ACC Capital Holdings (ACCCH) was a national mortgage lender based in

Orange, California Orange is a city located in North Orange County, California. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District were built before 1920. While many other ...

. The company is the largest privately held retail mortgage lender in the United States and the largest subprime lender by volume. ACCCH was founded by

Roland Arnall Roland E. Arnall (March 29, 1939 – March 17, 2008) was an American businessman and diplomat. As the owner of ACC Capital Holdings, he became a billionaire with Ameriquest Mortgage. He was the Founder and funded the City of David alone ...

. As well as Ameriquest Mortgage, the company also owned Argent Mortgage which made wholesale loans through

mortgage brokers A mortgage broker acts as an intermediary who brokers mortgage loans on behalf of individuals or businesses. Traditionally, banks and other lending institutions have sold their own products. As markets for mortgages have become more competitive, ...

, and AMC Mortgage Services which carried out customer services activities for all ACCCH mortgages. Ameriquest closed in 2007, and the rest of the company was acquired by Citigroup.

Company reorganization

The risky nature of subprime loans, massive defaults of those loans, the softening of the real estate market, and ACC's own practices have led to a financial crisis: *In early 2006, Ameriquest Mortgage settled a

class action lawsuit A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

for US$325 million with the attorneys general of 49 of the 50 states over allegations of

predatory lending Predatory lending refers to unethical practices conducted by lending organizations during a loan origination process that are unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent. While there are no internationally agreed legal definitions for predatory lending, a 200 ...

practices. Allegations included

usury Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is c ...

and

bait-and-switch Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud used in retail sales but also employed in other contexts. First, customers are "baited" by merchants' advertising products or services at a low price, but when customers visit the store, they discover that the a ...

tactics. *On May 2, 2006, ACC Capital Holdings announced the closure of all of its Ameriquest Mortgage branch offices as part of a plan to consolidate its retail mortgage lending operations into four regional call centers. Thousands of employees were fired via conference call. The employees were given five minutes to get their personal belongings and leave the office. Ameriquest would soon be joined by other American mortgage companies in announcing massive layoffs. On February 28, 2007 ACC Capital Holdings announced that

Citi Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomer ...

was providing

working capital Working capital (WC) is a financial metric which represents operating liquidity available to a business, organisation, or other entity, including governmental entities. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capital is consi ...

and access to credit. Citi also gained the option to purchase Argent and AMC, but this option did not extend to Ameriquest. On September 9, 2007, Argent Mortgage was sold to Citi for an undisclosed amount. Argent was renamed Citi Residential Lending. Citi Residential Lending operated for several months before it was shut down. On September 10, 2007, Ameriques
stopped accepting loan applications
Former employees from Ameriquest, which was United States's leading wholesale lender, described a system in which they were pushed to falsify documents on bad Ameriquest Mortgages and then sell them to Wall Street banks eager to make fast profits. There is growing evidence that such mortgage fraud may be at the heart of the

Financial crisis of 2007–2010 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

.
Road to Ruin: Mortgage Fraud Scandal Brewing
' May 13, 2009 by American News Project hosted by

The Real News The Real News Network (TRNN) is an independent, nonprofit news organization based in Baltimore, MD that covers both national and international news. History TRNN was founded by documentary producer Paul Jay and Mishuk Munier in September 2 ...

Sponsorships

*In 2006, Ameriquest sponsored the "Ameriquest Dream Team" in the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

. Drivers

Mark Martin Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959) is a retired American stock car racing driver. He has the second most wins all time in what is now the Xfinity Series with 49. He scored 40 Cup Series wins. He finished second in the NASCAR Cup Series s ...

(#6), Greg Biffle (#16),

Matt Kenseth Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He drives the No. 8 car in the Superstar Racing Experience. (SRX) Kenseth started racing on several short tracks in Wisconsin and won track cha ...

(#17), and

Carl Edwards Carl Michael Edwards II (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that, he drove the No. ...

(#60) all drove Ameriquest racecars throughout the season. In 2007, Ameriquest transferred this sponsorship to

NEXTEL Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

, sponsoring Biffle in the #16 car for most of the schedule. However, due to the continuing problems with the subprime loan industry, Ameriquest has announced that it will not sponsor the #16 past the 2007 season, and, judging by the end of the naming rights deal for the baseball park (see below), this deal could be terminated earlie

*In 2004, Argent commenced a sponsorship deal with IndyCar Series, IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, but it did not follow her when she switched to Andretti-Green Racing for the 2007 season. *From 2004 to 2007, Ameriquest owned the naming rights to the home stadium of the Texas Rangers baseball team. During this time the park was called Ameriquest Field. In March 2007, in an undisclosed agreement between the two entities, Ameriquest relinquished those rights, and the stadium was renamed

Rangers Ballpark in Arlington Choctaw Stadium, formerly Globe Life Park, is an American multi-purpose stadium in Arlington, Texas, between Dallas and Fort Worth. Originally built as a baseball stadium, it was home to the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball and the Te ...

, just one word off from the ballpark's original name.

Political donations

In 2005, Ameriquest Capital and three of its subsidiaries comprised four of the 53 entities that each contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

. Writes USA Today, "Inaugural fundraisers Dawn and Roland Arnall found a creative way to pump more than the $250,000 limit into the event. Their mortgage firm, Ameriquest Capital, contributed the maximum, as did three subsidiaries, for a total of $1 million. The company declined to comment on its political giving." Arnall's contributions to Republican Bush were a change of heart, and the result of Arnall's support for Bush's middle east policies post 9/11. Previously, Arnall was a long-time Democratic Party supporter and fundraiser. His wedding to Dawn Arnall was officiated by Democratic California Governor Gray Davis. Arnall was also an ardent supporter and fundraiser for Los Angeles Mayor Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa.

References

External links

Weekly Ameriquest Watch by Inner City Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acc Capital Holdings Mortgage lenders of the United States Companies based in Orange, California

Company reorganization

Sponsorships

Political donations

See also

References

External links