SAN DIEGO — City Attorney Mike Aguirre filed a civil complaint Wednesday against Countrywide Financial Corp. in an attempt to stop foreclosures in San Diego.
Aguirre said the suit targets subprime loans where homeowners face balloon payments after two or three years of the loan. City officials say San Diego saw 22,000 notices of foreclosure last year and that number has already climbed to 20,000 in the first six months of 2008.
Aguirre announced the suit in San Diego County Superior Court on Wednesday. Aguirre alleged that Countrywide has engaged in a “pattern of unlawful, fraudulent or unfair predatory real estate lending practices” that has caused numerous San Diego residents “to be in jeopardy of losing their homes through foreclosures.”
“We would like to see San Diego become, when it comes to subprime loans, a foreclosure sanctuary,” he said. Aguirre also said he wants to try and stop the spread of “this foreclosure disease.”