Consumerist
Subprime Meltdown
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subprime
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Subprime Meltdown
countrywide
Illinois And California Are Suing Countrywide For Deceptive Lending And Fraud
The Attorneys General of Illinois and California announced today that they are suing Countrywide Financial for its role in the subprime mortgage meltdown. More »
Over 400 people have been charged in the government's national mortgage fraud probe, called "Operation Malicious Mortage," which dealt with individual rather than corporate fraud. [Reuters]
Two former Bear Sterns executives were arrested today for securities fraud. [NYT]
iphone
The New $199 iPhone Is $160 More Expensive Than The $399 iPhone It Replaced. What?
Apple's new 3G iPhone might seem like a bargain at $199: more features, 3G speeds, and $200 cheaper than the original model. Great, except it's not actually cheaper. The new $199 iPhone is actually $160 more than the $399 iPhone it replaces. More »
fail
The ever-thoughtful economists over at Freakonomics are stumped by eBay member lpinok, who bid $55.71 for a $50 Target gift card.
More »
Why Would Anyone Bid $55 For A $50 Target Gift Card?!
The ever-thoughtful economists over at Freakonomics are stumped by eBay member lpinok, who bid $55.71 for a $50 Target gift card.
More »
mortgage meltdown
More Than 1 Million Homes Are Now In Foreclosure
Grim numbers today from the Mortgage Bankers Association. 2.5% of all mortgages serviced by the association's members are now in foreclosure — 1.1 million homes. The rest of the numbers aren't any more cheerful. Both the rate of new foreclosures and late payments were the highest on record going back to 1979, says the AP. More »
corruption
Is This Woman The Smoking Gun Of The Mortgage Meltdown?
Meet Tracy Warren. NPR says she's not surprised by the mortgage meltdown because she was supposed to be in charge of preventing it. Tracy worked for a quality control contractor that reviewed subprime loans for investment banks before they were sold on Wall Street, and her company's biggest client was none other than Bear Stearns. Tracy says she found plenty of loans to reject. The trouble is, according to Tracy, after she rejected them... her bosses unrejected them. More »
rude
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. More »
Last week the best radio show ever, This American Life, tackled the housing and credit crisis by talking to some of the real people involved with packaging junk no-proof loans into "sensible" investments. In the words of host Ira Glass and friends, it all comes back to "The Giant Pool Of Money." [This American Life]
subprime meltdown
Countrywide Still Asking Consumers To Lie About Their Income
Countrywide would like you to believe that it put all that messy "predatory subprime lending" business behind it and is no longer coaching consumers to lie on their loan applications in order to qualify them for loans they can't afford... but are they telling the truth about telling the truth? One woman who recently contacted Countrywide about refinancing her home told NPR that sketchy mortgage lending is alive and well at Countrywide. More »
personal finance
Consumer Bankruptcies Up Nearly 50% From A Year Ago
The number of people filing for bankruptcy continues to increase, as bad mortgages and the rising price of [insert noun here] squeezes every last penny out of debt-laden consumers. The American Bankruptcy Institute says the number of filings was up 47.7% in April from a year ago, and up 7.1% from March '08. More »
credit cards
Completed Walmart Credit Card Applications Are Now Worth Four Types Of Soda, Candy
Back in the glory days, when credit and food were cheap, it took a mere 2-liter bottle of Pepsi to bait customers into filling out a Walmart credit card application.
More »
translations
How The Candidates Would Address The Foreclosure Crisis
Mark Ireland, former Minnesota Assistant Attorney General, took a look at what the three remaining presidential candidates are saying about the foreclosure crisis and translated their campaign-speak into good ol' American English. More »
securitization
Why Few Seem To Be Able To Work Out Better Loan Terms
Call it what you will, the borrower bailout/rescue/whatever does not seem to be working. Foreclosures are still on the rise along with defaults and sad stories. And while those numbers go up, the economy continues to worsen. More »
class action
Subprime Meltdown Class Action Lawsuits On Rampage
Behind the scenes of the subprime and credit crunch hooplah, subprime-related class action lawsuits have been quietly building up a massive head. Navigant Consulting broke down the numbers on the gathering storm that will take years to dissipate:
- There are 448 subprime related federal lawsuits as of March 31 2008
- 170 federal lawsuits were filed in Q1 2008, vs 181 total filed in the last 6 months of 2007
- The Savings and Loan scandal of the 90's resulted in 599 lawsuits
- 57% involved at least one Fortune 1000 company
- 46% of the subprime related class action lawsuits are brought by borrowers
- 42% of those are related to disclosures made at loan origination
The Subprime Litigation Tsunami: Are We Dealing with Case Overload? [DSNEWS]
(Photo: Getty)
Bob Lawless considers why fewer homeowners walk away from "underwater" mortgages than you might expect. [Credit Slips]
subprime meltdown
