Countrywide CEO Accidentally Emails Homeowner, Calls His Plea For Help "Disgusting"
Apparently Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide, has never made a mistake and needed help (from, say, Bank of America,) because he thinks that homeowners who are desperately trying to refinance out of their disastrous home loans and avoid foreclosure are "disgusting" if they look to the internet for help writing letters.
Mozilo, whose inbox has been flooded with EECBs (executive email carpet bombs) from borrowers, apparently meant to hit forward, but instead replied to Daniel Bailey, a homeowner who is trying to stay in his home of 16 years. Bailey signed an adjustable rate mortgage and was told at the time that he could refinance after one year, before the payments became unaffordable.
From the LA Times:
Much of the language in Bailey's message to Countrywide was borrowed from a form letter available at the website LoanSafe.org, a coaching service for troubled borrowers. Bailey, who says he operates a photo studio, posted his e-mailed exchange with the lender on a LoanSafe forum.
His original e-mail was sent to 20 Countrywide addresses, including Mozilo's. Such mass e-mails have overwhelmed e-mail boxes at Countrywide, disrupting its operations and prompting Mozilo's heated response, the company said.
"This is unbelievable," Mozilo said in his e-mail. "Most of these letters now have the same wording. Obviously they are being counseled by some other person or by the Internet. Disgusting."
Countrywide has issued a statement about the email:
"Countrywide and Mr. Mozilo regret any misunderstanding caused by his inadvertent response to an e-mail by Mr. Bailey. Countrywide is actively working to help borrowers, like Mr. Bailey, keep their homes."
Countrywide Financial Chairman Angelo Mozilo's e-mail sets off a furor [LA Times] (Thanks, Kevin!)
(AP Photos/Susan Walsh)
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Comments:
what's that thing about counting your chickens...
Interesting - On one hand I have to cheer the guy at CW. His comment about the fact that they all have the same wording tells me he actually reads the messages. (Maybe)
On the other hand open mouth insert foot.
Not to bash the consumer here AT ALL but this is the issue I have with people using the EECB for minor annoyances and definite consumer errors - when something is actually EECB worthy, it gets ignored or pisses Executives off so the whole thing becomes ineffective.
That said, bad form Countrywide. Bad form.
Wow.
Mozilo "regrets any misunderstanding." Of course he does: I wonder if his comments to theSenate subcommittee were similar to his email.
Regret any misunderstanding????? What misunderstanding? The letter seems pretty clear to me.
How many completely irrelevant form letter responses did he get from those 20 e-mail addresses, anyway? I think if you're going to bitch about people using form letters you should not be using them yourself.
Thats funny.
What exactly is he calling disgusting?
holy crap, he looks like a burn victim D:
I call Shinanagens on Country Wide and their CEO. I think Congress should give me the permission to beat this man with a broom for at least 8 hours... If not 10.
A little sensational headline? The idiot CEO didn't call the guy's plea for help disgusting.
@smirky: Seems pretty clear to me. The media misunderstood that this repsonse was only meant to be said BEHIND the customer's back, not to his face.
Pretty easy to understand.
You're not with me, leather
does that picture of Mozilo look like a deer in the headlights?
Something similar happened to a friend of mine. Her son was running into some problems at school and could not get any help from the teacher. She cc'ed the principal on an e-mail, who meaning to reply just to the teacher, replied to all and said some pretty derogatory things about the kid and parent. The teacher replied, calling the son a "puss" before they realized their error. She did not report the matter to the superintendent, but the problem was taken care of.
They "...regret any misunderstanding..."? What kind of apology is that??
Ouch. A little inadvertent honesty there... always a dangerous thing...
yeah, heaven forbid they are being counseled by someone or the internet!!!!! *rollseyes*
Perhaps there should be an EECB council that has to clear all EECBs before they happen - the earlier poster was exactly right - all these EECBs are just desensitizing Executives, or causing extra protective measures to be put in place so the truly important messages won't reach them.
I know losing your house is a big deal, but it should be resolved through the normal channels. Massive lying, deception, incompetence, etc. on a continual basis should be the only really good reason for an EECB - going around the system if it's broken.
yeah, heaven forbid they are being counseled by someone or the internet!!!!!
The internet offers counseling? I didn't even know it was a singular being! Maybe it's like the Borg.
Up against the wall with him
Disgusting.
Yep, an informed consumer (or at least one with a modicum of ammo to help take on a big company) is definitely disgusting.
You think that if you were trying to save your house you would write a personal letter, not something copied and pasted from the internet. Then again its the same person who signed up for a ARM. I agree with Mr. Mozilo, this behavior is disgusting.
Most of the old gang was there - Frankie the Wop, Freddie No Nose, Pete the Killer, Nicky Eyes, and Jimmy Two Times
Perhaps it's perception...IMHO the idiot CEO has called looking for help through other persons or the "borg"(lol) intrawebs disgusting.
Just my 2¢
"Countrywide and Mr. Mozilo regret any misunderstanding caused by his inadvertent response to an e-mail by Mr. Bailey."
What misunderstanding? There is no misunderstanding. 'Mr. Tommy Lee Jones in Bat-Man' thinks his customers are disgusting. I think we all understand that now.
@Zephyr7: A nice way of saying the consumer was too stupid to understand what they meant, but worded to make it sound like it might be an apology.
@backbroken: If you are going to send a letter to the CEO of a company pleading for help write it your self, else it is just SPAM
It's kind of funny, but I get about 3 junk mailings a day from Countrywide trying to sell their home equity loans. But a few consumers sending similarly worded letter looking for help is 'disgusting' to Countrywide?
Worst company in America, I know who I'm voting for.
""Most of these letters now have the same wording. Obviously they are being counseled by some other person or by the Internet. Disgusting."
What's the big deal? He's saying it's disgusting that they're receiving tons of letters which look like they're canned pleas, from people who now claim they didn't know what an ARM was.
@evslin: "Yep, an informed consumer (or at least one with a modicum of ammo to help take on a big company) is definitely disgusting."
Er, I think they're now claiming (rather spuriously) that they were UNinformed ... if you believe that, I have this bridge in Brooklyn ...
I'm glad to see the Internet taking an active interest in the loan crisis.
We've all sent emails talking about people that we wouldn't want them to read themselves. I'm not defending the CEO, but we've all been there. But the timing of having a brain-fart and confusing reply/forward could not have come at a worse time for him.
Also, I wonder what Bailey hoped to gain from the EECB. Did he expect that the Countrywide CEO would pardon the loan, or allow him to miss some payments? The homeowner is in a bad situation, but he wasn't forced in to it.
Lastly, I agree wholeheartedly with above posters who have said that it seems the EECB is being overused, thus desensitizing executives to it. Ideally, they're supposed to envoke compassion from the recipient, but in this case anger was the only result.
@heavylee-again: Bailey should have used the EECB to offer to take more flattering pictures of Angie
re: "misunderstanding"
Dear Sirs,
Eat Shit. I apologize for any misunderstanding.
-Best
Why does the CEO look like a burn victim?
It's people like Angelo Mozilo that make me wish I wasn't an atheist.
You see, if I believed in a god, then I could take comfort in the belief that there's a pre-warmed seat waiting for him in hell.
Wow, CEOs really are horrid ghouls - literal and figurative.
"Bailey said he took out the adjustable-rate mortgage without realizing how it worked and had been told incorrectly that he could refinance after a year."
While Mozilo is a douche for the reply, this guy is an idiot for not understanding what he was getting into.
I don't own a home because I live in Los Angeles where the little shack I rent would go for a million-five, and I can't afford it. All these people with ARMs couldn't afford it either, but that didn't stop them. Oh, the guy was "told" he could refinance? Please. You read the contract, and if you can't read contracts, you hire a lawyer to read it for you. Why should anyone bail these people out?
Oh, and this isn't to say the people giving these loans weren't scumbags. They shouldn't be bailed out either.
All these adults waited a real long time to learn the hard lessons.
Ugly on the inside *AND* outside.
"Countrywide is actively working to help borrowers, like Mr. Bailey, keep their homes."
Whatever you say, whatever you say.
Liars.
I agree, the headline "Calls His Plea For Help 'Disgusting'" completely misleading.
and unless these home owners were completely stupid or incompetent, they knew what they were signing on the bottom line for. Yeah, house prices were out of whack, but you don't need a mcmansion overlooking the ocean. You'd like one, but you don't need one. I guess Bailey was just trying to save some money by going variable, but ended up with an ARM. Bad lenders + bad consumers = fucked up economy.
Such a "Let 'em eat cake" response.
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![[consumerist.com]](http://consumerist.com/assets/images/consumerist/2008/05/orangetansareapparentlynotdisgusting.jpg){kind=link}
His face is disgusting! Yech.