Florida Virtual Houses

Son of Countrywide

July 15th, 2008

Call it the Indymac massacre. It’s the second largest bank failure in US history. Many of the unfortunate souls who put their hard-earned dough in Indymac’s high-paying cds have been lining up in the hot sun to get their money out over the past two days. We all know the US government insures deposits up to $100,000. But apparently 10,000 folks chose to keep even more than that with them.

It’s interesting to note that Indymac was once a part of now defunct Countrywide. The firm was once called Countrywide Mortgage Investments. It was created as a place to hold the jumbo mortgages that even Countrywide—more conservative at the time—didn’t want to trade in. Countrywide co-founder Angelo Mozilo served at the top of Indymac for years, as did his brother Ralph. The company was spun off officially in 1997.

Eventually Indymac grew completely independent. It acquired a bank charter, used the Internet aggressively, both to gather deposits and make loans. Its specialty was Alt-A loans, those in which the borrower didn’t have to provide the usual documentation.

At their peak a year or so ago, Indymac shares hit $50. Today they’re worthless. At least Countrywide shareholders got a few dollars in Bank of America stock. And they now have one less competitor to worry about! Of course the biggest loser is us taxpayers who may be on the hook for as much as $8 billion.

Entry Filed under: News