I think so.
Here's the internal memo from yesterday Angelo sent to soon-to-be-former Countrywide employees.
Message from the CEO
Message to all employees from Angelo Mozilo, Chairman and CEO.
There is no question that all of us at Countrywide and all those involved in the financial services industry have been impacted by this unprecedented world wide credit crisis. Over the past 40 years, since the founding of our Company, there have been many global and domestic events that challenged the will, the tenacity, the strength and the character of the Countrywide family. Each and every time we have risen to the occasion and, in fact, we have led not only our Company but also the industry through many periods of crisis.
During this time, I have received many kind messages from employees throughout the country. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have expressed their support for me personally, and to convey my deepest appreciation for all members of the Countrywide family who continue to work very hard and who have made tremendous sacrifices on behalf of our Company. I would also like to recognize Dave Sambol and the entire team who have worked tirelessly for the past several months in managing the many and varied challenges that have arisen as the result of the disruption in the credit markets.
Again, thank you for your continuing dedication to Countrywide. I commit to each and every one of you that I will do everything in my power to make certain that our management team utilizes all of its resources as we migrate through to a new and different chapter in the history of our Company and in our industry.
My only questions - who the hell is sending Angelo kind messages? Two words - suck ups. And if management is utilizing all its resources, does that mean that they'll take their hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains from insider trading and use them to repurchase shares or contribute to an employee assistance program? Yeah, didn't think so.
Angelo Mozilo is KenLay. Angelo Mozilo is Bernie Ebbers. And Angelo Mozilo will come to represent the greed and corruption of the Late Great Housing Ponzi Scheme.
October 25, 2007
Will Countrywide Toxic Mortgage's Angelo Mozilo resign tomorrow after announcing horrific results and more layoffs?
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Yeah, a memo like that does not come out on the eve of a critical earnings report for a company that is in the throws of a crisis without it having some hidden meaning as to the company's future, bankruptcy filing perhaps simultaneously filed with the reporting of a quarterly loss that the company just cannot recover from?
migrate to a new chapter?
Chapter 11 maybe?
CW Director Cisneros resigned this week from board of Directors.
hmmmmm....
He wants to blame the credit crunch...HE WAS ONE OF THE MAIN INSTIGATORS OF THE CREDIT CRUNCH. What a low-life.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have expressed their support for me personally, and to convey my deepest appreciation for all members of the Countrywide family who continue to work very hard and who have made tremendous sacrifices on behalf of our Company.
I bet he does. Meanwhile he goes out the back door with two suitcases full of money. Make that two trucks. The 401k pension sheeple deserve to be ripped off by the CEOs. They are stupid.
KEEFER,
I'M NOT FEELING WELL.
I'M GONNA GO HOME.
I GOT THE MEMO...
I got this memo yesterday as a CFC Employee, and have to say--the last line is key:
"As we migrate through and to a new chapter" It is the sort of vague P.R.-crafted don't say TOO much, on your way out the door kind of note, 4 sure.
I have heard that if you haven't been approached to join the CW BANK specifically, you will find yourself out the door soon too, only with a whole lot less cash than Mozilo.
SEC! Step it up before Mozilo leaves the country--
You guys have called it correctly IMHO:
Here is my take based on typical decoding of the Memo and way too many years in the Corporate Gulags;
1> MoZilla is out.
2> Either BK with a set up merger, ot a merger with a deep discount to clean up the losses for the ARMS and bad debt.
I would expect they are better off going CHAPTER 11 since they are ground zero for law suits once the CDO matters hit the trial courts in earnest. They wash the books clean, walk away from their mess, and Bank of AmeriKa or some clone picks up the pieces to be used to rebrand and hope no one follows this shell game of consumer fraud called retail mortgage banking.
Yet another example where the bad guys use a corporation to avoid personal accountability. Who needs to rob banks when it is far easier, "legal" and much more profitable just to run one into the ground for your own self interest!
perhaps it is time for me to close out my jan 08 25 puts, something is going to be announced friday.... resignation, buyout??? I am worried that anything like that would be viewed as positive in the short term, causing the stock to spike up.
Oh No! MOZIRRA gotta cancel?Mothra wasa cancel arso.Bad Bad bad taka munny den gos array.Bad bad.
Angelo would be perfect victim for TV-series Dexter...
Are you seriously asking if a now rich C-Level executive will fall on his sword to protect employees? This guy will be glued to the company through it all, employees to people like this are no more important to him than a line of ants on a sidewalk.
A guy like this will ask you to take a pay cut, reduce your hours, bring office supplies from home "to save the company." Then, shunt those savings into his wallet. Then lay you off as thanks for your loyalty.
My neighbors brother in law is a loan manager at Countrywide. They cut his pay now to comission only. He went from making $200,000 a year to $2000 a month. He has a Mcmansion in Scottsdale that he and his wife, his realtor sister, leveraged to buy three condos to flip. They can pay for 6 more months and thats it. Then it's forclosure time. She wants to hang on and wait for the market to bounce back. My prediction- I see 4 forclosures in the near future.
I think Mozilo is also John Rigas. He probably isn't Spartacus, though.
Well, friends and business associates have been telling me that because they have more than one line of business, CountryWide will continue on ... I'm not so sure.
Even if they do, they'll have to cut several positions - it will get very ugly for many of these employees.
Sad part is, back in 2003, many of the employees were also caught up in the housing frenzy themselves, mortgaged to the hilt and living way beyond their means - 401k's looked great at the time.
Now, many of these same employees are still mortgaged to the hilt, but their *paper* gains have fallen drastically - and there is little to no savings to draw from to cover expenses.
I'm still listening to what friends have to say about all this, but from all appearances it's looking worse day-by-day for CountryWide.
However, Angelo Mozilo will not be impacted much at all.
RE: Countrywide resignations...
The RATS are already starting to abandon the sinking ship.
V.L.
IS THERE A MORTGAGE BANK PRES MORE ORANGE THAN ANGELO MOZILLO????
http://ricflairfinance.com/
O M G
SPEAKERS CRITICAL!!!!
During this time, I have received many kind messages from employees throughout the country.
Those employees must be Giuliani voters, other GOP scum, or just plain dumb like a door American sheeple.
And remember folks, financial bad news always come on Fridays.
The thing you're missing about Angelo Mozilo is that he was simply a punk player in a game that had been rigged by others who should be held more responsible for the mess. Who is it that relaxed the lending rules to absurdly lax levels? Who juiced the banks with all of that created-from-thin-air money? Who lowered the interest rates so low a few years back, and then encouraged people to take out interest-only/ARM loans?
It was a group of players, including Greenspan, who control the banks. The Fed was created to keep conditions nice for the big banks. The Fed and big banking created this housing mess out of whole cloth.
Mozilo is just a shopkeeper who was using the crazy setup for his own gain. And he is indisputably the most orange of the players.
That guy holding the sign looks smart. I bet he read his loan documents carefully.
Keith I couldn't have said it better myself...
I've always felt that Mozilo has simply been buying time for his eminent escape to his estate in the South of France.
Like the other bloggers have said, the timing of this memo is surreal.
As much as I would LOVE to see JUSTICE prevail and have a happy ending to add to the history books. I don't think it's going to happen. I mean look at how George W. Bush rewards the former CEO of Ameriquest (another slime lender)- with an appointment as US Ambassador to the Netherlands!
Nice going Georgeepoo... Let me guess, CEO Angelo Mozilo will be rewarded with... fill in the blank!
On that note, do you know that current stats show that of people going into foreclosure, 70% of them actually falsified information on their application to get the damn loan to begin with.
So all you "Community Activists" are full of SH#@$ for the most part...learn to read before you buy a house.
I wonder who is forcing CFC to report earnings in the morning instead of after the market closes.
Whatever Tangello says about earnings, you can believe it's gotta be worse!
Don't you just love corp speak?
Credit crisis = ponzi scheme The intentional offloading of crap mortgages and now no investors want your shit sandwiches.
Fedspeak:
serious risk to economic growth = RECESSION Don't say the R word.
Bank speak: Conduit / SIV this is more BS speak just to cover up ways keep liabilities off the balance sheet and play a game of moving money from one pocket to another to try and fool investors
Poor guy's been impacted.
Mozillo will request that all CFC employees wear the black Nike sneakers, drink the cool-aid and return to the mothership as the comet approaches tomorrow. Or maybe he will just do a Bud Dwyer.
Can Mozzilo get an Orange mortgage at ING Direct? I think he qualifies. He could have a future there.
http://home.ingdirect.com/
During this time, I have received many kind messages from employees throughout the country.
Now what do they say, I wonder?
Oh my super hacker friend got one of these for me right here:
Hey Angelo, thanks a a billion. Seriously I mean it, I'm a billionaire now. My fund shorted the CDO indexes up the freaking wazoo! I'm drinking an Orange Julius---with Stoli---right now, thinking about you.
ta ta,
Master O. Universe,
Clytemnaestra Capital Management
PS: got shredder?
Anonymous said...
October 25, 2007 10:49 PM
On that note, do you know that current stats show that of people going into foreclosure, 70% of them actually falsified information on their application to get the damn loan to begin with.
With all do respect ANON, you MUST be one of my many slimy counterparts that pursued the all mighty commission checks at ALL costs... including falsifying documents.
Yes, our clients are responsible for reading their documents. However, YOU have a fiduciary DUTY to all of your clientele. Therefore, 99.9% of the culpability lay on your hands! But of course, I really don't expect you to understand that in the least.
Picture this... You go to your doctor complaining of severe pain in your lower right side. After diagnosis, your doctor tells you that you must have your appendix removed. You agree and sign on the dotted line. Why? Because the doctor is the expert in his/her field and knows more than you do.
Then... you find out later that this procedure was NOT necessary. All you had was a BAD case of gas!
Don't tell me that you would not SUE the doctor for malpractice! Why? Because you TRUSTED the doctor's medical opinion and s/he has a fiduciary DUTY to YOU! Case in point.
Americano: "Ass-Kisser". What a shame !
Good night and good luck.
"Oh No! MOZIRRA gotta cancel?Mothra wasa cancel arso.Bad Bad bad taka munny den gos array.Bad bad."
HeHe
Its more like "MOZIRRA" meets "Agent Orange"!;)
Keith, yet another question:
WHY HAVEN'T I READ THIS MEMO IN THE MSM? LA TIMES? WSJ? NYT? FT? O.C. REGISTER? (whose R.E. reporter Matt Padilla is usually outstanding, btw, better than his paper deserves).
Besides, aside from the thousands of Mortgage Fraud rings across the U.S. that have been caught and are being prosecuted... The average borrower doesn't understand Debt-to-Income ratios (DTI) or Loan-to-Value ratios (LTV). They don't understand what the lender's underwriting guidelines are at the time they're applying for a loan.
The only people privy to this information is the loan officer, loan processor & the underwriter! So can you guess who it was doctoring up these necessary documents to get the borrower qualified? Yep, that's right... the loan officer or broker (the originator)! Do you think for one minute, really, that the lender isn't responsible for approving these loans?
How about some accountability!
Princess - all valid points - definitely should be some accountability on the part of the people that made the commissions. I would be pleased to see criminal action taken. But these people took no oath like the doctor in your analogy - they may not have even gone to college - there are many professions where people make money off of other people without having any real skills - it's just usually on a much smaller scale. The borrower has some accountability too and being stupid or naive doesn't really let them off the hook completely. I'm not an economist or even particularly good at math. But even I know that adding up all my expenses and subtracting it from my take home pay will give me a pretty good idea of what I can afford. If I took out the loan the bank said I qualified for - I could never retire, get divorced, get ill, lose my job put the kids through college or possibly eat in a restaurant ever again. So while I'd love to blame the people that knew what they were doing was wrong - they are no different than car salesmen - only they played with much higher stakes in a game that runs with much more emotion. I would really love to see Mozillo get reamed for his part in all of this - what he's doing to his employees is just as bad as what they did to their borrowers. I hope he doesn't deprive us of a fitting ending like Ken Lay by having a heart attack.
Andrew hoc said Americano: "Ass-Kisser". What a shame
Hey Andrew,
Once again pretty worthless comment. Still waiting to see your comeback concerning your REALTOR genocide post from the Forbes realtors are leeches thread. Pretty Hitler like comment you made in that thread. I'd like to see if you have any responses to my posts buried in there. Somehow I doubt you will have an intelligent response.
Bottom Feeder in Philly
So much for the Crash call this week... US and Global markets are rocking again after the one day selloff last Friday and one of the catalysts is CFC... sorry Keith.
Princess,
I'm sorry but loan officers @ brokerage firms have no fiduciary duty. None. The banks ARE doing their fiduciary duty by printing out dozens and dozens of pages written in english explaining everything.
There is a lot of legal mumbo jumbo on the loan docs, but the actual note rider and truth in lending are spelled out in pure simple english.
Dumbass borrower who take cash out to by rims for their escalade and big screen tv's have failed at life.
Sorry to disappoint:
Countrywide gained $4.23, or 32 percent, to $17.30 It was the stock's biggest one-day surge since 1982, and Countrywide was the biggest gainer in the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index
``It looks a lot better for Countrywide than what we thought,'' Robert Napoli, mortgage industry analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. in Chicago, said today. While the company has built what look like healthy reserves, ``you certainly don't know for sure given this market,'' he said.
The lender has lost almost 60 percent of its market value this year in what Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo called the worst housing market since the Great Depression. Profit at the high end of Countrywide's predictions would be 26 percent below the results from a year earlier.
Yes, you nailed it... There is no fiduciary duty imposed on the loan officers or brokers. There are no education requirements, no ethic courses required. This is the foundation of this fiasco. That is why the bottom is falling out!
NAR has "Code of Ethics" on their website. The problem is if someone isn't taught this early on, they will not abide by them or simply NOT understand them.
I've made this my mission to persuade the Powers That Be to initiate new governance and education and licensing requirements for all real estate and mortgage professionals.
It shouldn't be "no experience necessary". It shouldn't be a "sales job". This should be a profession that requires at least a bachelor's degree, years of real training, where ethics and duty are pounded in their brains!!! Or else there will be severe consequences for those who do NOT live up to the "Code".
The issue regarding the borrower’s… If you take a child to a candy store, the child is going to want ALL the candies in the store. If you don’t take authority as a parent and limit the child to just one candy, and give the child what he wants… The child will go home, eat all the candies and get sick.
I had a client who refinanced with me 5 times in less than two years. When they first came to me, they had 70% equity on their home. All their c.c. debt was paid; their cars were purchased with cash, their luxury items purchased with cash, and a complete renovation to their home. When they came back the 6th time for more cash out at the beginning of this year, I advised them against it. It was NOT in their best interest. Explaining they only had 20% equity left on their home and the market was beginning to lose value. Besides, I had them in a 10yr fixed I/O, 30 year term loan @6% w/no prepay. That was the best rate and term I could get them at the time qualifying full-doc.
Unbeknownst to me, my client found another mortgage person (not surprising, they’re a dime a dozen) who agreed to help them. The other mortgage person left them with 10% equity and told the client their payment was fixed for 5yrs. My client called me 6 mos. later freaking out and embarrassed. The mortgage was a Pay Option ARM. All four payment options were fixed for 6 mos. then began adjusting. The only thing fixed for 5yrs is the minimum payment; the other 3 options are now adjusting @ 8% with a 3yr prepayment penalty!!!!
These clients are now SCREWED! I cannot help them, nobody can. The value of their home has gone down. The other mortgage person did NOT put the client’s need first. They only cared about their commission!
Clients will always want want want. We need to take authority and say NO.
The point I’m trying to make is that most homeowners are hard working Americans. But not all are financially savvy. Therefore, they are relying on our expertise to do the right thing.
Ric Flair getting into mortgage lending shows what an up and up business this is. I can't wait: " I challenge you angello mozilo, pencil neck geek, to a cage match to see who can sucker..."
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