NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ameriquest Mortgage Co. said on Monday it agreed to pay $325 million in the second largest U.S. consumer lending settlement to clear up claims that its lending practices abused customers in 49 U.S. states. A two-year investigation found that salespeople at the company concealed interest rate and loan costs, pressured appraisers to inflate values of borrowers' homes, and used other high-pressure tactics to close deals, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office said in a statement on Monday. The agreement requires Ameriquest, one of the largest U.S. mortgage lenders to people with poor credit, to pay...