Well, folks. This one is for all the marbles and a beautiful lucky golden shit statue, suitable for display in the corporate headquarters of either Comcast or Countrywide (now Bank of America).
It’s been a long, difficult, and sometimes controversial road. In order to get to the final, Comcast defeated Menu Foods, The American Arbitration Association, Ticketmaster, Exxon, and Diebold. Countrywide took down Dish Network, Clear Channel, United Healthcare, Bank of America, and Walmart. Now, the choice is yours: Which company is the Worst Company in America?
Here’s what a few of you had to say about these two companies:
Comcast:
“THANK GOD WE’RE A MONOPOLY!”
“Comcast is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad company.”
“Comcast deserves not just worst company but most evil.”
“Comcast, since I have no choice but to do business with Comcast, if I want cable.”
“Considering Comcast actually rigged a public hearing with paid schmo’s to prevent their opposition from being heard… COMCAST. “
Countrywide Home Loans:
“The evil they wrought on the economy will be felt for years to come.”
“Countrywide aggressively sought to cause evil…”
“Not only did Countrywide wreck the mortgage industry, they wrecked securities and investments market, thereby forcing investors to the commodities market and driving gas up to $4+ a gallon, thereby driving the costs of food and other products through the roof.”
“Countrywide has destroyed the housing market…well…country-wide.”
“Countrywide lent me 7750K on an undocumented, no income, no asset loan, while WalMart demanded an ID for a credit card purchase of $13.71, then wanted the receipt on the way out.”
This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america.
More From Consumerist
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Worst Company In America Consolation Round: Comcast Vs. Ticketmaster
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Worst Company In America Semifinals: Bank Of America Vs. Comcast
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Worst Company In America Quarterfinals: Bank Of America Vs. Walmart
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Worst Company In America Round 1: UPS Vs. FedEx
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Worst Company In America Round 2: Sallie Mae Vs. Ticketmaster
@theczardictates:
My point was that it isn’t so complicated. People should make and keep budgets. They shouldn’t just “guess” what they can afford, especially with a 15 or 30 year commitment to the largest purchase they’ll ever make.
They’re more than welcome to just “guess”, but they shouldn’t cry when the consequences arrive in the form of financial hardship or foreclosure. You said:
YES. They SHOULD know what they can afford. The mortgage company doesn’t evaluate their monthly bills, or whether they’re going to buy a new car in three weeks, or consider their fluctuating hours at their job. It ABSOLUTELY is the individual’s responsibility to protect their own interests against a FOR PROFIT mortgage company.
Mortgage brokers are SALESPEOPLE, not consultants or advisers. They have no fiduciary responsibility to the customer, and are out to make a commission. They are selling a product, and the buyer should beware.
Uh…no. I dictated to my lender that we would only talk about 30 year Fixed Rate loans, and then spanked them until they gave me the rate I deserved.
Independent evaluation? I independently took a look at my BUDGET and my evaluation said “yup, I can afford that, with enough headroom that this home will not become a burden.”.
Sure, I could lose my job tomorrow. But I have an emergency fund for that occurrence as well.
That is EXCEPTIONALLY offensive. I was personally responsible for my finances, not lucky.
There are some people, granted, that were taken advantage of by lenders, or have fallen on legitimate hard times, but the majority simply bit off more than they could chew. I’m not sure why people are making so many excuses for folks who bought a $600,000 house making $40,000 a year. “They didn’t know the rate would adjust.” Seriously? People are buying the largest purchase of their lives, spending $100k to $1MM on a home, and they don’t know what ARM stands for?
People are feeling the consequences of their own actions – unfortunately, responsible homeowners are feeling the consequences too, and we did nothing wrong.
@fuzzycuffs:
Yes, this is definitely more important than a company taking the primary role crashing the US economy.
So, uh, when is this vote over?
I was teetering, but now that a vote for Countrywide is ALSO a vote for BofA? NO CONTEST. Comcast certainly rules the roost in terms of evil things one can do with media-access products…but those don’t hold up to the evil one can do with banking and home loans, IMO.
Both of these companies deserve a Poo for trying just as hard as they can to be evil within their industries, though.
@theczardictates: I don’t recall any exchange like that. It was more like this:
You: It is the responsibility of everyone except me to know what I can afford. Blah blah, debt ratio, blah blah I don’t understand things I sign.
Me (and Infinitrent): No, you should probably know that if something costs more than you make each month, or might in the future, it’s probably not a good idea.
Infinitrent is spot on. You have a lot of nerve calling responsible people “lucky.” It kind of sounds like you signed a crappy loan. If that’s the case, that sucks, I’m sorry. But it’s your fault.
@theczardictates: Also, Infinitrent and I are not the same person. Unless I am secretly taking Ambien and somehow have an alternate life. You’re right, we did say the same thing and I should have read all the comments before posting mine, but your rant just really pissed me off.
Now ask me how I feel about my tax dollars going to bail out dipshits who got in over their heads.
@warf0x0r: That’s what people don’t understand. If you’re a taxpayer in the US, Countrywide screwed YOU over.
I’ve never dealt with Comcast. From what I hear they’re just like Time Warner Cable anyway, but nothing matches Countrywide’s wholesale destruction of the American economy.
@dallasmay: You’re correct, the ’0′ was a typo.
They lent me 775K
@taylorich: Seriously though- wasn’t the the government that dipped into our taxes to pay for these idiots?
Countrywide sold a product and some folks bought into it, you can only blame them, it doesn’t take but 30 minutes of research to understand how much house you can afford and you’re borrowing 10 years of your gross salary- you might want to be careful what you sign up for. I’m sure there was some deception involved but caveat emptor- people will always try to trick you out of your money it is your job to be aware of this and protect yourself.
That said I just don’t think Countrywide is all that evil- evil for sure- but surprised they edged out Comcast and a few other in the Elite 8. Countrywide was just a broker of destruction- the financial community as a whole seemed to create the demand for the unreliable products they sold that are sinking the US economy.