Saturday, 16 February 2008

Sub-prime woes hit mortgage giant Countrywide Financial

Countrywide Financial, the biggest mortgage lender in the US, has reported a 41% fall in home loans in January.

Last month, Countrywide funded mortgages totalling $21.9bn, compared with $37.1bn a year ago, while foreclosures reached record highs.

Countrywide said the foreclosure rate among the 9m mortgages for which it collects and processes payments doubled to 1.48%, up from 0.77% a year earlier.

Bank of America in January agreed to buy the firm for $4bn.

Read full story on BBC Online