Countrywide critics launch website

Zac Bissonnette — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:47:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Scandals, Countrywide Financial (CFC), Housing

Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) has joined an elite class of companies headed by Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) -- corporations whose behavior has rendered them the target of so much controversy that their critics have launche websites for the express purpose of trashing them.

DontDepositAtCountrywide.info is, as the name suggests, calling on people not to deposit money with the company until "until it ensures that all subprime borrowers with interest rates that have reset in 2006 or 2007 can keep their homes!"

Obviously that request is insane -- there are always foreclosures and it's unlikely that people who bought homes they couldn't afford will -- or even should -- be able to keep their houses.

However silly the site's message may be, it does have some good resources for those looking into Countrywide: links to news stories critical of the company, lawsuits against it, and resources for homeowners having trouble with their mortgages.

For the record, I'm as critical of Countrywide and super-tan CEO Angelo Mozilo as just about anyone -- but the idea that all subprime borrowers are entitled to keeping their homes is ridiculous.

Countrywide critics launch website originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amway/Quixtar sues online foes

Zac Bissonnette — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:21:00 EST

Filed under: Law, Blogs, Scandals

According to a recent report from CBS News, "Direct-marketing firm Quixtar Inc., a sister company of Amway Corp., has sued 30 people who anonymously posted what it considers disparaging remarks about Quixtar in blogs and online forums and in YouTube.com videos."

The company is seeking subpoenas to compel internet sites, including Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s YouTube, to give the company information it needs to find out who is making the videos that it believes are defamatory. Amway/Quixtar believes some of the videos were made by former distributors who unsuccessfully sued the company and are under court order not to disparage the company.

For years, Amway has been battling allegations that the company is a pyramid scheme. In 1979, the FTC ruled that Amway was not a pyramid scheme, but ordered the company to change many of its sales and marketing practices.

Unfortunately, the media as a whole lacks a strong understanding of how Amway and other multi-level marketing companies work. For instance, take this line from the CBS piece:

Quixtar develops and manufactures nutrition, beauty and cleaning products that are marketed in the United States and Canada through a tiered selling system, hiring entrepreneurs to sell its products.

This is not even close to how Quixtar really works. Quixtar does not "hire entrepreneurs." "Independent business owners," as Amway euphemistically calls them, must buy products in order to qualify for commissions, and can earn by recruiting others to buy products as well. Sites like Pyramid Scheme Alert have documented how little "selling of products" actually happens.

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Amway/Quixtar sues online foes originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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