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| Confessions of a Subprime Lender: An Insider's Tale of Greed, Fraud, and Ignorance | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard Bitner
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $10.95
You Save: $9.00 (45%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 5281
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 0470402199
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.7220973
EAN: 9780470402191
ASIN: 0470402199
Publication Date: June 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
Former subprime lender Richard Bitner once worked in an industry that started out helping disadvantaged customers but collapsed due to greed, lack of financial control and willful ignorance. In Confessions of a Subprime Lender: An Insider's Tale of Greed, Fraud, and Ignorance, he reveals the truth about how the subprime lending business spiraled out of control, pushed home prices to unsustainable levels, and turned unqualified applicants into qualified borrowers through creative financing. Learn about the ways the mortgage industry can be fixed with his twenty suggestions for critical change.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 this is hilarious! July 8, 2008
11 out of 22 found this review helpful
I read the Newsweek article and I find it funny that Mr Bitner was cashing these HUGE paychecks while wondering how these borrowers would pay for the loans. Bet he wasn't losing any sleep while driving his $100,000 car and living in his million dollar house. I think its laughable that he puts most of the blame on the brokers. I've been in the mortgage business for 12 years and have always strived to get my customers the best rates and loans for their particular situation. By and large, the vast majority of brokers do the same. We're getting bad press from this guy so he can appease his guilty conscience. Mr Bitner, why don't you tell the public how many points you had stacked into your loans you sold off to Wall Street?? Thats the REAL evil in this was Wall Street. They kept pushing all these putrid subprime backed securities and didn't care if the borrower could pay the loan if it went to an ARM. Well that and based on the idiotic belief that houses will ALWAYS appreciate. Bear Stearns was bailed out by Washington and they were the biggest player in this. Hmmmm don't you think the "speculators" in oil futures right now are hedge funds and Wall Street trying to make up for losses on subprime Mortgage Backed Securities. The brokers, lenders, and borrowers were only pawns in a game by Wall Street to reap billions in profits. Now THEY are reaping what they sow.
One last thing Mr Bitner, if you want to truly do something good for the borrowers out there who are suffering...why not donate all your profits to the New Hope Alliance? Help people going into foreclosure instead of coming across as a weasel whos still trying to cash in.
 Good, not great, and self-serving. July 26, 2008
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Wow(!), there sure are a lot of reviews here that make this book sound like the definitive work for explaining the mortgage meltdown. I'm not the smartest bulb in the room (at all) when it comes to this kind of stuff, but I found I knew most of what was discussed in the book before I read it. To be sure, it's an easy read (of the lazy summer weekend kind) and a fun one (lots of incompetent borrowers, sleazy brokers and greedy investors - this is mostly an anecdotal book), and it does a pretty good job of simplifiying things, but in the end, I was disappointed. Worth the money and the time, but less substance than I expected.
The thing that irked me the most is that Bitner REALLY lets himself (and to a large degree, other lenders) off the hook here. Oh sure, in the end he says he blames himself too, and 'gee gosh', he should have known better, but I never get the impression he really means it or takes any real responsibility. Of all the institutions and people he blames for this mortgage mess, he makes it sound as if his group is the least culpable,- caught between crooked brokers and greedy investors. I just don't buy it. In the end, he's too self-serving, and trying to have it both ways. I get the impression he wants the reader to feel sorry for him, and I don't.
While I appreciate the fact that he did write this rather light examination of the subprime industry, I can't get past the fact that he made lots and lots of money exploiting the system, as he exploits the mess now by selling a book about it. And all the time, there are a lot of folks who have been screwed and thier lives turned upside down, partially because of his actions.
In the end, all of us are paying and will continue to pay for his (and of course, many others') unethical behavior.
Doesn't sound to me like he's changed; he's just found another angle.
 Bitner Nails It July 3, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I read Richard Bitner's book from cover to cover and did not want to put it down. As one who has been in the mortgage business for over 30 years, working in various industry segments including retail origination, wholesale lending, correspondent lending and private mortgage guaranty insurance (residential loan default insurance), I was impressed by how Richard managed to put all the key pieces together on the subprime crisis and did it with such an honest, insightful and refreshing candor.
After all my years in a business that insured lenders and mortgage investors against residential mortgage loan defaults, I understood we were headed for trouble with massive mortgage defaults, simply due to all the irresponsible lending practices with loan programs that had multiple layers of risk where buyers had little or no skin in the game and originators had even less. There is lots of blame to go around and Bitner does not spare any of the many participants from being assigned their contribution to the crisis.
As my friend used to say: "This has got to be true because you couldn't make this stuff up." That clearly applies to Bitner's weaving of such a bizarre, but sadly true story. I used to use an expression of my Grandmother's about the subprime "stuff" I observed in the mortgage industry and what I felt would happen. I said: "The chickens will be coming home to roost." Bither gives a great account of how all those eggs got laid and how the fox was in charge of the hen house. This crisis in housing and mortgage finance has already been devastating and it is far from being over. This is an easy read to gain a keen insight in what happened and how it happened. Whether you in the lending industry or not, chances are you have been impacted directly or indirectly by this debacle. Reading this book will help you understand the who, what, when, where and why. I highly recommend it.
Superb. This is the One to Buy. July 5, 2008
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
If you want a book that tells you why things went so wrong in subprime lending, this is the book. Not only is (or more correctly, was) the author an insider in the industry, he is bright, extremely perceptive, and, most importantly, he has a conscience. In addition, he is an extremely able writer. He takes a topic that others have reduced to technical mush and presents it in a clear, precise, pointed fashion. The book is a nice collection of on-the-ground examples placed in a perceptive and morally-balanced "big picture." There are insights here that you won't find anywhere else.
Let me make it clear: I have no connection with the author in any way, shape, or form. I was looking for a good, well-written book that gave me new insights into the sub-prime mess. I bought five different books. This one was clearly the best. A couple of the others were useful, but they didn't have the appeal of hearing all of this explained by a very bright, extremely knowledgeable insider.
If you want to know how all of those banks in Europe got duped into buying bonds backed by laugher mortgages, or how Bear, Stearns got taken down, you want to continue your search. But if you want to know how this massive market failure happened in the first place, this author, Richard Bitner, will tell you.
Liked it, but a tad culpable July 9, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The subprime biz has been around, or at least WAS around, for a couple of decades now. I enjoyed the book but also being in the business for twenty years I knew all of what Bitner was writing about.
The subprime decline didn't have to happen. Those in the subprime business knew the risk threshold as they kept lower qualifying guidelines but also saw the huge profits they could gather. Forget the money the broker made, some of these packages yielded 107 for the wholesale lender when sold. It's easy to turn your head if you're so inclined.
Those who have been in the subprime business for any length of time knew that the hammer would come down and hard, it's just that some of them knew when to cash in their chips and move on. Interestingly, Bill Dallas, the king of "know when to sell" was a casualty. Perhaps this book is some sort of confession to atone for financial sins.
Buy the book if you want to know the "retail" side of the business, but not much depth when it goes beyond that point. If you're in the mortgage industry, especially if you're a loan officer, this will give you some behind the scenes details you wouldn't know about. I read this book in about 3 hours and couldn't put it down.
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