Orangeman…Disgusting
In an email inadvertently sent as a reply, instead of a forward, Countrywide(CFC) CEO Angelo Mozilo passed the following message on to a borrower seeking a payment workout:
Angelo_Mozilo@countrywide.com wrote: This is unbelievable. Most of these letters now have the same wording. Obviously they are being counseled by some other person or by the internet. Disgusting.
The response was publicized by the LA Times and is now all over the news. Different interpretations are being assessed as to what is “disgusting”…the borrowers hardship letter, or the fact the borrower could find a sample hardship letter online.
I think the disgusting factor is that Mozilo could even make this mistake. Further, his response is that of the old guard, unfamiliar, or in denial, that
freedom of information online is reducing the mystery factor of real estate, whether it be loan rates, homes for sale or in this instance how to craft a hardship letter.
Mozilo is not alone. The real estate industry has been painfully slow to modernize. Our business generates enough paper to fell large forests and the reason many lenders have not embraced technology to reduce paper is the same reason Countrywide’s CEO considers free, insider information disgusting.
I’ve heard before that businesses will pay any price necessary to modernize their marketing programs, but won’t modernize their back end customer support and infrastructure until they’re literally forced to. I think the increased pressure loan servicers are now facing because of the foreclosure crisis will soon force them to upgrade.
Maybe someone will give Angelo Mozilo a remedial email training class too.