Kirk and Denise Pitts purchased their mobile home in 1997. They still owe more than $39,000 on the home and land, which were valued at $33,100 in 2013.

Warren Buffett's Mobile Home Industry Traps Poor People With Predatory Loans

The Leonard Lopate Show | Apr 9, 2015

Clayton Homes, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, is the country’s largest mobile home manufacturer and lender. A new joint investigation by The Center for Public Integrity and The Seattle Times, by Daniel Wagner and Mike Baker, has found that Clayton relies on predatory sales practices, exorbitant fees and interest rates that can exceed 15 percent. Many buyers are trapped with loans they can’t afford, in homes that are almost impossible to sell and which depreciate in value over time. 

(Jesse Winston for the Center for Public Integrity)

 

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