Countrywide CEO Mozilo Calls Borrower's Plea For Help "Disgusting"

Apparently clicking "reply" when he meant to hit "forward," Countrywide Financial Corp. Chairman Angelo Mozilo ignited an online furor Tuesday by describing a mortgage customer's plea for help as a "disgusting" example of form letters inundating the Calabasas home lender.

Mozilo's e-mail rocketed back to the customer, Daniel Bailey Jr., who had asked Countrywide to modify the terms of his loan so he wouldn't lose his home of 16 years.

Bailey said he took out the adjustable-rate mortgage without realizing how it worked and had been told incorrectly that he could refinance after a year. Instead, he wrote, "the bottom fell out" of the home-loan industry, and he was stuck with unaffordable payments.

Much of the language in Bailey's message to Countrywide was borrowed from a form letter available at the website LoanSafe.org, a coaching service for troubled borrowers. Bailey, who says he operates a photo studio, posted his e-mailed exchange with the lender on a LoanSafe forum.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[soothwriter]

Angelo Mozilo's earnings while he wrote the email would probably cover Bailey's mortgage.

[GoodbyeKitty]

What most people seem to be forgetting is that this crisis is another example of massive corporate welfare.

Most of these loans are FHA loans

Think about it for a minute

Federal Housing Authority backed loans

[WorkingClass]

This is pretty funny. Mr. big shot a*s hole lets his mask slip, and bingo, he's on the internet and everybody is talking about how ugly he is.

[OpusIsUnderTheBed]

Somebody teach this CEO Gazillionaire, how to use a basic email program. Hire a monkey.

[fungeezer]

You know, I worked for two large corporations where an employee accidentally selected the "all" distribution when sending an email.

Both employees were summarily fired.

This guy deserves worse due to the nature of the email.

[mexamerican]

that mozilla guy looks like novak got effed in the face by the ugly stick.

[nomadicexpat]

on what charge? specifically

[LRM216]

He looks as evil as he is.

[deckard70]

He looks like "The Face of Bo" from Doctor Who!

[JScott]

OOOPS now we know how CEO's of Mortgage Companies really feel about this.

And all they needed to do was learn a little about email, instead of having their admin. assistants print them out hard copy, which I suspect most of them do.

Interesting I applied for a job there years ago and the interviewer was a little weird acting.
I guess it was a good thing I didn't end up working there.

[Chavez08]

Question:

Is Capitalism good for America?

[RTIII]

Neither pure capitalism nor pure socialism work. A blend is required for a fair and just society.

[CaptainSunshine]

Pure capitalism works. Some people would be left behind and poverty would still exist. Some societal decay would set in and crime would rise. There would be no public school system. There would be no public hostpitals. And, we would have open borders. Human resources (e.g labor) would have to exist in a free open market as well.

[GoodbyeKitty]

Really? That description of pure capitalism sounds a lot like the dark ages to me

[Grandk]

Not in its present state. I am an advocate for capitalism but I foresee us moving towards socialism, at least until much of the hubris and corruption is rooted out of the current system we have in place.

[walk0nwalls]

Well Europe's mostly Democratic Socialism and last I checked the Euro was wrecking our asses.

And don't even get me started on the English Pound.

[gakabani]

He is part of the financial mafia that Bush allowed to run amok in our country. He simply a mere profiteer.

[GoodbyeKitty]

Bush, Clinton, Bush and Reagan

Lets tell it like it is. It's not just Bush

That's why we are all suckers

[Blurp]

Who is this guy? Vinnie Boombats?

[BigBagel]

Its Vinnie Goomba not Boombats

[OpusIsUnderTheBed]

Bada Bing, Bada Boom.

[CarbondaleKid]

The collar on his shirt is nice, in addition to the flattering & well-lighted photo. I hear Scorsese is planning to cast this piece of scum in his upcoming Goodfellas II epic as Joe Pesci's gay lover. Should be a classic........

[iheartsmartpeople]

To be fair, it sounds like he meant the 'disgusting' part towards the fact that folks are just using letter templates and spamming the hell out of as many email addresses they can get their hands on at the banks.

IMHO, both sides are equally stupid. Banks and their Execs for irresponsible lending and borrowers for being such idiots that they would commit to anything they did not fully understand. Ok maybe not even fully... more like - did not understand in the slightest bit. I think I could excuse not 'fully' understanding in many cases.

[lauram]

"equally stupid?" Yes, I know. Those stupid "disgusting" homeowners ought to have known exactly how slimy the mortgage brokers can be. They should have known how much money is passed under the table between brokers and lenders to "steer" borrowers toward the most profitable products (profitable to the lenders). They should be able to read the mumbo-jumbo in the 3 inch stack of paper that's shoved in front of you at closing. They should understand every word of legalese put there specifically to protect the lenders and phrased to the lenders' liking. They should understand the underpinnings of the entire credit market when the pull up a chair to buy a home. They should bring an attorney with them to closing as you know that the escrow folks just run the paper and aren't allowed to advise the borrower in any way.

Yeah. And maybe Mr. Mozilo should learn the difference between REPLY and FORWARD. That's sooooo tricky after all. Much trickier than any of the stuff above.

[tea in the harbor]

I am a carpenter. Our industry over the past decade or so has moved to the sub-contracting buisness model, making us ineligable for unemployment. My address will soon be "the woods!"
It is time for revolution!

[WorkingClass]

I used to used to be a machinist. Now I used to be a printer. See you in the woods bro. Hey - you got anything to eat?

[thegreatgiginthesky]

Lend me a 2X4 and I'm there.

[DMSmith]

In a just and sane world, every one of these men would be in prison.

[wolfgangmo]

In a just a sane world these men's mother's would have drowned the devils at birth.

[worldtraveller]

Time to stop with these stupid bailout plans and do what is really necessary. Make people cognizant of the fact that there are consequences for fraudulent behavior.
Arrest this man!!!

[pbfishtaco]

Sing along with me "Countrywide is on your side!"

[Blurp]

NATIONwide is on your side.

[rh654]

Damn - that is one ugly dude - and I mean physical appearance as much as personality.

[LiberalBuzz]

Ahhh for the days of the horse drawn cart going through the streets with the "let them eat cake" group in the carts being stoned on the way to the "blade".

This guy would be in the lead cart.

(yes I know Marie did NOT say those words, but you get my meaning)

[MajorKong]

< Sound of pitchforks being sharpened and torches being lit >

[ErnestineBass]

Oh, yeah, baby!

[ErnestineBass]

While I'm a fierce opponent of dog fighting...two minutes in the ring with a Pit Bull might do this mutt Mozilo a world of good.

I know it would improve the gene pool.

[MajorKong]

I would think that it would be in the interest of Countrywide to help people refinance to a loan they can afford rather than being stuck with a bunch of foreclosed houses that they have to auction at a huge loss.

[OpusIsUnderTheBed]

Don't think. Check the dictionary, under "greed" or "every rich, morally bankrupt, jerk", And no, I'm not talking about your President.

[ErnestineBass]

But Countrywide is not really "stuck" with anything...those debts have been sold and resold and resold again, and for all we know, the mortgages on sixty foreclosed houses in a north Atlanta development could be "owned" by the Baker's Union in the Czech Republic.
It will take years to untangle this ball of financial string.

[zizyphus]

CEO of Countrywide looks and acts like a gangster.

[OpusIsUnderTheBed]

Bulls eye! Bulls eye!

[SeriousBlack]

Nope - Just a Republican.

[ErnestineBass]

And neither have any more scruples than your average dope dealer.

[DMSmith]

HOW RUDE! What a nasty thing to say about dope dealers!!