Ameriquest Mortgage Co

Citigroup Inc. bolstered the finances of the Ameriquest companies Wednesday by providing new funds, setting up a major credit line and getting an option to buy some operations of the specialist in high-cost mortgages to high-risk buyers. Los Angeles billionaire Roland E. Arnall, Ameriquest's principal owner and the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, also will provide a cash infusion, the Orange-based sub-prime lending company said.

Ameriquest Mortgage Co., once the "Proud Sponsor of the American Dream," is closing. Citigroup Inc. said Friday that it would buy the remnants of the Ameriquest empire from ACC Capital Holdings in Orange, and ACC said it was "preparing for an orderly wind-down of its retail mortgage business." Ameriquest shuttered its 229 retail offices months ago. As recently as 2005, Ameriquest and its sister company, Argent Mortgage, were together the No. 1 sub-prime mortgage lender in the world.

The corporate parent of Orange-based Ameriquest Mortgage Co. said Thursday that it would lay off 10% of its nationwide workforce -- about 1,500 employees -- as the long-running housing boom and demand for home loans cooled off. "The mortgage industry is entering a more challenging phase of rising interest rates," ACC Capital Holdings Corp. said in a statement. "In cyclical industries such as mortgage lending, periodic workforce reductions are not uncommon."

Providing a rare glimpse inside the executive suite at Ameriquest Capital Corp., a lawsuit filed Friday accused billionaire owner Roland E. Arnall of thwarting efforts to reform the Orange company's predatory practices in the selling of mortgage loans. The suit was filed by Wayne A. Lee, a longtime executive for Arnall who claimed that the company reneged on a deal to pay him $30 million after he left in 2005. Arnall is now U.S.

New Century Financial Corp. and Ameriquest Mortgage Co., both based in Orange County, are among five sub-prime mortgage lenders that may have the ratings cut on the part of their businesses that collect home loan payments amid a rise in delinquencies, Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday. Moody's said it would review the so-called servicer ratings for affiliates or units of New Century, Ameriquest, NovaStar Financial Inc., Accredited Home Lenders Holdings Co. and Winter Group.

The parent of Ameriquest Mortgage Co., once the biggest provider of home loans to Americans with checkered credit, fired a large number of its workers Thursday and closed six operations centers around the country in a bid to survive the shakeout in sub-prime lending. Two years ago, Orange-based Ameriquest was at the top of the game -- sponsoring the Rolling Stones on tour and the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXIX.

Ameriquest Mortgage Co., a struggling sub-prime mortgage lender, has asked to be released from its NASCAR sponsorship, after last week giving up its rights to name the Texas Rangers' baseball park. NASCAR's website reported that the unit of Orange-based ACC Capital Holdings Corp. asked Roush Fenway Racing to release it from the final two years of its three-year sponsorship of a car driven by Greg Biffle. ACC Capital spokesman Chris Orlando declined to confirm the report.

Ameriquest Mortgage Co. founder Roland Arnall seemed to have shrugged off complaints of lending abuses early last year, when the sub-prime lender agreed to pay $325 million to settle allegations by 49 states of misrepresented loan terms, hidden fees, puffed-up appraisals and fabricated borrower income statements. The Los Angeles billionaire blamed rogue employees for the problems.

Eligible California customers who took out loans with Ameriquest Mortgage Co. from 1999 to 2005 will soon be receiving forms to claim a share of $51 million the company has agreed to pay to settle accusations of predatory lending practices. The forms, which began being mailed Thursday by the state attorney general's office, will go to an estimated 78,000 households that had mortgages with Orange-based Ameriquest.

Have you received calls from telemarketers -- which, of course, usually come at dinner time -- even though you were on the Do Not Call registry? The Federal Trade Commission called some of these alleged violators back, and it will cost them a lot more than an evening meal. The agency said Wednesday that several companies, including such nationally known names as Ameriquest Mortgage Co. and ADT Security Services Inc.