Countrywide Case

The mortgage crisis of 2007 marked catastrophe for millions of homeowners who suffered from foreclosure and short sales. Most of the problems involving the foreclosing of families’ homes could boil down to risky borrowing and lending. Lenders were pushed to ensure families would be eligible for a loan, when in previous years the same families would have been deemed too high-risk to obtain any kind of loan. With the increase in high-risk families obtaining loans, there was a huge increase in home buyers and subsequently a rapid increase in home prices. As a result, prices peaked and then began falling just as fast as they rose. Soon after families began to default on their mortgages forcing them either into foreclosure or short sales. Who was to blame for the risky lending and borrowing that caused the mortgage meltdown? Many might blame the company Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but in reality the entire system of buying and selling and free market failed home owners and the housing economy.

Home ownership is the embodiment of the American dream for various individuals. Countrywide Financial Corporation selected strategies that would allow numerous Americans to make this dream a reality. Company analysis will reveal areas of improvement as well as issues that can threaten the vitality of the corporation. Recommendations will provide insight into areas that could improve financial and general corporate health.

THE STRATEGIC VALUE OF THE QUALITY CONTROL PROCESS IN THE MORTGAGE INDUSTRY (2003) The mortgage industry has originated record loan volumes month after month for the last three years. The sub-prime segment in particular has greatly benefited from the boom in the housing market buoyed by interest rates that have approached historical lows. However a second condition is critical to explaining the dramatic expansion of the sub-prime segment: the unprecedented access to large amounts of financial resources which has been leveraged to fund lenders’ growth. Institutional investors reacted to equity markets far more unpredictably than in the bubble years by redirecting a greater share

Since mid 1990s, the subprime mortgage market has grown rapidly experiencing a phenomenal 23% compound annual growth rate to 2006. The total subprime loan originations increased from $65 billion in 1995 to $613 billion in 2006. The subprime sector has become a significant sub-sector of the total residential market accounting for 21% of all residential mortgage originations in 2006. Similarly, by year-end 2006, total outstanding balance of subprime loans grew to $1.2 trillion, approximately 12.6% of all outstanding mortgage debt.

In 2008 the real estate market crashed because of the Graham-Leach-Bliley Act and Commodities Futures Modernization Act, which led to shady mortgage lending or “liar loans” (Hartman). The loans primarily approved for lower income and middle class borrowers with little income or no job income verification, which lead to many buyers purchasing homes they could not afford because everyone wants a piece of the American dream; homeownership. Because of “reckless lending to lower- and middle-income borrowers who could not afford to repay their loans many of the home buyers lost everything when the market collapsed” (Tankersley 3). Homeowners often continued to live in their houses for months or years without paying any

The real estate industry is thriving with approximately sixty-eight percent of all Americans being homeowners. With low interest rates, 1st time home buyer down payment assistance programs, and government funded educational opportunities (i.e. the Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati), the real estate and mortgage lending industries will continue to flourish. However, there are some unethical lending practices that are threatening the housing industry as a whole.

Miller, Correspondent Broker: Ken started working with the members of La Jolla Cove Investors, Inc. to originate loans secured by first priority liens on real property in 2013. Ken founded the Northern California operations of a well-established Southern California private-money lender in 2003. Ken has over 17 years of management experience in the mortgage finance industry for such firms as SunTrust Bank, JPMorgan Chase, and Aames Financial Corporation (where his duties included serving as its Supervising Broker of Record). He holds a B.S. in Finance from Arizona State University, an M.A. in Economics from the University of San Francisco and is a licensed California Real Estate

“Growing income inequality in the United States stemming from unequal access to quality education led to political pressure for more housing credit. This pressure created a serious fault line that led to distorted lending in the financial sector.” (Rajan,2010, P.54)

The financial crisis emerged because of an excessive deregulation of business operation of financial institutions and of abusing the securitization mechanism in the absence of clearly defined rules to regulate this area in the American mortgage market (Krstić, Jemović, & Radojičić, 2013). Deregulation gives larger banks the opportunity to loosen underwriting lender guidelines and generate increase opportunity for homeownership (Kroszner & Strahan, 2013). After deregulation, banks utilized many versions of mortgage loans. Mortgage loans such as subprime and Alternative-A paper loans became available for borrowers challenged to find mortgage lenders before deregulation (Elbarouki, 2016; Palmer, 2015). The housing market has been severely affected by fluctuating interest rates and the requirement of large down payment (Follain, & Giertz, 2013). The subprime lending crisis has taken a toll on the nation’s economy since 2007. Individuals who lacked sufficient credit ratings or down payments resorted to subprime mortgages to finance their homes Defaults on subprime and other mortgages precipitated the foreclosure crisis, which contributed to the recent recession and national financial crisis (Odetunde, 2015). Subprime mortgages were appropriate for borrowers with substandard credit and Alternate-A paper loans were

All the economy’s parts seem to be working together for a change: joblessness is under 5% - a 24 year low – yet inflation is holding steady at 3%, a combination that economists thought impossible” (Pooley). This article placed the economy in very favorable position, but the economy collapsed back in 2008 when Wall Street folded. In a video published by Johnathan Jarvis titled “The Cause and Effects of the 2008 Financial Crisis,” the video explains how the economy went from being healthy and vibrant, to desperate and helpless because investors were creating mortgages with people who were not financially stable, and those mortgagors were more than likely struggling to pay their debts prior to attaining a sub-prime mortgage loan. When these sub-prime mortgages defaulted, the house was reposed by the mortgagee and put on the market to sell. When the house went up for sale because of the default, the

Countrywide, co-founded in 1969 by Angela Mozillo had become the largest home loan provider in the U.S. with decades (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2013). During the 90’s, Countrywide’s loans reached $1 trillion and were known as the number one loan provider that help qualify people with low incomes to purchase a home. Countrywide also created a program called ‘House America” which was to assist people to get a home with lower down payments. By the year 2000, Countrywide provided one in six of the loans provided to consumers in the U.S. During 2003, Countrywide had formed another program called ”We House America”, which was put in place for low-income consumers as well as the minority consumer. Countrywide goal for the program was to provide

Countrywide’s tactics often led borrowers to expensive and sometimes unfavorable loans that resulted in richer commissions for Countrywide’s sales forces, fees to company affiliates providing services on the loans, and a roaring stock price that made Countrywide executives among the highest paid in America. Countrywide’s entire operation, from its computer system to its incentive pay structure and financing arrangements, was intended to wring maximum profits out of the mortgage lending boom no matter what it cost borrowers (Morgenson, 2007).

Loans at the time were nonamortizing and required a balloon payment at the expiration of the term. Mortgages were available to a limited client base, with home ownership representing about 40 percent of U.S. households. Many of these short-term mortgages went into default during the Great Depression as homeowners became unable to make regular payments or find new financing to pay off balloon payments that became due. The United States government intervened in the housing market in 1932 with the creation of the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB). The FHLB provided short-term lending to financial institutions (primarily Savings and Loans) to create additional funds for home mortgages. Congress passed the National Housing Act of 1934 to further promote homeownership by providing a system of insured loans that protected lenders against default by borrowers. The mortgage insurance program established by the National Housing Act and administered by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) reimbursed lenders for any loss associated with a foreclosure up to 80 percent of the appraised value of the home. With the risk associated with default on FHA-backed mortgage loans reduced, lenders extended mortgage loan terms to as long as 20 years and LTVs of 80 percent. In 1938, Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) was established

Blue Ridge Mill currently purchases shortwood from a nearby competing mill for pulp production. Bob Prescott, the controller for Blue Ridge Mill, is considering the addition of a new on-site longwood woodyard. The new woodyard would have two main benefits including the ability to eliminate the need to buy shortwood from an outside source and the opportunity to sell shortwood on the open market as a new market for Worldwide Paper Company.

Due to such events as the subprime mortgage crisis, the auto market and Wall Street’s failure, the United States suffered a severe economic blow. Looking at the situation from an economic view, supply is supposed to equal demand. Due to the mortgage crisis and the careless attempts of some to make money, there is a superfluous amount of empty homes throughout the United States. In the subprime mortgage crisis, the nature of the failure was the inability to account for money given to individuals, who lack the appropriate requirements. In order to obtain a loan, collateral is needed. References were not being checked and poor credit history went ignored. People were obtaining loans and not paying attention to the interests rates associated. “This time around, the slack standards allowed millions of high-risk borrowers to get easy home mortgages. When this so-called subprime market collapsed beginning about a year ago, ordinary working people bore the brunt” (Gallagher, 2008). Companies were so anxious to place people in homes, that it cost them billions of dollars and