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July 24, 2008 9:16:33 AM CDT

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Credit Crunch Continues, and So Do Ads

Posted Aug 24, 07 6:43 AM CDT in US,  Business 

(Newser) – As the credit crunch transforms the financial landscape, one thing hasn't changed: lenders continue to offer loans that are too good to be true. The Washington Post writes that mortgage companies are still offering risky products to risky customers—even Countrywide, which barely avoided bankruptcy, is flogging cheap money with the slogan "We make it easy!"

Though the loans have disappeared the ads wear on. The nicest way to describe these companies is that they are optimists, says one analyst. "Even if they get a customer in the door this way, it's going to be a lot harder to qualify that customer than it was six months ago."

Source Washington Post

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A Countrywide Banking and Home Loans office is seen in Los Angeles Friday, Aug. 10, 2007. While most of the mortgage market worries so far have focused on the huge losses flowing from the subprime home...   (Associated Press)
An employee of Countrywide walks into the Nortirdge branch in Los Angeles, Calif., Tuesday Aug. 22, 2007. Countrywide Financial Corp. said Bank of America Corp. made a $2 billion investment in the company...   (Associated Press)
Richard Gordon, left, is helped by Vicki Saylor, an employee of Countrywide Financial, in the Northridge section of Los Angeles, Calif., Tuesday Aug. 22, 2007. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)   (Associated Press)
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subprime mortgages  • credit crisis  • advertising  • Countrywide  • loans  • mortgage lender


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