The Countrywide Veteran's Machiavellic Plan

You would think that the top executives at Countrywide, once the nation's largest mortgage lender couldn't qualify to ever do business in the Financial Industry ever again… think again. They're back on stage and they're positioning themselves to make a ton of money off the housing meltdown. Crazy isn’t it? But sadly it is the truth.

Only in America can this be done, this truly is the land of opportunity…

After stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in bright daylight, the Countrywide boys are at it again! They've launched a company that will buy distressed mortgages from the banks and the government at a discount, of course and they will then offer to modify the loans so that the borrowers can afford them and then, as a natural by product of their generous efforts, pocket the profits from reselling these new mortgages.

Machiavelli?

The company's name is PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust.
Yes, you’re reading it right, another Mac. After FreddyMAC we now have PennyMAC, this made me think would the word MAC have some meaning that we don’t know of? So I looked it up on Wikipedia and the only reason for the use of MAC in the trade name of these companies seems to be that Mac is short for “Machiavelli". According to Wikipedia a Machiavelli is a person of acute and scheming intelligence and Machiavellianism is the use of cunning and deceit in politics or generally. That Explains! Right?

PennyMac filed papers end of May for a $750 million initial public offering on Wall Street. The company's founder and CEO is Stanford Kurland, a 27-year veteran of Countrywide. Kurland was Countrywide's Chief Operating Officer, President, and the heir-apparent to CEO Angelo Mozilo who was recently indicted by the Securities and Exchange Commission ('"SEC") on charges of insider trading, among other things. Kurland left Countrywide in 2006, just a few days after cashing in $130 million worth of Countrywide stock.
As a matter of fact, eleven of PennyMac's 14 officers are all ex- Countrywide. Logic, because there couldn’t be too many Captains on the Pirate Ship, as Countrywide sold itself in January of 2008 to Bank of America (another Machiavellic Financial Institution, known for its client abuse),

What it come down to is that, the architects of the sub-prime lending that caused the greatest financial crisis in the history of mankind, are now going to profit from the crisis they caused by buying and selling the very sub-prime loans they couldn't sell before, using money raised from selling shares of stock to the general public.

According to their brochure, PennyMac's business model is based on keeping people in their homes. The Times reported that "most banks and investors who own mortgages still seem to find foreclosure preferable to so-called workout solutions, and homeowners continue to report that their pleas for loan modifications fall on deaf ears." So, PennyMac's approach will actually benefit struggling homeowners. See, it's a good thing. Thank God for those boys (read cowboys) from Countrywide.

PennyMac will buy the toxic mortgages from the banks at just pennies on the dollar, because apparently the banks will sell the toxic assets to them at pennies on the dollar. Paulson, however, had to pay full price, if you recall. And by the way, as you recall, Machiavelli is a person of acute and scheming intelligence, so PennyMac is not stupid, they will only buy whole entire mortgages, not mortgages that have been sliced and diced into multiple pieces and then made into securities to be sold to multiple investors.

So, PennyMac now becomes now, one of the "good guys", as all they're trying to do is to help make mortgages affordable. Isn’t that nice? The banks haven't been able to do it, nor have two former administrations.

Mr. Paul Leonard, director of the California office in Oakland for the Center for Responsible Lending said: “PennyMac's "model suggests the great promise of an aggressive modification strategy; creating win-win opportunities for borrowers and investors."
He also added: "It's hard to overlook the fact that these are Countrywide veterans who no doubt contributed to some of the sophisticated schemes to sell bad loans to borrowers and make great profits, who are now finding profitable ways of fixing those loans."

Note that PennyMac has received mega-bucks from BlackRock, the investment manager who, in "no bid" contracts, has been paid some $71 million to help the government and banks dispose of toxic assets…such as… the mortgages PennyMac will pick up on the cheap

Ryan Taylor, a principal at San Francisco's Cirios Real Estate, is quoted saying:

"They capitalized on the way up, left at the right time, and now are going to capitalize on the way down," Taylor said. "From the business person's perspective, you have to say, that's pretty smart. From a moral, integrity, ethics perspective, it can be questionable."

How politically correct…In my opinion this is “Pure Machiavellianism”, definitely the use of cunning and deceit,

Now here's perhaps the best part of PennyMac's business plan. PennyMac is a REIT ("real estate investment trust"), which means it doesn't have to pay federal taxes, because it will pay out its profits to its investors. Woo-hoo! All that and no taxes too? Isn’t this The Land Of Opportunity? How’s that for the American dream? Could it be any better?

According to PennyMac's Wall Street filing, the new company will be a subsidiary of a company by the name of Private National Mortgage Acceptance Corp., which is owned by Kurland who founded the company a year ago. To start that company Kurland raised $584 million as of March 31, 2009, and has already spent $226 million of that bounty.

In PennyMac's Wall Street filing we also read the following:

"We believe that there are unique, current market opportunities to acquire distressed mortgage loans and mortgage-related assets at significant discounts to their unpaid principal balances," the company wrote. "We believe that more than $1 trillion of (residential mortgage) loans are troubled or at significant risk of default in their present state."

To start this new venture, PennyMac has already a mammoth deal under its belt. It negotiated to pay the FDIC $43.2 million for $560 million in distressed home loans from the failed First National Bank of Nevada. PennyMac keeps 20-40 percent of every dollar it collects and Uncle Sam gets the rest. Not bad for a start? Good thing that they won’t be paying taxes on that profit, no?

PennyMac's prospectus does mention that the company's Countrywide heritage could have a couple of drawbacks, such as:

"There are several lawsuits pending against Countrywide and certain of its former officers," the prospectus says, adding that there was a possibility of civil charges against Mozilo.

A possibility???? More than a possibility! I would say

Reading further in PennyMac's prospectus:
"Certain of the officers of PennyMac who are former employees of Countrywide, including Stanford L. Kurland, our chairman and chief executive officer, who was chief operating officer of Countrywide until September 2006, have been named as defendants in lawsuits in which Countrywide and other employees and former employees of Countrywide are defendants. … We cannot assure you that existing or future, if any, investigations or litigation will not generate publicity or media attention or adversely impact the company's ability to conduct business."

Really? This is stuff for another Godfather movie because with today’s technology I wouldn’t be surprised that, even if Kurland ends up in jail, he'll probably still be able to run things from his laptop, inside the jail, I

I suggest that you all call your stockbroker and tell him that you want to be in on the IPO right now. Except, you might have lost your status as an accredited buyer because of all the money you’ve lost in your Florida and California Real Estate

So, listen up… here's another idea for a Boston Tea party or even better… create you own personal bailout package…
Stop making your mortgage payments.
Then just negotiate a short sale with your lender, so that you obtain, not only debt forgiveness, but also no deficiency judgment.
Stay in your house for free as long as possible so that your mortgage becomes as toxic an asset as possible.
Sit back, relax and wait for it to be bought by PennyMac for pennies on the dollar.
Then they'll modify your mortgage so you can keep your home, and sell your mortgage back to the investors of whom they bought it from and of course PennyMac will make a huge profit from the transaction…
But you, who have bought stock of PennyMac with the money that you’ve saved by not paying your mortgage, will then be able to reap your part of the profit as a shareholder in PennyMac!

How’s that for a Machiavellic Plan?

The bank won't mind because the Treasury will make them whole on whatever money they lose on your mortgage, and they won't have to screw around with those annoying loan modifications they hate doing and actually hardly ever acomplish. They save on the costs to foreclose on your home. And as long as you keep your income under $250k a year, your taxes won't even go up as a result!

I am so thankful for this great Nation! The land of the Cowboys! (read Countrywide boys). This Really Is, The Land of Opportunity!

God Bless America! Land of The Free…