January/February 2010 Issue

We’re Paying WHOM to Fix Subprime Mortgages?

Why, subprime lenders, of course.

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The Treasury Department has allocated $75 billion to entice lenders to let beleaguered borrowers stay in their homes. And the companies getting most of that money—well, they’re the same companies that got the borrowers into this mess. At least 21 of the top 25 recipients in the Home Affordable Modification Program were major subprime lenders, according to the Center for Public Integrity. Meanwhile, not even 1 in 5 homeowners eligible for the program has gotten help.

LENDER (PARENT COMPANY)

SUBPRIME LOANS
(MINIMUM, 2005-2007)

HAMP FUNDS
AVAILABLE

Countrywide Financial
(Bank of America)

$97.2 billion

$4.5 billion

National City (PNC)

$68 billion

$610 million

Option One Mortgage (formerly H&R Block,
now American Home Mortgage Servicing)

$64.7 billion

$1.2 billion*

Wells Fargo

$51.8 billion

$2.5 billion

BNC Mortgage/Aurora Loan Services
(Lehman Brothers)

$47.6 billion

$448 million

Chase Home Finance/EMC Mortgage
(JPMorgan Chase)

$30 billion

$3.4 billion

IndyMac (OneWest)

$26.4 billion

$814 million*

Citigroup

$26.3 billion

$2.1 billion

EquiFirst/HomeEq (Barclays)

$24.4 billion

$553 million

Wachovia (Wells Fargo)

$17.6 billion

$1.4 billion

GMAC (Cerberus Capital)

$17.2 billion

$3.6 billion

* Funds available to parent companySources: Center for Public Integrity; Treasury Department

This chart is part of Mother Jones’ coverage of the financial crisis, one year later.

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GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

Yet, we just came up pretty short on our first big fundraising campaign since Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting joined forces.

So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

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