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Tag Archive: Countrywide Scandal

AIG subsidiary sues Countrywide Financial

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How did I miss this?

Discovery should be pretty interesting.

I don't seem to be able to post the document, but this quote is interesting:

Since the 1980s, United Guaranty has used a delegated model for underwriting. Underwriting is the process whereby an insurer determines the risk associated with a loan and decides whether to offer insurance. Under the delegated model, United Guaranty does not underwrite each loan itself. Instead, it relies on the lender to accurately represent information on the loans to be insured. For example, the lender may represent that the loans satisfy certain underwriting guidelines such ...

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Dodd controversies continue to swirl

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Sen. Christopher Dodd is getting criticism from out-of-state ">papers (but note the all the Connecticut residents quoted) over the AIG bonus bungle, but the Hartford Courant ran what might be the most significant story (hat tip: Instapundit, who has a lot more on Dodd):

An executive at mortgage giant Countrywide Financial overrode the company's loan-writing policies to give a discount to Sen. Christopher Dodd, the powerful chairman of the Senate banking committee, according to an internal Countrywide document turned over to congressional investigators and obtained by The Courant.

The Courant notes that the report, some 63 pages long, is ...

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Dodd’s Dealings Illustrate Holes in Financial Disclosure

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Via InstaPundit comes this commentary from the Hartford Courant by Kevin Rennie, an attorney who writes a weekly column for the paper, on Sen. Chris Dodd's real estate deals. The Senate Ethics Committee is already looking at his mortgage with Countrywide Financial (more details here); Rennie writes that other Dodd properties might be worth looking into:

It was reported here two weeks ago that Downe's real estate development partner, William "Bucky" Kessinger of Kansas City, Mo., purchased a 1,700-square-foot home in Ireland with Dodd in 1994 for $160,000. Downe's name appeared on the transfer document ...

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Will Dodd and Conrad Attend Financial Literacy Brunch?

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Earlier today, we posted schedules for some 370 events at the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions, many of which are sponsored by private interests. The RNC list is here, the DNC list is here. On page 7 of the latter document, there's an event called the "FSR Financial Literacy Brunch," sponsored by 21 companies, including Bank of America, which authored much of the recent bank bailout bill, according to media reports. Bank of America also took over distressed subprime lender Countrywide Financial, which gave preferential mortgage deals to, among others, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N ...

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Birnbaum: Bank of America lobbyists wrote parts of bank bail out bill

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Jeffrey Birnbaum, writing in the Washington Post, reports lobbyists wrote key portions of the mortgage bailout bill:

Credit Suisse, a large investment bank heavily invested in mortgage-backed securities, proposed allowing hundreds of thousands of homeowners to refinance their mortgages with lower-cost government-insured loans, relieving financial institutions of the troubled debt.

After the bank proposed this to Congress in January, it became known as the "Credit Suisse plan" among congressional staffers and lobbyists. It later formed the basis of housing provisions in both the House and Senate.

Bank of America, which is acquiring Countrywide Financial, the country's largest mortgage lender ...

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