Senator Charles Shumer, recently was reported as saying that Countrywide Financial should stop paying higher commissions to brokers that steer borrowers to adjustable rate subprime loans.
It’s not a surprise. Senator Shumer says there are reports that Countrywide had a practice of steering borrowers into risky or exotic loans. Thanks for pointing that out, but Countrywide was by far not the only one participating in this practice as many other subprime companies were also doing the same.
Surprisingly, approximately one out of four subprime loans issued by Countrywide is delinquent. That’s a very high rate.
Countrywide denies the allegations and says that they’ve gone through extraordinary efforts to help borrowers who may experience early payment default and have helped keep 35,000 borrowers out of foreclosure this year. It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out, especially since BofA offered to help Countrywide out with their credit crunch. They possibly go under, in addition to many other subprime companies who’ve been experiencing the same dire issues earlier this year.