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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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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