ESOP’s Countrywide Campaign

MEDIA RELEASEFor Immediate Release, June 20, 2007Contact : Jenelle Dame, 216-361-0718 (office)jenelle@esop-cleveland.org COMMUNITY LEADERS WIN MEETING WITH PREDATORY LENDER: COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS ESOP’s community leaders and Countrywide Home Loan borrowers to meet with Loss Mitigation VP’s about their loans on June 20, 6pm at 3631 Perkins.  

Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People (ESOP) has been working with Countrywide borrowers to resolve issues with their mortgage holder, Countrywide Home Loans, as well as to win a meeting with their Loss Mitigation VP’s.  After delivering hundreds of plastic sharks to a Countrywide branch in Woodmere, Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide’s CEO, instructed Michael Gross, Director of Mortgage Servicing, and Jerry Durham, VP of Home Ownership Preservation, to meet with ESOP borrowers to discuss concerns related to the servicing of their loans.

According to 2005 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data, Countrywide was the third largest lender in Cleveland. Despite claiming that sub-prime lending is a very small part of its portfolio, a full 21% of those loans were classified as “High Cost”. More importantly, the vast majority of those loans were made in minority census tracts.

“Countrywide is targeting low income and minority communities,” said ESOP’s president, Inez Killingsworth.

Countrywide is notorious for bad customer service, subprime lending, and borderline predatory lending practices.  At 6pm on June 20^th at ESOP’s 3631 Perkins office, borrowers will have their chance to tell the lender what they think about their lending practices, as well as take steps towards resolving their mortgage issues. 

ESOP is a community organization that uses community organizing to hold lenders and loan servicers accountable for their abusive practices. ESOP is a member of Community Shares.

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