{"id":16038,"date":"2012-07-05T12:50:30","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T19:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=16038"},"modified":"2012-07-05T12:50:41","modified_gmt":"2012-07-05T19:50:41","slug":"but-weve-got-to-have-some-regulation-how-else-are-insiders-going-to-get-their-mitts-onto-sweetheart-mortgage-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16038\/but-weve-got-to-have-some-regulation-how-else-are-insiders-going-to-get-their-mitts-onto-sweetheart-mortgage-deals\/","title":{"rendered":"“But we’ve got to have some<\/em> regulation!” How else are insiders going to get their mitts onto sweetheart mortgage deals?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regulation is rent-seeking, Rotarian Socialist graft, and that’s all it ever is. Who sold out the housing market? The regulators, of course.<\/p>\n

AP: Countrywide won influence with discounts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

HousingWire: Investigation reveals Countrywide VIP program scope and influence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg: Countrywide Used Loans For Favor With Fannie Mae, Report Says<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I love this bit from the AP story:<\/p>\n

Among those who received loan discounts from Countrywide, the report said, were:<\/p>\n

—Former Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.<\/p>\n

—Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D.<\/p>\n

—Mary Jane Collipriest, who was communications director for former Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, then a member of the Banking Committee. The report said Dodd referred Collipriest to Countrywide’s VIP unit. Dodd, when commenting on his own loans, said that he was unaware of receiving preferential treatment but knew his loans were handled by the VIP unit.<\/p>\n

The Senate’s ethics committee investigated Dodd and Conrad but did not charge them with any ethical wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

—Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n

—Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., former chairman of the Oversight Committee. Towns issued the first subpoena to Bank of America for Countrywide documents, and current Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., subpoenaed more documents. The committee said that in responding to the Towns subpoena, Bank of America left out documents related to Towns’ loan.<\/p>\n

—Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif.<\/p>\n

—Top staff members of the House Financial Services Committee.<\/p>\n

—A staff member of Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas, a member of the Financial Services Committee.<\/p>\n

—Former Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Calif.<\/p>\n

—Former Housing and Urban Development Secretaries Alphonso Jackson and Henry Cisneros; former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. The VIP unit processed Cisneros’s loan after he joined Fannie’s board of directors.<\/p>\n

—Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, was an exception. He told the VIP unit not to give him a discount, and he did not receive one.<\/p>\n

—Former heads of Fannie Mae James Johnson, Daniel Mudd and Franklin Raines. Countrywide took a loss on Mudd’s loan. Fannie employees were the most frequent recipients of VIP loans. Johnson received a discount after Mozilo waived problems with his credit rating.<\/p>\n

The report said Mozilo “ordered the loan approved, and gave Johnson a break. He instructed the VIP unit: ‘Charge him ½ Read more<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regulation is rent-seeking, Rotarian Socialist graft, and that’s all it ever is. Who sold out the housing market? The regulators, of course. AP: Countrywide won influence with discounts. HousingWire: Investigation reveals Countrywide VIP program scope and influence. Bloomberg: Countrywide Used Loans For Favor With Fannie Mae, Report Says. I love this bit from the AP […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,26,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-group-therapy","7":"category-lending","8":"category-marketing","9":"category-real-estate","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1810,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1810\/the-countrywide-federal-bailout-act-of-2008\/","url_meta":{"origin":16038,"position":0},"title":"The Countrywide Federal Bailout Act of 2008","author":"Brian Brady","date":"August 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever felt your stomach drop? I received an e-mail, from reader Robert Kerr today, asking if I had seen Merrill Lynch's downgrade of Countrywide Financial. Merrill Lynch believes that Countrywide might face bankruptcy. Make no mistake about it, a collapse of Countrywide Financial will give everybody in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1855,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1855\/the-new-york-times-goes-on-a-countrywide-manhunt\/","url_meta":{"origin":16038,"position":1},"title":"The New York Times goes on a Countrywide manhunt","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times on the Countrywide mess and how the company got there:ON its way to becoming the nation\u2019s largest mortgage lender, the Countrywide Financial Corporation encouraged its sales force to court customers over the telephone with a seductive pitch that seldom varied. \u201cI want to be sure you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1250,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1250\/a-farewell-to-arms-one-less-option\/","url_meta":{"origin":16038,"position":2},"title":"A Farewell to ARMs: One Less Option","author":"Brian Brady","date":"April 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Are Option ARMs the next casualty in the non prime mortgage meltdown war? Wall Street fired the shot heard 'round the world in the mortgage default war by demanding repurchases from subprime lenders. Lenders either closed their doors or waved the white flag and allowed the conquering army to annex\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2550,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2550\/helocs-frozen-preserving-american-homeownership\/","url_meta":{"origin":16038,"position":3},"title":"HELOCs Frozen: Preserving American Homeownership","author":"Brian Brady","date":"January 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Preserving the American Dream is a position paper authored by John Dugan, Comptroller of the Currency. \"Preserving American Home Ownership\" is the \"initiative\" rumored to be pondered by Countrywide Home Loans, IndyMac Bank, and Washington Mutual. N.B.: The following is rumor; something that was \"heard on the street\". Jeffrey Smith\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2272,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2272\/countrywide-bankruptcy-likely-not-while-the-feds-are-bailing-them-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":16038,"position":4},"title":"Countrywide Bankruptcy Likely? Not While the Feds Are Bailing Them Out","author":"Brian Brady","date":"November 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm a Countrywide watcher. It's size and reach in mortgage loan origination is worthy of any mortgage originator's respect and admiration. I had a lot of confidence in Countrywide as it marched to becoming America's largest originator of home loans. I liked 'em so much that I had a piece\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2494,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2494\/the-odysseus-medal-competition-voting-for-the-peoples-choice-award-is-open-15\/","url_meta":{"origin":16038,"position":5},"title":"The Odysseus Medal competition — Voting for the People’s Choice Award is open","author":"Greg Swann","date":"January 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A total of 17 entries on the short list this week, out of a long list of 75 posts. Vote for the People's Choice Award here. You can use the voting interface to see each nominated post, so comparison is easy. Ahem: Please don't spam all your friends to come\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Carnivals"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Carnivals","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blog-carnivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16038"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16040,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16038\/revisions\/16040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}