Countrywide courted by Bank of America?

This could have a major impact on real estate financing. It's probably positive for the two companies, but what about the home buyer?


http://www.NMHomesOnline.com

I think NDE is the target. I think politics are a big part of the CFC Story. It would make much more sense to take on NDE, the end result is greater for BofA.

CFC almost was bought out two years ago by citifinancial. It is very unlikley that b of a will follow through on this. It is more than likely a merger only for certain division CFC owns. B of A is known for not being the most aggressive when to comes to employee wages and CFC is the exact opposite, they can be very rewarding.

When Citifinancial came into the operations in 2004, the changed tail when they saw that CFC had a well run and well paid call centers.

More than likely CFC will sell their Full Spectrum division to B of A with both having accessability to the subprime market.

As a suggestion to any Company that would consider creating an alliance, buying out or any other form of partnership with Countrywide, I would audit the nuts and bolts of there operation. More specifically, I would look at how they have become the #1 mortgage lender. 1. Branch Managers that are sales managers and also the Underwriters. Anyone that has been in the business knows the U/W, can make or break the closing, so if they want there commission for that month, as a U/W, they will create what's needed to get it to closing. I would say this is a conflict of interest. Something that FNMA, FMAC, FHA, VA, needs to open an investigation to.
2. Being in Bed with the Realtor's. Something the state Realtor Board needs to look at, ie. paying realtor's under the table, for sending loans to CFC.
3. Yes, CFC, pays very well. But they are a sweat shop. At most locations, it is a swinging door when it comes to employees. Something the labor needs to look at.
Just some thoughts.

BAC sucks up acquisitions and digests them with their own brand of digestive acids. They only appear to be well run and efficient. Employee resentment at low pay and cram down budgets is growing to in excess of 40% negative in recent employee surveys. Their size is exceeded only by their arrogance. It is not the old BA from SF. They waste more on furn and fixtures than some companies make. Pay for Perf is a joke. Amazing what PR dollars and sharp ads can conceal.

I've been doing business with CWBC on and off for 10 years at the wholesale level and have done 100's of refinances from consumers who had CWBC mortgages. I can tell you I have never had a consumer who wasn’t happy to get rid of them. CWBC wholesale offices are operating for the most part by utter incompetence, if you’re lucky, you will find a hungry branch manager that will sign off on the petty underwriting conditions, but that is rare. The retail offices are worse, since the rank and file salespeople having little product knowledge, customers are usually placed in the wrong loan product or aren’t told the details of the loan product that they are steered into, this leaves the consumer unhappy post closing in many instances. I'm not amazed they are number one. Consumers are easily manipulated by commercials and smooth talking salespeople. Look at lending tree, the biggest legal bait and switch operation of all time.
In the end, the billions of dollars that are made annually by the industry are distributed throughout the economy, politicians included. This keeps the key inefficiencies woven into he mortgage process and the millions of people employed by the local brokers, bankers and the nationals. It’s a thankless job most of the time, but it pays very well.

This is the better call.