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September 7, 2008 7:45:42 AM CDT

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Countrywide to Refinance Risky Home Loans

Posted Oct 23, 07 5:38 PM CDT in Business 

(Newser) – Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender, will refinance $16 billion worth of subprime home loans. The move will allow 80,000 customers with adjustable-rate mortgages to get lower rates, making it more likely that they'll keep their homes. Countrywide will make less money from the new arrangement, but fewer mortgages will fail outright, Bloomberg reports.

"Lending has never been an altruistic business, but having lots of failed transactions on your books is never good," says a mortgage researcher. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has pushed lenders to refinance home loans. “Unprecedented times call for unprecedented remedies,” says the president of Countrywide, according to the Financial Times.

Sources Bloomberg, Financial Times (UK)

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An employee of Countrywide Financial helps customers at the Northridge branch of Los Angeles, Calif., in this Aug. 22, 2007 file photo. Countrywide Financial Corp. grew from a two-man startup in 1969...   (Associated Press)
Countrywide Financial headquarters is shown in this July file photo in the Calabasas area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terril, FILEl)   (Associated Press)
The Countrywide Banking and Home Loans office is seen in Glendale, Calif. in this April 26, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)   (Associated Press)
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subprime mortgages  • Henry Paulson  • borrowers  • home loans  • Countrywide Financial


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