"At WaMu it wasn't about the quality of the loans; it was about the numbers. They didn't care if we were giving loans to people that didn't qualify. Instead, it was 'How many loans did you guys close and fund?'" This according to former WaMu underwriter Keysha Cooper. She could have worked at lots of companies and come to the same conclusion. She shares her story as one of 89 employees whose accounts are contained in a suit against the thrift by an Ontario pension. She says starting about 2006, the company started ramping up the pressure to close loans at all costs. No loan was suspect. "You were like a bad person if you declined a loan," she said. She was sure that a lot of fraudulent activity was taking place. She ended up being put on leave for refusing to sign off on a loan that was plainly just wrong. Brokers sometimes tried to bribe her to approve loans. This is akin to inviting regulation.

For more:
- here's the New York Times article

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