September 07, 2007

FLASH: As predicted here 48 hours ago, down-and-out toxic mortgage lender Countrywide Mortgage laying off 10,000 to 12,000 (for starters)

Tomorrow's news today here at HP... And hey, it's Friday night, time the mortgage lenders, banks and builders put out the REALLY bad stuff... (note - yes, of course, I'm short CFC)


This one was easy HP'ers. Next comes the multi-million (if not billion) dollar financial restatement as their auditors demand Orangelo "marks to market" the crap on his books. But only 12,000 Angelo? Sorry to say, but 61,000 are actually at risk, as this toxic business struggles to stay afloat (now that Angelo has cashed out). Maybe he can chip in for their severances with his ill-gotten gains.

Question though Angelo: With 12,000 less employees, who'll manage the lines of people streaming into your Countrywide offices looking to get their deposits back?

Countrywide Plans to Cut As Many as 12,000 Jobs

Countrywide Financial Corp. is expected to announce plans to reduce its work force over the next three months by 10,000 to 12,000 jobs, representing as much as 20% of the current total.

The largest U.S. home-mortgage lender also expects that its loan originations in 2008 will be about 25% lower than this year.

51 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoever the artist is, can you put a little flame on the roof, like it's burning? Just the outline in red, like a part of the roof in on fire.

blogger said...

You heard it - someone put some flames on this thing and send it my way

Sweet

Anonymous said...

Oh, this is too good. DX now sub 80 heading for record low, bullion closes week over 700. Is this momentum or what?

Wait until some insane trillion dollar bailout gets announced and monetized, man. Can you say Weimar Republic, boys and girls?

Anonymous said...

We are taking decisive action to ensure that Countrywide continues to be well-positioned for further success," said Angelo Mozilo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "As we carry out our plan, the Company's overarching focus is exactly where it has always been: to remain an industry leader in the U.S. residential lending business, to deliver value and world-class service to our customers and business partners, to enhance shareholder value, and to provide career opportunities for our people."

"Each employee at Countrywide is considered an important member of the Countrywide family," said David Sambol, President and Chief Operating Officer. "While workforce reductions are therefore always very difficult, these decisions are being made with the utmost attention and sensitivity to the impact they will have on our Company and our people."

Anonymous said...

Angelo cashes out for hundreds of millions then fires everyone

Shameful. He must not be a popular guy at the office softball game

blogger said...

Thanks HP'ers for sending in all the new CountrywideENRON logos.

Keep 'em coming. Some Angelo photoshops would be very useful too

Orange jumpsuit anyone?

Anonymous said...

Sweet-Trolls on the run

Anonymous said...

These 12,000 people will fill the current openings at McDonald's and Burger King, then Bush will be on TV touting that 12,000 new jobs were created and everyone should buy a house as part of his ownership society...

Anonymous said...

you were right on with the lay off, problem is this might make the stock price jump up for the near future. better to be an actual short then to hold puts at this point.

Anonymous said...

keith said...
Thanks HP'ers for sending in all the new CountrywideENRON logos.

Keep 'em coming. Some Angelo photoshops would be very useful too

Orange jumpsuit anyone?
___________________________________
Shakster-Kieth, my brother has a set of Enron overalls from his days at Enronious Wind Energy Division.GE bought them (to help Bush Cover it up?),and didn't confiscate the Enron souveniers.TOO Funny
Mozero will be bailed FYI.They along with GM are "bellweathers" IMO.
Gold going up fast over 700.00 is a positive sign that the FED,and other Cen Banks are printing ,and pumping(I bet we're over 1Trillion in the last month).These new dollars have no backing ,or anyway of being balanced against Real Value Assets,or Scammed Losses from dummy investors.The I nvestors are scared,and pissed about the ripoff.So all these new dollars are being summed against assets,commodities,and especially GOLD.

Anonymous said...

Mozilo has to be figuring out ways to shut these blogs down

Anonymous said...

Fitch Affirms $10.4MM and Downgrades $544.8MM from 2 Countrywide Second Lien Transactions
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings has taken the following rating actions on two Countrywide mortgage pass-through certificates. Affirmations total $10.4 million and downgrades total $544.8 million. Break Loss percentages (BL) and Loss Coverage Ratios (LCR) for each class, rated B or higher, are included with the rating actions as follows:

CWABS 2006-SPS1

--$117.8 million class A downgraded to 'BBB-' from 'AAA' (BL: 48.50, LCR: 1.14);

--$13.1 million class M-1 downgraded to 'BB' from 'AA+' (BL: 41.10, LCR: 0.96);

--$11.5 million class M-2 downgraded to 'B+' from 'AA+' (BL: 34.78, LCR: 0.82);

--$7.0 million class M-3 downgraded to 'C/DR6' from 'AA+';

--$6.3 million class M-4 downgraded to 'C/DR6' from 'AA';

--$6.3 million class M-5 downgraded to 'C/DR6' from 'AA-';

--$6.0 million class M-6 downgraded to 'C/DR6' from 'BBB-';

--$5.8 million class M-7 downgraded to 'C/DR6' from 'BB+';

--$4.9 million class M-8 remains at 'C/DR6';

--$3.8 million class M-9 remains at 'C/DR6';

Anonymous said...

Deal Summary

--Originators: 100% Countrywide;

--60+ day Delinquency: 9.99%;

--Realized Losses to date (% of Original Balance): 11.81%;

--Expected Remaining Losses (% of Current Balance): 42.63%;

--Cumulative Expected Losses (% of Original Balance): 43.27%.

Anonymous said...

Keep 'em coming. Some Angelo photoshops would be very useful too

Orange jumpsuit anyone?


------------------

Wouldnt that look like he was standing in the nude?

Anonymous said...

Here's some old school RE scam classes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9rkyyzoqI8

Anonymous said...

Beautiful. Burn baby burn.

Anonymous said...

Erod said:"Wouldnt that look like he was standing in the nude?"


LOL....why yes!!

Anonymous said...

Maybe DOPES was one of those employees laid off HA HA HA!!!

Anonymous said...

Keith,

didn't realize you look exactly like Orangelo on your profile, lol too funny

Lost Cause said...

Too bad it was not 12,001.

Anonymous said...

This is too funny. I remember reading "The Daily Enron" blog when the whole Enron scandal was going on, and this is just as funny to read. Orange Godzillo is the same as Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. Speaking of which, did anyone happen to catch that he is appealing his conviction today? Maybe Orange Man could go in and have some "alone time" with the master Jeff and learn from him what not to do in prison - seeing as how Orange Man may be joining the jump suit squad soon.

Anonymous said...

What happened to the $11.2 billion line of credit from 40 banks and the $2 billion from BofA?

How stupid are these banks to fund a company on life support?

Even us simple folk here at HP knew this was coming.

Anonymous said...

Hey keith, here are eight funny Enron logo pictures. Maybe you could modify one, how about the first one, except instead of a melting "E" you could have a melting house?

Anonymous said...

So when are people in suburbia going to start burning effigies of mozilo and his ilk.

I can see a business opportunity making effigies of Realtors, IBs, Hedgefund managers, Greenspan.. the list goes on..

Bill said...

Orgasmic!!

Bill said...

good to see this was announced after all the sheep went home to enjoy their weekend..more ploy...revolution

Anonymous said...

I used to know a Countrywide employee that I would send HP articles to at work. The emails were unreadable by her because Countrywide’s system blocked her from reading them. So picture the behind the scenes stuff that even the employees never saw. I imagine they had an entire department dedicated to damage control and subterfuge.

Now they'll say they knew nothing of the danger to our financial system they were causing. Treat them as TRAITORS who defrauded us and misused Federal subsidy and stole OUR tax dollars!

Anonymous said...

careers at countrywide



Discover a place where dedicated people work together to uphold the dream of homeownership for all. Contribute to a team where you will work alongside colleagues who share your enthusiasm, dedication, and commitment. Build a career where ideas, talent, and opinions are respected and where you are encouraged to constantly grow in new ways and new directions.

At Countrywide, you can.

Across the country and around the globe, the people of Countrywide are helping others realize the dream of homeownership. As one of America’s most admired companies*, Countrywide is a place where passionate people reinforce our reputation for outstanding service every day. Whether you’re just starting your career or are an experienced professional, Countrywide offers opportunities from coast to coast that give you room to grow and excel. Apply your ideas and entrepreneurial skills and make a difference in the lives of millions of people who dream of owning a home.

Explore our site to learn more about our commitment to our people, our communities, and our best-in-class customer service.

* Fortune, March 2007

Anonymous said...

Our Loan Administration teams are growing in AZ, TX and CA!
Customer Service Reps: Explore the opportunities in Arizona, Texas or California.

http://www.countrywidecareers.com/

Anonymous said...

I was browsing the net last night and saw a debate between you keith and greg swann. Who is it that needs the lube now?

burn baby burn said...

It is funny how they release their bad news on Friday night like we will not notice.

Anonymous said...

Well can you say Christmas ain't lookin good about now. I imagine you will be able to get a hell of a parking place this year at the mall.

Anonymous said...

Have loved HP for about a year now. First I like it becuase like all people I am prone to confirmation bias! My views repeated by others make me feel good! Having said that...I think you all know that the housing collapse is but a sympton of bigger and badder problems. Its goint to get really, really bad. Just the start....

W.C. Varones said...

Scenes from the San Francisco Countrywide office.

Subprime foreclosure victim or laid-off employee?

You make the call!

Anonymous said...

LOL!!!

"After the close, shares of Countrywide Financial Corp. rose 2.1 percent to $18.60 in extended trade after the mortgage lender announced plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs."

Anonymous said...

Take a look at this chart from Countrywide's own web site on foreclosed homes THEY own!!!

http://countrywide-foreclosures.blogspot.com/index.html

stuckinthecity said...

Tomorrow's news today here at HP... And hey, it's Friday night, time the mortgage lenders, banks and builders put out the REALLY bad stuff... (note - yes, of course, I'm short CFC)
--


Most bad news comes out on Fridays after work.

Anonymous said...

Yep. The party's over. Time to take out the trash.

Anonymous said...

I have little sympathy for Countrywide employees. That entire area around Calabasas is housing bubble central with homes that rose 4x, 5x in value since the bubble start with owners smugly bragging "house prices will never go down".

I worked at a company nearby and you should have heard these 20 year olds talking about 800,000 here, 1 million yada yada. Now soon they'll have to confront what that really means, how they'll now actually have to pay that debt off, how a generation ago that was more money than the average person made their entire life.

Calabasas people starving? Let them eat drywall.

Anonymous said...

As the good ship Southern California slips beneath the waves it's women, children and men with cash into the lifeboats.

The rest of you leveraged to the eyeballs bitches are going down with the ship.

Anonymous said...

YES!!!

Anonymous said...

To make matters worse, the headquaters is next to one of S CA's most bubbly counties, Ventura. Already down 5% YOY a guess another 10,000 homes on the market won't effect prices much.

Anonymous said...

Be careful, very careful about wishing such ill-will on other people...this recession might start with your nemesis Countrywide, but trust me...as we head into the fall, this will build and build like a giant snowball, and the next jobs on line will be your own.

It will spare very few.

Anonymous said...

A few days back when we were all predicting CFC's layoffs there was a CFC employee who defended the company and was very confident that damage would be minimal. WHere are you now, oh foolishly loyal employee!! Waiting in line for your pink slip and potted plant?

You were right about one thing, Orangzilo is going to minimize the damage but TO HIM ande HIS WALLET, not you and yours. Thanks suckers!! Is the message being sent.

Anonymous said...

Bob Slydell: No. No, of course not. We find it's always better to fire people on a Friday. Studies have statistically shown that there's less chance of an incident if you do it at the end of the week.

pwnd

Anonymous said...

.








oops!


mozilo

Anonymous said...

I went to McDonald's and it was full of people. You dopes still think the economy is bad? People don't eat during a recession

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
I went to McDonald's and it was full of people. You dopes still think the economy is bad? People don't eat during a recession

September 09, 2007 7:39 AM
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This is an HPer joking right?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Be careful, very careful about wishing such ill-will on other people...this recession might start with your nemesis Countrywide, but trust me...as we head into the fall, this will build and build like a giant snowball, and the next jobs on line will be your own.

It will spare very few.

September 08, 2007 3:14 PM
-----------
Wishing ill will to Satan's helpers and handmaidens is acceptable. CFC workers new full and well that they were pushing loan products that would destroy people. Then when it did destroy them and they asked for help, they put them on the street and took their home. THIS IS JUSTICE. They deserve it and they know it.

Anonymous said...

countrywide financial down over 5% on Monday! So much for the 2% rise in after hours trading!

Laid off said...

I'm among those thousands of mortgage employees out on the street. Not all of us helped to create this mess we are in. The brokers and loan officers who pushed all these crap loans thorough (with the help of management) are doing OK. The CEO of my old company Homebanc, Pat Flood, or as I like to call him, Pat Fuck, got a severance of about $5 million when he left the company. It closed its doors last month and is in bankruptcy court, of course all the employees were told to expect zero severance.

I've been "underwriting" mortgages for ten years, I use the term loosely bc in the last few years ALL loans got approved, sales people got their fat commissions, the bosses their bonuses and little by little we ended up where we are now. I'm just making a point that among those thousands of mortgage employees, not all are greedy and reckless; we were all doing our jobs, from the loan processors to the closers to the mail room guy; in the meantime, our companies were being set on fire from the inside, and those responsible all cashed in while we fill the unemployment office and once that's over, we fill that application for a dishwasher position.

Of course, since the nation's new bankruptcy laws were enacted, good luck getting that approved if unfortunately you need to. No, that's only reserved for the most important citizen of the Bush era: the corporation. All I can say to my fellow laid off workers: go back to school, this business didn't care about you or value you, get the skills to become more than a loan pusher so they can't kick you to the curb anymore.