Senator slams Countrywide

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We are shocked -- shocked -- that it took Sen. Chuck Schumer three full days to complain about the Countrywide Financial business practices laid out in Gretchen Morgenson’s New York Times story over the weekend. Schumer is usually much quicker than that.

As Mark Lacter reports over at L.A. Biz Observed, ‘the New York senator told the Calabasas mortgage lender today to stop paying brokers higher commissions for steering borrowers to adjustable rate subprime loans - a practice that was outlined in a NYT story over the weekend.’ Lacter links to a Dow Jones piece that has no response from Countrywide.

Our take: We thought the bigger headline in the N.Y. Times story -- at least for Washington follow-up, and possible legal trouble for Countrywide -- was this nugget: ‘Independent brokers who have worked with Countrywide also say the company does not provide records of their compensation to the Internal Revenue Service on a Form 1099, as the law requires.’

It’s never good to mess with the IRS. Those guys have zero sense of humor.

Your thoughts? Comments? Insights?
Photo Credit: Reuters