Countrywide asks for postponement on lawsuit

Countrywide asks for postponement on lawsuit

Glad to see CW shafting others besides their customers. Maybe someday law will bury them. If you want to see what they are really like goto http://www.countrywidehomeloansucks.com/my_story.htm

Kennedy Funding Lawsuits, Information

Avoiding Legal Complications

Kennedy Funding Preventing Lawsuit, Complaints, and Fraud
Learn the laws, regulations, and statutes of the country you�re doing business in
Watch for updates, revisions, addendums to current laws
Immerse yourself in the country�s culture
Be aware of local politics
Stay current on national politics
Become moderately fluent in the native language
Cultivate patience � Events may take place more slowly
Treat native people with courtesy and respect at all times
Conducting business abroad can be rewarding for the insightful lender. But patience is required. The lender has to learn, understand, and become comfortable with the different laws and regulations of another country, and that takes time and work.

Laws relating to commercial loans differ from country to country, so at Kennedy Funding we take care to be fluent in all of them. Investing the time required to do this is well worth the effort, as we are confident of not inadvertently incurring lawsuits, complaints, or unsuspecting acts of fraud.

At Kennedy Funding, we also keep ourselves up to date on local politics, as they can have a direct bearing upon conducting business. If the atmosphere is in turmoil, chances are any prospective deals you have in the works will be as well. Above all, it�s essential that lenders are able to make foreign entities feel comfortable with them, their expertise, and the lender�s respect for their country and customs. After all, it�s their native land. So, again, patience and diligence become paramount.

The hurdles can be intimidating and, at times, seem insurmountable because there often simply aren�t any of the same kinds of laws, regulations, or guidelines which exist in a particular country�s real estate infrastructure. At times, things seem to take on a life of their own, and there aren�t lucid road maps pointing to the other side of the deal. This is where experience plays a large role. A lender with experience in extra-domestic dealings is essential in such instances, especially one who has dealt in the particular country the borrower is interested in.

Experience, intelligence, and perseverance are the keys to making these transactions happen — and ensuring that lawsuits, complaints, or unsuspecting acts of fraud do not.

To read more, please see: http://www.kennedyfundinginternational.com/index.html

Maybe Mozilo needs more time to count his money?...
:rolleyes:
Countrywide execs to get millions
March 29,`08 — Countrywide Financial Corp.'s top executives will get hefty payments in the company’s merger with Bank of America, filings with US regulators indicate.

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Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo and President David Sambol, who built Countrywide into the largest mortgage lender in the United States before it collapsed with the housing bubble, are to receive stock next week worth $19 million, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Mozilo, who plans to retire, will trade restricted Countrywide stock for unrestricted shares in Bank of America, worth more than $11 million. Mozilo will also receive millions of dollars in deferred compensation and pension benefits as well as continued health insurance coverage. Bank of America said in a filing late Thursday it has agreed to pay Sambol $28 million to stay with the company.

“This company was driven to the brink of bankruptcy and the individuals responsible are getting millions," said Daniel Pedrotty, director of the office of investment at the AFL-CIO. “Just when you think the situation couldn’t get any worse, this company demonstrates again that they have no regard for how shareholder assets are spent."

[url=http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Business/2008/03/29/countrywide_execs_to_get_millions/1260/:
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The VIP Treatment: Countrywide CEO Offers Better Rates for Prominent Few...
:mad:
Countrywide’s Better Rates for VIPs
June 13, 2008 - Senators Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad Reportedly Received Favorable Rates on Loans

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Friends of Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo and other high-profile individuals had their home loans handled by the company’s VIP desk, where a team of loan officers would work out favorable terms in conjunction with Mozilo, according to two former Countrywide executives. “Celebrities get their loans from somewhere," said one former executive who likened the favorable loans to employee discounts. “That desk handled loans for people who were referred by executives. The way that it would customarily work is he [Angelo:
might call in, 'What can we do? What are we charging on this or that?' and then tell [his friend] 'I’ll get you that at X. Don’t worry. I’ll get you the loan."

Some of the beneficiaries didn’t even know that they were receiving special benefits; others may have been aware that they were receiving some kind of discount, according to the former executives. Internally, those whom Mozilo favored for special treatment were referred to as “Friends of Angelo." The executives say that he was in frequent contact with the company’s VIP desk. Those VIPs who received loans through the program that waived points, lender fees and company borrowing rules included Senators Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad, former HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala and former UN ambassador Richard Holbrooke, according to Conde Nast Portfolio magazine.

For these VIPs, Countrywide would reduce the interest rate on their loans by waiving at least half a point and eliminating fees for underwriting, processing and document preparation, reports Portfolio. Senator Dodd reportedly received two loans in 2003 through the program, borrowing $506,000 and $275,042 to refinance homes in Washington and East Haddam, Connecticut. Countrywide waived $2,000 on the first loan and $700 on the second, according to Portfolio.

More http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5062502&page=1

See also:

Senator Says Loan Favoritism Is Possible
June 15, 2008 - Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, said Saturday that he would donate $10,500 to charity and refinance a property loan after suggestions that he and other prominent Washington figures received preferential treatment from Countrywide Financial Corporation.

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Though Mr. Conrad, chairman of the Budget Committee, said he was not aware of any favoritism shown by the lender that has come under scrutiny in the mortgage crisis, he said a review of e-mail traffic suggested that the loan fee for a beach house may have been reduced because of his status, while a second loan called for an exception by the company. �Although I did not ask for or know that I was receiving a discount, and even though I was offered a competitive loan from another lender, I do not want to have received preferential treatment,� said Mr. Conrad, who said he was giving $10,500 to Habitat for Humanity. The amount was equivalent to estimates of what Mr. Conrad saved through a reduction of one point on a $1.07 million mortgage.

The dealings of Countrywide with Washington officials have come to light in the past week after James A. Johnson, a former head of Fannie Mae, was forced to give up an influential advisory role with the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama following suggestions that Mr. Johnson got special treatment from Countrywide. Mr. Johnson was leading the search for a vice-presidential candidate. Mr. Conrad and Mr. Johnson, as well as other notable Washington figures including Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, were apparently beneficiaries of the mortgage lender�s V.I.P. program, known informally as the �Friend of Angelo� program for Angelo Mozilo, the chief executive officer.

Mr. Conrad said Friday that Mr. Johnson had put him in touch with Mr. Mozilo when he was seeking a loan for a home he was buying in Bethany Beach, Del. E-mail messages initially obtained by the Web site Portfolio.com showed that Mr. Mozilo told employees to �take off 1 point� when granting the loan. He also told them to approve a $96,000 mortgage for an eight-unit apartment building Mr. Conrad was buying in Bismarck, N.D., though the company typically provided mortgages for buildings with four or fewer units.

More [url:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/us/15loans.html?hp[/url]

Granny says he’s a good lookin' man - but she ain’t buyin' it...
:p
Senator Viewed Mortgage Treatment as a �Courtesy�
June 18, 2008 WASHINGTON � Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut said Tuesday that he was aware that Countrywide Financial Corporation had assigned him to a V.I.P. program in 2003 when he refinanced mortgages on his homes in Connecticut and Washington but that he and his wife �assumed� that �it was more of a courtesy thing.�

]
Mr. Dodd insisted that they did not get favorable pricing. As the Senate prepared to take up legislation intended to rescue homeowners at the brink of foreclosure, Mr. Dodd, a Democrat and chairman of the banking committee, defended himself against suggestions that he had received preferential treatment from Countrywide. At a tense news conference, he flatly denied seeking or receiving any discount from the lender.

But his concession that he never inquired or even wondered whether his special status with Countrywide might be related to his position as a senator prompted a barrage of new questions about the terms of his mortgages and about exactly what he knew and when he knew it.

�Somebody told you you were in a V.I.P. program,� a reporter said, �And you didn�t think you were getting ... � Mr. Dodd cut off the reporter and finished the question himself. �A special deal on a loan?� the senator asked. �No.�

More [url:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/washington/18dodd.html?ref=us[/url]

Uh-Obama...
:o
Obama Got Discount on Home Loan
Wednesday, July 2, 2008; Campaign Defends Lower Rate as Lender Competition for Business

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Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust in Illinois. The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago. The loan was unusually large, known in banker lingo as a “super super jumbo." Obama paid no origination fee or discount points, as some consumers do to reduce their interest rates. Compared with the average terms offered at the time in Chicago, Obama’s rate could have saved him more than $300 per month.

Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said the rate was adjusted to account for a competing offer from another lender and other factors. “The Obamas have since had as much as $3 million invested through Northern Trust," he said in a statement. Modest adjustments in mortgage rates are common among financial institutions as they compete for business or develop relationships with wealthy families. But amid a national housing crisis, news of discounts offered to Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the banking committee, and Kent Conrad (D-N.D) by another lender, Countrywide Financial, has brought new scrutiny to the practice and has resulted in a preliminary Senate ethics committee inquiry into the Dodd and Conrad loans. Within Obama’s presidential campaign organization, former Fannie Mae chief executive James A. Johnson resigned abruptly as head of the vice presidential search committee after his favorable Countrywide loan became public.

Driving the recent debate is concern that public officials, knowingly or unknowingly, may receive special treatment from lenders and that the discounts could constitute gifts that are prohibited by law. “The real question is: Were congressmen getting unique treatment that others weren’t getting?" associate law professor Adam J. Levitin, a credit specialist at Georgetown University Law Center, said about the Countrywide loans. “Do they do business like that for people who are not congressmen? If they don’t, that’s a problem."

[url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/01/AR2008070103008.html?hpid=topnews:
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