With media outlets and politicians heaping sympathy on subprime borrowers on the brink of losing everything, it's important to keep in mind the real victims on this mess: that's right, the mortgage brokers who got us into it.As if plummeting earnings from the decline in subprime lending weren't bad enough, subprime write down poster child Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) canceled its annual ski party at the Rittz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch in Avon, Colorado, where the company puts up 30 of its most valued correspondent lenders (at $725+ per night) and treats them to skiing and $140 caviar and Kurobuta pork osso bucco at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant.
It looks like this year the closest they'll be getting to Spago is the Wolfgang Puck canned dumpling soup available for $31.20 per 12-pack on Amazon.com. Even that might be a stretch in this market. But there's always Chef Boyardee.

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During the recent housing boom, people with lousy credit were not the only ones financing their purchases with subprime mortgages. The
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It's worth remembering that the mortgage industry value network is complex. No longer does a mortgage bank issue a mortgage and keep it on its books. What happens now is that a mortgage broker convinces a borrower to sign a mortgage contract. The originating mortgage bank then turns around and sells that mortgage to a Wall Street investment bank that packages the mortgage into a mortgage-backed security (MBS) which it quickly gets off its books -- and onto those of European and Asian investors, like UBS, which are now paying the price for their gullibility.
Almost 60% of customers of mortgage brokers with adjustable-rate mortgages were unable to refinance their loans, according to a truly frightening survey released today by Campbell Communications.
To be sure, many of the people who are in a precarious financial position are speculators who thought they could make a quick buck "flipping" houses. Others, though, were victimized by unscrupulous mortgage brokers and deserve assistance from the government in finding an affordable loan.








