CLEVELAND (CN) - Countrywide Financial lied to customers about their escalating payment obligations for adjustable rate mortgages, the Ohio Attorney General claims in Cuyahoga County Court. The terse complaint points out that at the beginning of 2008, Countrywide was the biggest mortgage lender in the country, originating more than $450 billion in mortgages a year and "servicing approximately one-fifth of the nation's residential mortgages."
The complaint adds: "In 2003, Countrywide's co-founder, Angelo Mozilo, announced the company's intention to expand its mortgage portfolio by capturing 20 percent of the national residential mortgage market within three years. To achieve this goal, Countrywide often made representations about its mortgage products that were untrue or misleading."
Attorney General Nancy Rogers wants Countrywide ordered to reimburse its customers for its "unfair, deceptive, and unconscionable acts," fines, and an injunction ordering Countrywide "to modify consumers' contracts in order [to] implement a loan modification program designed to address Ohio consumers who have subprime mortgage products originated or serviced in Ohio by defendants."
The defendants include Full Spectrum Lending.
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