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Confessions of a Subprime Lender
Richard Bitner
An Insider's Tale of Greed, Fraud, and Ignorance
Wiley
July 2008
On Sale: June 30, 2008
208 pages ISBN: 0470402199 EAN: 9780470402191 Paperback
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Non-Fiction
"Bitner's book conveys the authority of someone who was
in the trenches where this dirty work was going on." --
Newsweek Magazine With each day bringing new
revelations about the economic damage the mortgage crisis is
creating worldwide, this book couldn't be timelier. Bitner
tells the fascinating story of his disillusionment after
owning a sub-prime lending business for five years. It
starts with foreclosing on a borrower he knew shouldn't have
been given a mortgage in the first place (even though the
loan fit the industry's guidelines). He relates the story
of his house catching fire, and how this prompted him to
re-evaluate his priorities and sell his stake in the company
just as profits were plummeting and sales were hitting an
all-time high. A year after Bitner bailed, the industry
imploded, and he watched his former company close down.
Woven throughout his personal industry experiences is the
fascinating story of how an industry started out helping
disadvantaged customers buy houses, but soon lost its way
due to greed, lack of financial control, and willful
ignorance. This book reveals the truth about how various
parts of the mortgage business yielded to the temptation to
maximize profits, weakening the chain that held the system
together. The book covers: -
What it was like
running a sub-prime lending business in an industry
spiraling out of control -
The fact
that nearly three out of every four sub-prime mortgages
originated by brokers were misleading or fraudulent, and the
tactics these brokers used to trick lenders and
borrowers -
How the sub-prime industry pushed
home prices to unsustainable levels -
How
brokers and lenders used creative financing to turn
unqualified applicants into qualified borrowers -
20 critical changes that must be made to fix the
mortgage industry, including transparent fees, rating agency
reform, and the implementation of new, mandatory licensing
requirements for brokers From borrowers, to
brokers, to appraisers, to Wall Street Investment Banks,
Bitner exposes the role that each level of the hierarchy
played -- and the tactics they used -- in bringing on one of
the greatest business disasters in history.
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