AG Goes After Worst Offenders in The Mortgage Crisis
Statement by Pedro Morillas CALPIRG Legislative Advocate:
Attorney General Brown should be applauded for going after the worst of the worst offenders who are responsible for the mortgage meltdown. Unfortunately, even the attorney general doesn’t have the resources to prosecute every bad actor who contributed to the current mess.
For every Angelo Mozilo and David Sambol there are a thousand guys you’ll never hear of who are guilty of the exact same deceptions, but on a smaller scale.
The Attorney General’s suit will expose the flaws in the current system that allowed people like Mozilo to profit off of so many homeowners.
Unless the state and federal government step up and pass new rules to reign in abusive lending practices, we are just going to see more well dressed businessmen doing the perp. walk with no assurance that another meltdown can be avoided.
While the Attorney General has a strong case based on Countrywide’s deceptive practices, the reality is that the loan products that led to the crisis were, and still are, perfectly legal. The scale of the mortgage crisis and its effects beyond the lending industry make mortgage lending reforms crucial to protecting new home buyers as well as the economy.
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