Posted on 06/25/2008 4:13:49 AM PDT by gridlock
The Illinois attorney general is suing Countrywide Financial, the troubled mortgage lender, and Angelo R. Mozilo, its chief executive, contending that the company and its executives defrauded borrowers in the state by selling them costly and defective loans that quickly went into foreclosure.
The lawsuit, which is expected to be filed on Wednesday in Illinois state court, accused Countrywide and Mr. Mozilo of relaxing underwriting standards, structuring loans with risky features, and misleading consumers with hidden fees and fake marketing claims, like its heavily advertised “no closing costs loan.” Countrywide also created incentives for its employees and brokers to sell questionable loans by paying them more on such sales, the complaint said.
In reviewing one Illinois mortgage broker’s sales of Countrywide loans, the complaint said the “vast majority of the loans had inflated income, almost all without the borrower’s knowledge.”
(snip)
“People were put into loans they did not understand, could not afford and could not get out of,” Ms. Madigan said. “This mounting disaster has had an impact on individual homeowners statewide and is having an impact on the global economy. It is all from the greed of people like Angelo Mozilo.”
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Chris Dodd’s buddy, Angelo.
Except of course Dodd and Conrad. The question for them is this: Will they stay with their trial lawyer buddies and rail in support of such a lawsuit; or will they stand with the VIP program that benefited them and tell the lawyers to stand down.
Or,....will they just remain silent?
Of course the Illinois AG will follow Countrywide’s misdeeds right up the food chain to Dodd and Conrad, taking them down as well. Right? I mean party doesn’t matter to real public servants, does it?
I bet, at the end of the day, Senator Barack Obama is going to be right in the middle of this mess. The cynic in me thinks this lawsuit is nothing more than an excuse for everybody involved to say that they will not comment or cooperate with any other investigation while the Illinois lawsuit is in process. Then, the day after election day, it disappears...
But the Illinois AG wouldn’t, couldn’t possibly, be in the pocket of Barack Obama, could she?
No prob: The gubmint will bail them out of this mess, too.
The amazing thing is that all these people signed loans and had no clue what they were signing. How stupid do you have to be to sign a mortgage that you do not understand?
People who were deceived wanted to be deceived. That is the only explanation. They saw it as “free money”, and there is no such thing as free money.
Lisa Madigan is not the type to be in anyone's pocket. I believe she may be thinking of taking a shot at Blogo's seat and won't be caught dead playing with fire like that, now or ever. She really seems to be pretty honest for Illinois...
No, the “government” will seize all their assets, kick the investors on down the road thus nationalizing the mortgage industry for the good of the people. The government can reissue low interest loans to “deserving folks” and use all the income to balance state budgets, maybe even have enough to expand programs. Baraks dream of paradise will come to fruition.
“The amazing thing is that all these people signed loans and had no clue what they were signing. How stupid do you have to be to sign a mortgage that you do not understand?”
This is but a glimpse of how the nanny state dumbs down people. Don’t worry about thinking....the gov’t will rescue you if you’re stupid, ignorant or lazy.
Who is Blogo and is she a democrat?
“costly and defective loans that quickly went into foreclosure”
Granted, some of those ARMs aren’t clear regarding what the payments can become (should never get into loans like that but that’s what should be repaired out of this). However, this doesn’t “just” happen when you make your payments.
“no closing costs loan.”
The HUD-1 can be your friend.
I remember when I bought my first house back in 1992... The real estate agent asked about our family income and wanted to show us houses for twice as much as I wanted to spend. The mortgage lender kept telling us we could qualify for a loan that would consume 40% of our take-home pay in interest alone. It became clear immediately that their interests and my interest did not coincide. They wanted a bigger commission, and I wanted a house I could afford. Listening to them about what I could afford would be stupid, because that is not their interest.
I guess I could have shrugged my shoulders and figured that if somebody was willing to loan me the money I must have been able to afford the payments. That would have let somebody else make decisions for me about how I spend my money. This is almost always a bad strategy. I did my own math, figured my own budget, and determined how big a mortgage I wanted to take on. Then I went shopping.
All of this analysis took about 20 minutes sitting at the kitchen table with a calculator and a sheet of paper. This is not rocket science.
Real estate agents and car salesmen are among the least competent sales people with regard to the cost of their product.
I've never bought a boat, but would bet it is the same with that industry as well.
Real estate agents and car salesmen are among the least competent sales people with regard to the cost of their product.
I've never bought a boat, but would bet it is the same with that industry as well.
Pretty sure Blogo is the missing, bonus Marx brother. There were Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, Gummo and (now we learn) Blogo.
BLOGO is a type of sale, usually on shoes, popular in Los Angeles, California. It stands for “Buy... Like... One, and Get One Free”. It is closely related to BLOGLO and BLOLGLOL...
“I believe she may be thinking of taking a shot at Blogo’s seat...”
The trial balloon was set aloft yesterday for Billy Daley for governor. As the scenario will play out, all the fools who keep voting for Richie Daley’s chosen pawns will jump right on the band wagon. The argument will be how well everything will be since the brothers will work together for the good of the people. Madigan and Emil Jones will have to be greased in order to keep them quiet, but that’s a minor inconvenience.
A few years later, newspaper editorials will weep about the Daley brothers running the state into the ground. Next election, the citizens of Illinois, however, will once again vote straight Democrat Party and keep these crooks in office.
Nothing changes here in the Windy City.
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