City To Country Magazine July/Aug 2016 July/Aug | Page 13

CELEBRITIES

a mass operation. The truth was that the moment these
loans got made, the companies scrambled to get them off
their books. After the loan was sold, they had nothing
to do with them anymore, and so, legally, despite their
promises, they were under no obligation whatsoever.”
Because mortgage companies paid higher commissions,
sometimes three or four times higher, to their employees
who sold these types of loans over more conventional
loans, the system was incentivized from within. He says,
“You didn’t even have to provide a source of income.
They, basically, would write whatever number in there
that they wanted to see.”
As the movie progresses and the crisis deepens, Clara
watches helplessly as the financial and personal devastation
destroys the lives of the people whose American dream of
homeownership she helped fulfill. Then, when she tries
to refinance her dad’s loan, she learns that the company
wasn’t going to keep their promises. One by one, as
homeowners defaulted, the bank’s foreclose department
and the sheriff’s department were legally bound to
impose evictions. Little by little, whole neighborhoods
emptied out, and people were forced to move in with
other family members, band together with friends, and
in some cases, become squatters...or worse, homeless.
While effectively showing real people being groundup in the gears of