COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Mortage Lender GMAC Retaliates Against Massachusetts Lawsuit By Ending Most Lending In The State

This week, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced that she will be suing five major banks for financial crimes that include wrongful foreclosure, in a major victory for the 99 Percent.

Today, one of those financial institutions announced that it would be retaliating against the state of Massachusetts for this lawsuit. GMAC now plans to end most of its lending in the state of Massachusetts, claiming that lending in the state is now “no longer viable“:

GMAC Mortgage, the mortgage lender of Ally Financial Inc., is exiting the vast majority of its lending in Massachusetts a day after the state sued it over its foreclosure practices. The nation’s fifth-largest mortgage originator said it “has taken this action because recent developments have led mortgage lending in Massachusetts to no longer be viable,” ratcheting up the high-stakes mortgage fight there.

By pulling business from Massachusetts after being sued for illegal practices such as wrongful foreclosure — which is, in essence, stealing people’s homes — GMAC is basically practicing a capital strike, tweets blogger Matthew Stoller.