{"id":1810,"date":"2007-08-15T18:55:19","date_gmt":"2007-08-16T01:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=1810"},"modified":"2008-01-08T20:35:48","modified_gmt":"2008-01-09T03:35:48","slug":"the-countrywide-federal-bailout-act-of-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1810\/the-countrywide-federal-bailout-act-of-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"The Countrywide Federal Bailout Act of 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever felt your stomach drop? <\/p>\n

I received an e-mail, from reader Robert Kerr today, asking if I had seen Merrill Lynch’s downgrade of Countrywide Financial<\/a>. Merrill Lynch believes that Countrywide might face bankruptcy. Make no mistake about it, a collapse of Countrywide Financial will give everybody in the real estate and mortgage industry a case of the “awshits”.<\/p>\n

The Secret be damned!<\/a> I said this was plausible back on April 1, 2007:<\/p>\n

\n

Here are some warning signs the painfullly paranoid (like me) might feed upon:<\/em><\/p>\n

1- Countrywide Announces <\/em>Change in Board Of Directors<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

2- <\/em>Fitch Ratings Agency Downgrades<\/em><\/a> 33% of Countrywide Loan Pools; particularly their “expanded criteria” guidelines which include Pay Option ARMs<\/em><\/p>\n

3- <\/em>Methinks he doth protesteth too much<\/em><\/a>; Chairman and Founder Angelo Mozilo sold $140 million worth of stock last year while literally screaming that Countrywide should not be penalized by stock traders because of the subprime meltdown.<\/em><\/p>\n

Negative amortization loans are an excellent financial planning tool. Countrywide has long been a favorite of originators because of their adaptability and innovative lending products. This time, I think they may have overreached. I’m raising our readiness condition to DefCon-4.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I’ve been getting a lot of traffic on my home weblog. The reason is simple; I’ve been writing a lot about Countrwide lately. If you Google, “Countrywide In Trouble”,<\/a> I’m close to the top. This is not a pat on the back for my SEO technique, it’s a realization of how severe the reach of a Countrywide collapse may be.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, I questioned why Angelo Mozilo wasn’t owning up to the severity of the problem<\/a> and getting the bad loans off of the books so we could move on with our lives. More traffic on the weblog. That’s a bad sign. I followed up and wrote a little joke about a federal bailout of Countrywide by President Fred Thompson in 2009 and likened Countrywide to Chrysler<\/a>. I played with fuzzy numbers and determined that Countrywide’s net worth could conceivably drop some 70% from defaulted loans. Huge traffic on the weblog! Google finance and Yahoo finance picked it up. I think I struck a nerve.<\/p>\n

This is Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 real estate and mortgage industry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"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":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-real-estate","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2550,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2550\/helocs-frozen-preserving-american-homeownership\/","url_meta":{"origin":1810,"position":0},"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":1855,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1855\/the-new-york-times-goes-on-a-countrywide-manhunt\/","url_meta":{"origin":1810,"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":2494,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2494\/the-odysseus-medal-competition-voting-for-the-peoples-choice-award-is-open-15\/","url_meta":{"origin":1810,"position":2},"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":[]},{"id":2272,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2272\/countrywide-bankruptcy-likely-not-while-the-feds-are-bailing-them-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":1810,"position":3},"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":7344,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7344\/the-subprime-bank-of-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":1810,"position":4},"title":"The Subprime Bank of America","author":"Brian Brady","date":"March 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember those impetuous, ne'er do well subprime borrowers and those greedy subprime lenders?\u00a0 Writing about them is sooo... 2007 but I'm happy to report that both greed and reckless abandon are alive and well today.... ...at Bank of America. Remember Ken Lewis?\u00a0 He's that sober-faced, bespectacled CEO of the Charlotte-based\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":16038,"url":"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\/","url_meta":{"origin":1810,"position":5},"title":"“But we’ve got to have some regulation!” How else are insiders going to get their mitts onto sweetheart mortgage deals?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810","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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}