Lending CEOs Find It Hard To Argue With NY AG on "Appraisal Pressure"

According to American Bankers's Pipeline newsletter: Mortgage production news and trends by Harry Terris and Kate Berry - Download AmericanBanker: Cuomo Krenlinology (10-16-07) article (58.6K) :

A former aide to Andrew Cuomo said that the New York attorney general is likely aiming for a broad deal with the mortgage industry on appraisal practices, and that if he stops short of proving systemic fraud in court, his investigation probably will not spark widespread forced loan buybacks.

Now that Mr. Cuomo has "revealed the problem in a very public way" and made "others aware of it who didn't see that it was there, parties who have an interest in ensuring that the appraisals were accurate … may be … prompted to take action," Mr. Glaser said. But, "they're difficult cases to bring."

Mr. Cuomo is suing eAppraiseIT LLC and its parent, First American Corp. of Santa Ana, Calif., for allegedly caving to pressure from Washington Mutual Inc. to inflate valuations.  According to the article:

Mr. Cuomo "has an insider's view of this that is very hard to challenge," Mr. Glaser said. "Even for those of us who are in the industry, even those who are" chief executives "of lending companies, find it very tough to argue with Cuomo on this issue."

Download AmericanBanker: Cuomo Krenlinology (10-16-07) article (58.6K)