Henry Cisneros on the hot seat

During Countrywide's heyday, I worked for County Social Services. County residents would come to our office to get emergency assistance with one mortgage payment. Countrywide was the mortgage lender we saw most often involved.

I would look at the person's household income and at their loan payments, and knew the loan should never have been made. The more honest borrowers would be sunk by the first, smallest hiccup in personal finances. During this period my husband grew accustomed to me coming home, ranting: "What was the mortgage company thinking????? These people are already living on pre-payday loans to get from week to week!"

Less honest borrowers would spend money on a foreclosure attorney before they would payback one penny of the loan. Most of the predatory borrowers had a list of aliases that eventually turned up on several foreclosed properties. By the time they were actually evicted, they had enjoyed about 6 months of no-cost housing in very up-scale homes. Some of the advice the attorneys gave: Don't answer the door if it's the Sheriff or Constable. Don't sign for any Certified Letter (which would serve as proof of proper notice for eviction).