HOMEDEBTORS OF AMERICA - IF YOU HAVE A COUNTRYWIDE TOXIC LOAN AND A RAPIDLY DEPRECIATING HOME, JUST STOP. NO MORE PAYMENTS. NO MORE DEBT. JUST STOP

It wasn't "your home". It never was. You couldn't afford it. You never should have been approved for the loan. You probably committed mortgage fraud to get it. You got caught up in Angelo Mozilo's profit-at-any-cost mortgage-fraud-galore Ponzi Scheme. You believed The Big Lie. You believed debt equaled wealth. And you believed you could live like you were rich.

So let this be your wake up call. Your home is worth nowhere near what you paid. Nowhere near. Your choice now is to simply turn in the keys, walk away, start over and rent (for a fraction of the cost of 'owning'), or you can continue to live the Big Lie, because of your ego and your pride. And those swell granite counter tops of course.

Walk away Homedebtors. Send Angelo the keys. Get on with your lives.

This game is over.

And take some solace in the fact as you start your life over, Angelo Mozilo himself will soon be on his way to jail, his riches confiscated, his reputation in tatters.

Every dog has his day.

The Wall Street Journal calls for a congressional investigation of corrupt Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo and his "Friends of Angelo" bribery scheme

Angelo Mozilo is so f*cked on so many fronts, I'm losing track.

And yet somehow The Orange One still walks the earth a free man.

I'm starting the "Angelo Mozilo Arrest Watch" today. Anyone want to predict how many more days until the cuffs come out?

Follow the money. Follow the money. It leads places that will shock even HP'ers...

Beltwaywide Financial

The Countrywide Financial sweetheart loan scandal continues to grow, spreading to Senators and other Beltway potentates. We are about to find out if Congress's passion for investigating business ethics extends to conflicts of interest and cash that involve fellow Members.

Take Senator Kent Conrad, the North Dakota Democrat whose office issued a Friday statement saying that "I never met Angelo Mozilo." What he did not say then but admitted under later questioning by a Journal reporter is that, although he may not have had a face-to-face meeting with the Countrywide CEO, Mr. Conrad had called Mr. Mozilo and asked for a loan.

The result was a discounted loan on his million-dollar beach house and a separate commercial loan of a type that residential lender Countrywide did not even offer to other customers, regardless of the rate.

Almost as breathtaking is Senator Conrad's attempt to use a charitable contribution for the estimated amount of any mortgage savings – $10,500 – to make the issue go away. So while the Senator says he did nothing wrong, now that his nonmistake has been discovered he'll nonetheless give away the nonspecial treatment cash. There is ample evidence here to warrant an investigation, including subpoenas for relevant documents.

The same goes for Senator Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.), who chairs the very Banking Committee responsible for drafting the laws that govern Countrywide's market. Mr. Dodd is still in denial mode, but so far no one has knocked down the Portfolio.com story that he received discounted loans as part of Countrywide's "Friends of Angelo" program.

In the week since the Journal revealed this program, the key questions have become clear: What did Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo receive – or think he would receive – in return for the friendly loans to politicians? And what did Mr. Mozilo get – or think he would get – in return for sweetheart loans to Fannie Mae CEOs Jim Johnson and Franklin Raines? Mr. Conrad says he called Mr. Mozilo at the suggestion of Mr. Johnson, a leading and long-time member of the Democratic Beltway establishment.

The relationship between Countrywide and Fannie Mae goes to the heart of the mortgage crisis. Fannie makes its money by borrowing vast sums at low rates (thanks to an implied taxpayer guarantee on its loans) and then using that cash to buy loans from mortgage originators like Countrywide. Fannie then holds the mortgages and earns interest on them, or pools them into securities for sale to investors.

For the sake of its shareholders and the taxpayers who are ultimately on the hook, Fannie should immediately launch an internal investigation into the terms offered to Countrywide, and exactly what role Messrs. Johnson and Raines played in the negotiation of these terms. Did these men exert any pressure on Fannie employees to do business with Countrywide?

Congress also needs a full accounting of the contacts between Countrywide and the politicians receiving favors from the lender. Did Countrywide ask for and receive assistance from the Friends of Angelo? With Senate Banking Chairman Dodd at the center of the scandal, ranking member Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) will have to lead the inquiry.

Meanwhile, until it is clear how much Countrywide will benefit from Senator Dodd's proposed $300 billion mortgage rescue – and exactly how Mr. Dodd came to do business with Countrywide – Congress should call a halt to legislating bailouts. Taxpayers deserve no less.

Doesn't BofA's Ken Lewis moving forward with Countrywide Toxic Mortgage seem kinda like Bush's Iraq clusterf*ck?

Rule #1: When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging

Rule #2: See rule #1

Bush blew hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars and tens of thousands of lives even after it was clear he screwed the pooch in Iraq. And he just kept digging, and digging, and digging, refusing to admit his mistake.

In the same vein, Ken Lewis at BofA knows that he'll be seen as a fool if he abandons Countrywide now, after pumping in a few billion earlier, but of course he's an even greater fool if he actually closes on this cancer, instead of cutting his losses and walking away.

Either way, assuming this disaster goes through, Ken Lewis will be fired from BofA, and BofA shareholders will get slaughtered, and it'll be because of Angelo Mozilo and his corrupt gang at Countrywide. The lawsuits, the jail sentences and the billions and billions in losses will keep coming. And coming. And coming. And Ken Lewis of course will say "we never saw it coming".

Well, we did. And Mr. Lewis, take our advice, if you know what's best for you and your shareholders:

Run.

Fast.

And don't look back.

Former Countrywide Toxic Mortgage President Stanford Kurland starts company to help Countrywide customers get out of their Countrywide toxic loans

How to get rich, REIC-style, while having no morals:

1) make money screwing sheep on the way up
2) make money screwing sheep on the way down
3) repeat 1 & 2 until you die and your soul burns forever in eternal hell

Former Countrywide Exec Heads Firm Targeting Troubled Mortgages

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Stanford Kurland spent nearly three decades helping build Countrywide Financial Corp. into the nation's largest mortgage lender.

Now, the former president of the troubled company and several key colleagues hope to cash in as the housing market collapses.

Kurland, 55, will serve as chairman and chief executive officer of a new company unveiled Monday that will acquire and restructure distressed mortgages.

Private National Mortgage Acceptance Co. LLC, also known as PennyMac, intends to help borrowers restructure loans so they can avoid foreclosure and maintain payments.

"He won't be the first or the last person trying to make money on both sides of a trade," said Frederick Cannon, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. who covers Countrywide.

Are you ready for the glorious frog march of Countrywide Toxic Mortgage's Angelo Mozilo?

Seriously, I can't believe that Angelo Mozilo hasn't been arrested yet.

Really. I cannot believe that Countrywide's offices haven't been raided, and Mozilo and gang frog-marched to the pokey for the world to see.

It will happen. And when it does, it will be glorious.

Rise of the Bezzle

If there is one person more responsible for this mess than any other, it’s Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide Financial, and one of America’s best-paid executives. His company emerged as the leading practitioner of the kind of sub-prime lending that led to these problems. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer recently singled out Countrywide as most representative of the “greed … motivated widespread, irresponsible lending that contributed to what could have been the largest home foreclosure crisis in our country.”

Schumer went on to accuse Countrywide of giving sales staff incentives to market the most expensive mortgage loans for the company “and its partners.” According to Schumer, “We have learned that Countrywide’s promise to get borrowers the ‘best possible loan’ have been nothing more than a commitment to squeeze every dollar possible from homeowners. In fact, Countrywide’s lending business model prioritizes fees and commissions over the financial viability of the loans.”

Thank you, Mr. Schumer, for the confirmation. Fully one-quarter of Countrywide’s mortgages have now gone under, which should be considered criminal. Any respectable loan office can tell you there are commonly accepted business practices that can be easily applied to a loan portfolio that would allow you to avoid a default rate like that.

HOLY CRAP! Countrywide Toxic Mortgage reports 33% of all its subprimes loans are now delinquent. Nice work Angelo. Got out of those shares in time.

Angelo Mozilo should be arrested today for mortgage fraud, insider trading, Sarbanes-Oxley violations and, well, for just being the most corrupt and sleazy CEO in the world today.

He knew the loans were bad. He knew making "liar's loans" was illegal. He knew the CDO buyers would come back after his orange ass and sue him. He knew Countrywide would have to eat the loans in the end. He knew he had to dump his shares as fast as he could, since they'd be worth nothing. He knew. And Angelo, got some bad news for ya.

We knew too.

SO WHAT THE HELL IS THE SEC WAITING FOR? ARREST THIS SON OF A BIT*H AND LET'S GET ON WITH IT!

And no way in hell BofA completes this transaction as announced. Unless something really, really, really weird is going on behind the scenes.

Countrywide: 1 in 3 subprime mortgages delinquent

Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, on Tuesday said more than one in three subprime mortgages were delinquent at year-end in the $1.48 billion portfolio of home loans it services.

Countrywide said borrowers were delinquent on 33.64 percent of subprime loans it serviced as of December 31, up from 29.08 percent in September. It also said borrowers were at least 90 days late on payments on 17.25 percent of subprime mortgages.

Countrywide Toxic Mortgage supposedly renegotiating $15 Billion in toxic loans. Trust us, it's not because of the kindness of their hearts

You just know the scum at toxic lender Countrywide are using this "crisis" to their benefit - they're not "refinancing" these toxic loans because of any type of empathy toward the suckers, I mean customers, who have Countrywide toxic loans. Anyone want to bet they're:

1) Extending payment terms to 40 year and 50 years, thus keeping the payments the same or even lower

2) Putting in huge prepayment penalties

3) Pushing the reset out a year or two, but it'll still reset and at a worse rate down the road

4) Doing pretty much anything and everything they can to screw the homedebtor and protect their asses, while making it appear that they're doing good

A $1500 a month payment on a 30 year loan that's about to reset can easily become a $1500 a month payment on a 40 year loan. Preso! No problema! Meanwhile Angelo and Countrywide would be laughing to the bank at the new terms..

You know that Countrywide is up to dirty tricks because with this PR, they didn't announce any cost for the program. In other words, THERE IS NO COST FOR THE PROGRAM. Yet our lazy MSM failed to ask how this could be, or what the new terms would be.

A HOUSINGPANIC MESSAGE TO ALL CURRENT COUNTRYWIDE HOMEDEBTORS - THIS TIME READ YOUR DAMN MORTGAGE PAPERS AND DO THE MATH. DON'T LET THEM SCREW YOU AGAIN. IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT'S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!!!

Countrywide Launches Program to Refinance or Modify $16B in Adjustable-Rate Mortgages

CALABASAS, Calif. (AP) -- Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, said Tuesday it will begin calling borrowers to offer refinancing or modifications on $16 billion in loans whose interest rate is set to adjust by the end of 2008.

Countrywide has been under fire since early July -- it has had difficulties with loan financing, its chief executive has been criticized for selling hundreds of millions of dollars in stock and it faces pressure from the government to help keep people from losing their homes.

"Unprecedented times call for unprecedented remedies," Countrywide President and Chief Operating Officer David Sambol said in a statement. "We are determined to assist borrowers who have the willingness and wherewithal to remain in their homes, but need a little help to do it."

FLASH: Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Toxic Mortgage, under SEC investigation for insider stock trading

Finally.

One step closer to jail for The Orange One.

One step closer to Enron and Worldcom for Countrywide.

My only question is - what took so long? This guy pumped up his earnings and stock by putting homedebtors into higher-commission toxic loans when they could have qualified for standard mortgages, then he had Countrywide do stock buybacks when he was dumping shares as fast as he could based on inside knowledge of their impending collapse.

Angelo Mozilo is a liar, a conman, a thief and the physical representation of unregulated greed run amok during the housing bubble and crash.

(yup, still short CFC via Oct puts)

SEC Probes Countrywide CEO's Stock Sales

SEC Reportedly Examining the Stock Sales of Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo R. Mozilo

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining stock sales of the chief executive of Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The informal SEC inquiry of stock sales by CEO Angelo R. Mozilo has been under way for a while, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the probe has not been made public.

State Treasurer Richard Moore, the trustee of a pension fund that holds about 500,000 shares of Countrywide stock worth about $8.6 million, said in a letter to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox that he was "shocked" to learn that Mozilo "apparently manipulated his trading plans to cash in" as the crisis involving high-risk mortgages was heating up.

"As one of many investors who have felt the painful losses in Countrywide stock, I am outraged at his manipulation of the system and this abuse of shareholders," wrote Moore, a Democrat who is running for governor. "The timing of these sales and the changes to the trading plans raise serious questions about whether this is mere coincidence."

Word of the SEC's inquiry "is good news for investors and sends a clear message that the questions raised are serious," Moore said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday.