Story By SHANNON BEHNKEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 1, 2008

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum’s office said today it has filed a lawsuit against Countrywide Financial for engaging in “deceptive and unfair trade practices.”

The suit says Countrywide, one of the nation’s largest mortgage companies, knowingly put Florida borrowers into mortgages they couldn’t afford or into loans with rates and penalties that were “misleading.”

“It is unthinkable that a company would try to take advantage of someone’s dream of homeownership,” McCollum said in a news release. “Florida homeowners who are trying to protect their homes from foreclosures shouldn’t have to worry about their mortgage brokers or lenders unfairly profiting at their expense.”

A large number of homeowners who took out these loans are now in foreclosure, the release said. Florida has the second-highest number of foreclosure filings in the nation, according to California-based RealtyTrac.

The lawsuit says Countrywide hid negative effects of “teaser” loans, including rising rates, prepayment penalties and negative amortization. Countrywide paid greater compensation to brokers for loans with higher interest rates and prepayment penalties, the suit said, because it could sell those loans for higher prices on the secondary market.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804 or sbehnken@tampatrib.com.

UPDATE 2-Florida wants settlement from Bank of America

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI, July 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. state of Florida hopes to negotiate a monetary settlement with Bank of America Corp for what the state calls deceptive lending practices by the bank’s newly acquired mortgage unit, Countrywide Financial Corp, the state attorney general said on Tuesday.

“There is technically a deep pocket. They’ve acquired them, they assume their liabilities,” Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum told journalists on a conference call.

Bank of America completed its purchase of Countrywide on Tuesday, a day after Florida filed a civil lawsuit accusing Countrywide of deceptive and predatory lending.

“We are not going to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit, except to say that we are fully cooperating with the office of the Florida Attorney General,” Bank of America said in a prepared statement.

The state alleges that Countrywide “carelessly or intentionally” gave subprime mortgage loans to borrowers who could not repay them, loaned money at higher subprime rates to people who qualified for prime rate loans and engaged in other unfair trade practices.

The lawsuit says Countrywide threatened to fire its own underwriters if they tried to verify the ability of borrowers to pay.

“They knew very well that these people couldn’t qualify,” McCollum said.

The attorney general said he could not estimate how many Floridians were affected, but that his office had received complaints from more than 100 people, some of whom faced losing their homes to foreclosure.

The lawsuit seeks actual damages to all consumers who were harmed, a fine of up $10,000 for each violation of the law, plus attorney fees.

McCollum believes Countrywide still has a large portfolio of assets that could be tapped and said he would be in touch with Bank of America’s attorneys to try to negotiate a settlement.

“We aren’t ready yet to give you a dollar figure, but it would have to be a dollar settlement of some sort,” he said.

He said Florida had been unable to negotiate a resolution with Countrywide and that it had been legally barred from discussing the matter with Bank of America until the acquisition was completed.

“We now have a new cowboy in town owning Countrywide,” McCollum said. “Whenever Bank of America is in a position legally and appropriately to discuss this, we will be glad to discuss it with them.”

Bank of America said in a statement announcing completion of the acquisition that it will continue its policy of not originating subprime mortgages.

It also said it was focused on working with customers who are having difficulty making their mortgage payments or who foresee difficulty with future rate resets.

Illinois and Countrywide’s home state of California have also sued Countrywide over its lending practices. McCollum said he had not been in contact with attorneys general in other states, but could not rule out an attempt to negotiate a multi- state settlement.

He said Florida does not intend to file criminal charges against Countrywide or its employees. But the state is investigating potential civil charges against other mortgage lenders.

“We’re very open and looking at others right now, but I’m not prepared or at liberty to tell you any names,” he said.

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