even his own workers are suing him. should be a nice christmas party. Countrywide workers sue over retirement benefits By Associated Press | September 13, 2007 LOS ANGELES - A lawsuit filed against Countrywide Financial Corp. on behalf of its employees claims the mortgage lender failed to warn them about the depth of its financial troubles, resulting in heavy stock losses in their 401(k) retirement accounts. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in US District Court in Santa Ana, Calif., seeks class-action status and names as defendants Countrywide chairman and chief executive Angelo Mozilo and benefits committee members in charge of the retirement plan. Countrywide has struggled as the housing slump led to a sharp rise in mortgage defaults and foreclosures, particularly among subprime borrowers or those with weak credit. The company last week said it would cut as many as 12,000 jobs. The lawsuit claims plan managers "continued to offer Countrywide stock as an investment option and match in Countrywide stock when the stock no longer was a prudent investment for participants' retirement savings." The suit claims the retirement plan lost hundreds of millions of dollars. It seeks unspecified compensatory damages and the appointment of an independent trustee to manage the plan. The plan held around $349.9 million in Countrywide stock as of Dec. 31, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission cited in the lawsuit. The holdings amounted to about 33 percent of the plan's total assets, the lawsuit said. A call to Countrywide was not immediately returned. Countrywide shares declined 26 cents to $16.62. http://www.boston.com/business/glob...trywide_workers_sue_over_retirement_benefits/
this story is even better than i thought. they were investing the pension plan money in countrywide stock and all the time were exercising their own options probably against it. i give you a clue. the directors pensions wont be in it. probably in us treasury bonds
Ahhh, the little munchkins, paper tigers, and yahoo refugees are once again climbing OUT of their diapers to pound their chests with yet another thread. Apparently, IF they talk enuff, why it will move the price. To oblivion of course. Debt,,,,,,,,,,,,,for a lender......................is the nature of the game. None of the measures are out of line. D/w 8x Employee reductions concurrent with revenue declines. And stock price relative to revenue (albeit elapsed) less than 1x. Orginations much better business than re-fi's. The latter being the redux for second mortgages just as prime rib was once known as rib roast, a cheap cut. LOL, Longhorns must be an expert, or is it ex-spurt at beef. Secured by desirable tangible (yes you can rap on it), but location-dependent collateral. Warehoused or bundled and sold in a buoyant secondary market. Doesn't matter. Merchandising of paper. Ax is distributing to raise some cash today to buy it back. Then peddle it again. To and fro. Until his coffers are full. A three point gap up coupled with a trend day just ought make your day. "Gee Wally, are ya goin' to the big dance Saturday night?" " I'm sure am Beav". "Golly!"
Speaking of Beav, Sue Herrea (however that's spelled) says "CFC smells like another Enron". And she would know. She's a professional financial broadcast journalist. She's been there. She's done it. She knows how to do it. Truly a seasoned pro. Seasoned. Like taco meat. Snappy. And 20 years ago, probably one helluva lay (not to be confused with Ken). Strong thigh muscles (quadriceps) and hair the color of....................eh......................honey. Maybe minty fresh breath too. Oh, and the drama. Moans. Thrashing. Sighs. And...............giggles! Sue Herrea giggling would be a site to behold. Alas, that was 2 decades ago and she seemed to have missed Enron in 2001. Me? I miss Longhorns. Non-castrated long horn steers are definitely the routine source of bull shit.
You certainly know their business better than I do. I may have spoken too fast. I just reproduced the feeling i have for all this debt-oriented industry: months of uncertainty lies ahead. This business is at the mercy of other credit crunches. As I understand things, every financial player is in the process of raising cash to face urgent or near-term needs (refinancing, including SIV liabilities, etc). The banks are the best armed in this process. If things turn slightly worse, everyone will try to save his ass, and they will let mortgage-housing companies sink. The bigger players will feast on the remains. Your post suggests that the lending business remains sound (even if there is less room) but that doesn't mean it will be the same players.
Countrywide took another infusion of $12B. Yet at the present time no further details from who and what are the terms of this financing. Another round by financial vulture(s) taking advantage of this situation again I see. Would definitely like to see what are the criterias for this infusion since this is six times larger than the $2B "investment" by BofA.
Actually I don't give much thought to "their business" I do give thought to media limelight and how it induces inventory posturing. Today is a distribution of recent paper accumulation. Don't get too excited.
amazing how they throw more money at the problem, another 12 billion, just last friday they were cutting another 12,000 jobs.
funny on this thread and most other cfc threads the general consensus is for a higher share price. everybody talks about a return to the $25 $35 area but nobody talks about a $5 $ 10 area. northern rock in the uk is in trouble as i write. same problem as CFC. THE MODEL DOES NOT WORK. it exists only because of cheap money. take that away and there is nothing there.