Ameriquest Mortgage Co

Agreeing to settle 29 class-action lawsuits alleging predatory lending, the Ameriquest group of subprime lenders has pledged $22 million to repay aggrieved borrowers and their lawyers -- a fraction of its payments in previous suits before it shut down as the mortgage meltdown set in. The agreement potentially affects 712,000 borrowers from what once was the nation's largest subprime lender, based in Orange County. Many of the loans were from Argent Mortgage Co., an arm that funded borrowers through mortgage brokers.

Attorneys who contend that Ameriquest Mortgage Co. overcharged thousands of customers by using "bait and switch" tactics will ask a state judge today to approve a settlement that could return as much as $50 million to borrowers in California and three other states.

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.

Mark Bomchill says he'd like to forget the year he spent hustling mortgages for Ameriquest Capital Corp. in suburban Minneapolis. Slugging down Red Bull caffeine drinks, sales agents would work the phones hour after hour, he said, trying to turn cold calls into lucrative "sub-prime" mortgages -- high-cost loans made to people with spotty credit.

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.

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."

To help understand why the Obama administration is pushing for greater financial regulation, it may help to examine the case of Orange County's Ameriquest Mortgage Co., whose dizzying rise was followed by a monumental crash. The company and its affiliates had grown to become the nation's largest subprime mortgage lender when, in January 2006, Ameriquest coughed up $325 million to settle charges it misled borrowers and falsified loan documents.

Idanel Bonaparte's credit record had a few dings when she borrowed $108,000 from Ameriquest Mortgage Co. last year to fix up her aging home. The divorced nurse had an offsetting advantage, though: a mutual fund account worth $25,456.53. Linda Hubbard, a widow working three jobs, refinanced her home with a $211,000 loan from Ameriquest a month after Bonaparte.

Ameriquest Mortgage Co. said Monday that authorities in 25 states had raised questions about its lending practices, including the accuracy of its appraisals and how loan terms are described in spoken statements to borrowers. The Orange County-based company also said it had agreed to pay up to $50 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleges it defrauded thousands of borrowers in four states, including California.

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.

Agreeing to settle 29 class-action lawsuits alleging predatory lending, the Ameriquest group of subprime lenders has pledged $22 million to repay aggrieved borrowers and their lawyers -- a fraction of its payments in previous suits before it shut down as the mortgage meltdown set in. The agreement potentially affects 712,000 borrowers from what once was the nation's largest subprime lender, based in Orange County. Many of the loans were from Argent Mortgage Co., an arm that funded borrowers through mortgage brokers.

To help understand why the Obama administration is pushing for greater financial regulation, it may help to examine the case of Orange County's Ameriquest Mortgage Co., whose dizzying rise was followed by a monumental crash. The company and its affiliates had grown to become the nation's largest subprime mortgage lender when, in January 2006, Ameriquest coughed up $325 million to settle charges it misled borrowers and falsified loan documents.

Ameriquest Mortgage Co., once the biggest home-mortgage lender to people with credit problems, paid New Yorkers more than $18 million as part of a previously disclosed nationwide settlement of a predatory lending case. Proceeds from the settlement with the Irvine-based company were sent to about 13,700 New Yorkers, Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.