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 Countrywide
Financial Corporation
COUNTRYWIDE News:
20080804
US_Debt
-  Government
-  Money
- Countrywide
Financial Corporation -  Real
Estate -  North
Carolina -  New
York -  US
-  United
Kingdom
"Fewest
Treasury Traders Since 1960 Hit Taxpayers (Update4)."
... "For the first time since 1960, when it created the network of securities
firms obligated to buy and sell Treasury bonds, the U.S. government has
the fewest bond traders making markets in its debt and a bigger burden
for American taxpayers financing record federal deficits."
... "The number of so-called primary government securities dealers declined
to 19 last month when Bank of America Corp., based in Charlotte, North
Carolina, acquired the troubled Countrywide Financial Corp. The sale was
the climax of dozens of bank failures, triggered by the biggest decline
in residential real estate since the Great Depression and the seizing up
of credit markets from New York to London [United Kingdom's capital]. The
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the agent of the U.S. Treasury, plans
to shrink the dealers again when JPMorgan
Chase & Co. completes its takeover of Bear Stearns Cos." ...
"The paucity of primary dealers coincides with the largest borrowing requirement
in American history and the acknowledgment by the administration of [Republican]
President George W. Bush that the U.S. will finance a budget deficit totaling
a record $482 billion next year. When the dealer system began 48 years
ago with 18 firms, the U.S. had a $300 million surplus. The group has shrunk
from a peak of 46 in 1988. " -By Sandra Hernandez
-Bloomberg
20080111
-
Countrywide
Financial Corp - Consumers
- Homes
-
 California
-  Employees
- "Mozilo
could reap $115 million: The Countrywide [home mortgage
corporation] CEO's [Chief Executive Officer's] potential pay if his company
is acquired rankles critics." ... "Countrywide Financial Corp. [Corporation]
founder Angelo Mozilo, one of the nation's highest-paid chief executives,
stands to reap $115 million in severance-related pay if his troubled company
is acquired by Bank of America Corp., regulatory filings show." ... "Free
rides on the company jet are also included in Mozilo's departure deal,
and the company will pick up his country club bills until 2011." ... "Other
executives, including Home Depot Inc.'s [Incorporated's] jettisoned CEO,
Robert Nardelli, have garnered bigger going-away packages. But critics
say Mozilo's arrangement is especially nettlesome given the losses that
Countrywide investors have suffered in the last year. Company shares rallied
Thursday to $7.75, up $2.63, but that's still down 82% from their high
last year." ... ""He has driven the stock price into the ground and the
company has been destroyed," [American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees director of pension and benefits policy Richard] Ferlauto
said. "Their customers have lost their homes and he is potentially walking
away with more than $100 million. For us, that's unconscionable enrichment.""
... "The [Los Angeles] Times reported last year that Mozilo made changes
to his stock-trading arrangements that allowed him to ramp up his sales
of company stock before Countrywide shares went into a tailspin." ... "Combining
those sales with pay and previous gains on the sale of stock, Mozilo has
taken more than $650 million out of Countrywide over the course of the
last 10 years, Ferlauto said. Add in potential severance payments and the
Calabasas[California]-based company would have enriched Mozilo to the tune
of three-quarters of a billion dollars." -By Kathy
M. Kristof -LAtimes
20071231
-
Money
-
 Politics
- Federal
- Housing
-  Legislation
-  New
Jersey -  Georgia
- California
- Texas
-  Utah
-  Maryland
-  Nevada
-  Oregon
-  Washington
- 2004
Election - US
-  Netherlands
- "Lender
Lobbying Blitz Abetted Mortgage Mess: Ameriquest
Pressed For Changes in Laws; A Battle in New Jersey." ... "During the housing
boom, the subprime industry succeeded at more than just writing mortgages.
It also shot down efforts by some states to curtail risky lending to borrowers
with spotty credit." ... "Ameriquest Mortgage Co. [ACC Capital Holdings],
until recently one of the nation's largest subprime lenders, was at the
center of those battles. Working with a husband-and-wife team of Washington
lobbyists, it handed out more than $20 million in political donations and
played a big role in persuading legislators in New Jersey and Georgia to
relax tough new laws. Those victories, in turn, helped blunt efforts by
other states to crack down on reckless lending, critics of the industry
contend." ... "Home loans made by Ameriquest and other subprime lenders
are defaulting now in large numbers, roiling global credit markets and
sparking debate about whether regulators and lawmakers should have anticipated
the mess and taken action. A close look at Ameriquest's lobbying and political
donations shows how the subprime industry maneuvered to defeat legislation
that might have contained some of the damage." ... "Data from federal and
state campaign-finance records, Internal Revenue Service filings, and the
National Institute on Money in State Politics show that from 2002 through
2006, Ameriquest, its executives and their spouses and business associates
donated at least $20.5 million to state and federal political groups. In
comparison, over the same time period, Countrywide Financial, another large
subprime lender, gave about $2 million in campaign gifts, and spent an
additional $6.7 million lobbying in Washington, records indicate." ...
"Some of the giving by Ameriquest executives and associates was high-profile.
[Republican] President Bush received more than $200,000 for his 2004 re-election
campaign, and Ameriquest founder Roland Arnall and his wife, Dawn, contributed
more than $5 million to political organizations that backed the president.
Last year, [Republican] President Bush appointed Mr. Arnall ambassador
to the Netherlands, and his wife took over as chairman of Ameriquest's
parent company. California [Republican Governor] Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's
campaigns received at least $1.4 million, along with stacks of tickets
to a Rolling Stones concert that were used to lure big donors." ... "Last
year, ACC Capital, its [Ameriquest Mortgage Company] parent company, agreed
to pay $325 million to settle regulators' claims that it charged excessively
high mortgage rates and didn't adequately disclose loan risks. Some of
the state attorneys general who signed the settlement, including Greg Abbott
of Texas, received campaign donations from the firm. Utah's attorney general,
Mark Shurtleff, received a $1,000 contribution and Rolling Stones tickets."
... "Ameriquest also handed out Rolling Stones tickets to state legislators
in Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and California,
according to ethics records and local news accounts." ... "Federal lawmakers
didn't pose much of a threat to the subprime industry in recent years.
Members of Congress received at least $645,000 in donations from Ameriquest
and large sums from other big subprime lenders, Federal Election Commission
records indicate." ... "ACC Capital, Ameriquest's parent company, and its
executives gave more than $350,000 to Texas politicians in 2006, including
$100,000 to [Republican Governor] Gov. Rick Perry, according to state records."
-By Glenn R. Simpson -WSJ.com
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