Senate Democrats dubbed President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, the "foreclosure king,” but while this makes a nice soundbite, it simply isn’t true, according to Movement Mortgage CEO Casey Crawford.
In December, Senate Democrats began collecting complaints from consumers about Mnuchin and OneWest Bank in preparation for Mnuchin’s confirmation hearing to serve as the next Secretary of the Department of the Treasury.
Although it wasn’t known at the time what exactly the Democrats planned to do with those complaints, Democrats eventually revealed their goal, asking the leadership of the Senate Committee on Finance to allow “victims of Mnuchin foreclosure machine” to testify at Mnuchin’s confirmation hearing, scheduled to take place Thursday, Jan. 19.
Given that everyone is focusing on Mnuchin’s participation in the foreclosure crisis, Crawford penned a blog for The Hill to try and put an end to everyone calling Mnuchin the “foreclosure king” and instead give him the credit he deserves.
From the blog:
Instead of recognizing his successful efforts to save the failed IndyMac Bank and give it new life as OneWest, Mnuchin’s opponents would have us believe he happily foreclosed on families to enrich himself. The U.S. Senate Democrats website even calls him the “Foreclosure King.” That makes a nice soundbite. But it simply isn’t true.
Mnuchin’s record as a financial executive is clear. He stepped into a tough situation with his own private capital and that of his investors, saved hundreds of thousands of homes and took on the big banks to do so. He is an entrepreneur who saw an opportunity to save a failing company, serve struggling families and boost our weak economy.
The situation hits close to home for Crawford, noting in the blog that even him as an entrepreneur, mortgage bank chief executive and director of a community bank in North Carolina has dealt with problem assets. “I’ve also had the opportunity to invest in failing institutions that needed fresh capital. The goal in such situations is always to save as many troubled loans as possible,” he said.
To Crawford, “Mnuchin has the experience to be a Treasury secretary who will fight for businesses, homeowners and capital providers. The vote in the U.S. Senate ought to be an easy one.”
