14 Reasons Why Countrywide Is In The Worst Company Hall Of Fame

As the news breaks that Angelo R. Mozilo, the curiously orange former CEO of Countrywide Financial, has agreed to pay millions of dollars in fines, we decided to take a walk down Countrywide’s Memory Lane… which happens to be a street littered with abandoned and foreclosed houses.

Feb. 2008: Countrywide Says “Our Investors Require” Us To Rip You Off
In which reader/homeowner Matt enters the Byzantine, Mad Hatter-ish world of trying to convince Countrywide that he should be able to drop his Personal Mortgage Insurance.

May 2008: Countrywide Still Asking Consumers To Lie About Their Income
In which Countrywide employees show that you can’t teach an old orange dog new tricks.

May 2008: Countrywide CEO Accidentally Emails Homeowner, Calls His Plea For Help “Disgusting”
In which Orangelo Mozilo shows just how much he respects the people who paid for his self-tanning lotion.

June 2008: Countrywide CEO Gave Below Market Rate Loans To Senators From A Special “VIP Desk”
In which Mozilo shows that he loves both kinds of people: Senators and Congressmen.

June 2008: Countrywide Is About To Foreclose On Ed McMahon
In which Countrywide compels a former TV giant into doing commercials for FreeCreditReport and a certain gold-purchasing company.

June 2008: Countrywide CEO: “Countrywide Has Made A Positive Impact On The Country”
In which we seek to find out where we can get whatever kinds of drugs Angelo Mozilo is taking.

July 2008: Countrywide Home Loans Wins Consumerist’s Worst Company In America Contest
In which Countrywide earns what would be its first — and last — Golden Poo, but only because it is now called Bank of America.

Aug. 2008: Former Countrywide Employee Arrested For Stealing, Selling Customer Identities
In which we learn that you don’t have to be a CEO at Countrywide to be a crook.

Oct. 2008: Countrywide To Fixed Rate Customer: Your Mortgage Is About To Adjust!
In which Countrywide attempts to trick Graham into exchanging his existing fixed mortgage for a nice, adjustable one.

Jan. 2009: Countrywide Freezes HELOCs, Says “It’s Not You, It’s Your Home”
In which Eric finds out that Countrwide has frozen his home equity line of credit because home values in his ‘hood have dropped… because of all the subprime mortgages written by companies like Countrywide.

March 2009: Battle Of The Most Hated Companies: Countrywide Sues AIG
In which the world’s worst mortgage lender and the world’s worst insurance company pull out a measuring tape to see who has the bigger a-hole.

June 2009: SEC: Countrywide CEO Called Mortgages “Toxic” Three Freaking Years Ago
In which Angelo Mozilo tries to convince the world that “toxic” is mortgage industry slang for “reliable.”

May 2010: Countrywide Settles Class-Action Suit For $624 Million
In which Bank of America really begins to regret buying Countrywide.

July 2010: Countrywide Sued For Discriminating Against Black And Latino Mortgage Buyers
In which we learn that Countrywide may not have been the equal-opportunity a-holes we’d made them out to be.

For a more complete (and perhaps more depressing) time capsule of the last 2+ years, combine these with last week’s Bank of America round-up.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.