Categories: OLD Media Moves

Did Countrywide CEO lie on CNBC?

TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs wants to know if Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo lied during an interview on CNBC last week when he said the lender had stopped making loans to people who wouldn’t have qualified.

Fuchs asks the question because he received a mortgage solicitation from Countrywide that included generous terms designed to get someone who would probably not have received a loan during tighter times to apply.

Fuchs wrote, “Anyhow, I called Countrywide to get an explanation. I wanted to see precisely how many of the current loans are stated-income loans and how many are to people with lame credit scores. And I wondered whether that recent corporate line about finding religion when it came to lame loans is legit. And, well, I’m still waiting for a reply.

“Countrywide does not seem to be talking much these days. It is always a source of concern when a public company decides to have some quiet time. If I had a shiny nickel for all its ‘no comments’ lately, including a big one to The New York Times, which took a look into the crisis and were actually told that Countrywide spokesmen were too busy. I’m guessing they still are.

“When I tried to bridge this gap between company line and competing evidence, Ginny Zoraster, who works in the communications office, told me that she sent my inquiries on to four officials. She did that three separate times.”

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grace says:
August 31, 2007 at 2:49 pm
In my opinion, Chris, I don't think Mr. Mozilo lied. My mom is a wholesale underwriter in the west, and she has expressed to me the rules that the company keeps adding everyday to qualify an applicant. This isn't to say that Countrywide wasn't lenient on loan applicants when the market was better. They were; too much so, in fact--along with so many other lenders. Needless to say, that this ongoing predicament is only the fault of the lenders themselves.