’t stoppin’ there!)
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!?!
Recall Mozilo’s statement a few months ago that “gee, boo-hoo, we really got hurt by this really awful economy! Poor me!” Of course, he and his counterparts are the CAUSE of the economy being where it is at in terms of the sub-prime mortgage disaster.
As if we all didn’t know it was going to be this way!!!
I just feel like the Mozila’s of the world need to do major hard time for their criminal negligence (probably closer to full criminal intent actually!)
And these scumbag mortgage brokers on the front lines... HATE ‘EM! Yes, I do know that there are plenty of good, capable mortgage lenders that do not deserve to be painted with the brush that a large percentage of them deserve to be painted with.
But I really have no opinion of this one way or another.
ping/bump for future reference & debate
Countrywide’s Board of Diresctors recently included Henry Cisneros (Former Clinton HUD Secretary) and Kathleen Brown (sister of Berkely nut job and former California Governor... Jerry Brown).
Notice a pattern?
a rumour in the news today has it that countrywide
might file for bankruptcy.
They are being bought by BOA.
The Lockheed Scandal
Prince Bernhard and Queen Juliana returning from Italy, due to developments in the Lockheed scandal.
The Netherlands, 26 August 1976.
Scandal rocked the Royal Family in 1976 when it was revealed that Prince Bernhard had accepted a US$1.1 million bribe from U.S. aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Corporation to influence the Dutch government’s purchase of fighter aircraft.
At the time he had served on more than 300 corporate boards and committees worldwide and had been praised in the Netherlands for his efforts to promote the economic well-being of the country. Prime Minister of the Netherlands Joop den Uyl ordered an inquiry into the Lockheed affair, while Prince Bernhard refused to answer reporters’ questions, stating: “I am above such things”.[7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Bernhard
Just one example, you can see the extent of the corruption. This man was hooked up with 300 Corporate Boards...how much did he steal in total...and that was about 40 yrs ago, We’ve been robbed blind - no wonder we’re broke. They got so greedy and rich we’ve made them into monsters and now think they’re their own god and give themselves permission to rule the world and play God by eugenic culling on the useless eaters...anyway to bed for me...thanks for letting me rant. And I say we’re to blame because we were too trusting and honest never thinking how money corrupts. They will have to take care of their own souls.
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