The Absurd Report

Election ‘08: Hillary Clinton blames predatory subprime mortgage lenders for creating the housing mortgage crisis. She should know. Her campaign manager sat on the board of one.

Sen. Clinton has spent a considerable amount of campaign time bashing the Bush administration’s handling of the subprime lending crisis. She paints a picture of economic disaster as financial wolves huff and puff to repossess everybody’s home, though 96% of mortgagees have been making their payments on time.

She should be very familiar with the subject, since she has as her campaign manager one Margaret “Maggie” Williams, who has sat on the board of one of the nation’s largest, and now bankrupt, subprime mortgage lenders accused by consumer advocates and the federal government of predatory lending practices.

Williams joined New York-based Delta Financial in April 2000, less than a month after one federal official said Delta’s practices were “turning the American dream of homeownership into a nightmare.”

In March 2000, the federal government had charged Delta with violating consumer fair lending and consumer protection laws by approving and funding loans regardless of the borrower’s ability to pay.

Delta Financial, and subsidiary Delta Funding, made much of its money by turning around and selling its loans at a profit. At the time Williams joined Delta, it had a 5% foreclosure rate — double the industry standard.

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