Countrywide Sued For Inflating Appraisals
Just wanted to give you an update on the latest lawsuit that is Countrywide facing this time.
Countrywide and Landsafe Sued over Appraisals From Business Week, a
Seattle lawfirm is suing Countrywide and Landsafe claiming they
illegally rigged the appraisal process. The suit, which seeks
class-action status, claims that Countrywide Home Loans and its
in-house appraisal arm, LandSafe, inflated home valuations during the
boom so Countrywide could make more loans and sell them on Wall Street.
The lawsuit claims that when the Clarks refinanced their Seattle
home for $350,000 in February 2007, they were required to use the
Countrywide affiliate for the appraisal. The suit further claims that
outside appraisers who didn't come up with high home values were denied
future work from the lender.
Asked for a response, Bank of America spokeswoman Shirley Norton
said, "We have not been served yet, but based on what we have heard
about this suit we believe it is without merit." A lot of appraisers
aren't happy about the looming changes. In a poll conducted on Jan. 16
by the American Appraisal Institute trade group, 60% of appraisers said
the code was unlikely to change the quality of appraisals. However, the
lawsuit touches on a couple other issues facing appraisers, such as low
appraisal fees and interference from AMC's.
Oh, and by the way, here's some more Countrywide news!
We are working on a short sale with Greenpoint Mortgage and after 3
months into the process, Greenpoint notifies us that they have sold the
defaulted loan to... Countrywide. Can you imagine buying a defaulted
loan? Aren't they in enough trouble already?
by Christian Bohyn