Posted on 08/16/2007 5:33:38 AM PDT by Hydroshock
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The run on Countrywide (CFC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) stock intensified Thursday morning after the struggling mortgage lender said it drew down its $11.5 billion unsecured bank credit line.
The Calabasas, Calif., lender said it made the move as it "supplemented its funding liquidity position." The announcement came just a day after Merrill Lynch cut its rating on the stock to sell from buy, saying the company could run out of money with the secondary markets for mortgage securities frozen.
Countrywide shares plunged 18% in early trading Thursday as the fears that the company will be forced into bankruptcy festered.
"In response to widely-reported market conditions, Countrywide has elected to draw upon this entire facility to supplement its funding liquidity position," said operating chief David Sambol. "Over 70% of this facility has an existing term greater than four years and the remainder has a term of at least 364 days."
Countrywide also said it plans to fund future mortgages through its bank arm, reducing the company's need to sell into the secondary market. Countrywide said it expects that "nearly all of our volume will be originated in our bank by the end of September."
The company also reiterated that it has tightened its lending standards. The comments come as the mortgage industry has been upended by a sharp rise in delinquencies and defaults on recent loans, leading investors to flee the market for mortgage securities. Many lenders have been driven out of business in the last two years as increasing numbers of loans have gone bad.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestreet.com ...
This is like watching a car wreck in slow motion. You know what’s gonna happen at the end.......
Let me be a bit funny here and say that a lot of their problems were caused by the cost of their junk mailers. I can’t count the number of pre-approved loan mailers they sent me. They coulda went into home building with all the trees they had to cut down for their junk mail.
Emergency rate cuts, today, Mr. Chairman!!!!!
Not unless you want to spike inflation. Keep the rates were tehy are until teh September meeting to let thing shake out.
I have a mortgage with countrywide and they are the worst managed financial institution I have ever encountered. If you pay the mortgage on the first of september, then pay next month’s mortgage on 30 september, they still send you the october bill.
and don’t get me started on their other lunacies. if this is typical, then the industry is in real trouble, and management like this shouuld fail.
no sympathy here.
People are throwing around the word bankruptcy way too loosely here. And Merrill Lynch should not be trusted at all, they have their own mortgage business and would like nothing better than to drive Countrywide out of business so they can increase their own market share. Nobody is talking about the massive conflict of interest held by Merrill, Lehman Bros., and other Wall Street investment houses that started their own mortgage companies in order to capture more of the profits from securitization. I am convinced these guys started this panic in order to drive out competition and enrich themselves.
A while back I helped someone get their payments straight with Countrywide. Their policies seemed to be directed to make it as difficult as possible to bring payments up to date. I agree with you that they don’t deserve any sympathy.
they spend all these resources maintaing small local branch offices, but they can’t help service a loan, merely originate them. when you have an issue and go down to see them, they call the same folks you call from their 800 number.
indeed, I just finished a business article last week that said countrywide’s subprime exposure was much less than other’s in their sector
My mortgage is held by Countrywide, 2 years into a 30yr fixed. I’ve got a great rate - those re-fi guys take one look at my note and say “I can’t beat that.”
I didn’t overspend, so I have no trouble making my low monthly payment, and my income is quite secure.
I have never had any problems with Countrywide itself.
So, Countrywide is hurting/teetering ... here is my sincere question for anyone, from someone with little-to-no financial savvy:
Is this a threat to ME & my family, or just something I should know to be generally well-informed?
Even if C-Wide goes in the tank, I don’t understand what risks this represents for me. Isn’t my note just going to go to some other bank, and my monthly payment/life will go on as usual?
Is Countrywide’s condition something that really should concern me in a personal way?
CFC can’t make enough money issuing traditional loans. Their profit came from jumbos, Alt A, and subprime. Now they can’t find investors willing to buy that paper from them.
i’m assuming like many big players that Countrywide sold their loans bundled and staggered(?)
I am convinced these guys started this panic in order to drive out competition and enrich themselves.
Wow, you mean just like they destroyed all the small town agricultural banks in 1920-22??? Say it isn't so!
Countrywide was keeping around 40% of their own paper, selling the rest. I doubt that they bundled the loans themselves. That often was done by Wall Street firms that would buy the mortgages and create CMOs and their derivatives, which have proven to be a form of high-explosive.
See, here's the problem...the Fed *knows* that the entire Secondary market is illiquid. It's a complete credit crunch; dead.
...yet the Fed's job is to *provide* emergency liquidity to keep such a credit crunch from reoccuring.
Well, where is Bernanke?!
The secondary market is frozen but it isn’t illiquid. It’s more like a buyers’ strike. The large investors who have been buying this paper are refusing to buy more. Until they are satisfied that ‘A’ paper is accurately rated it is going to be very difficult to find buyers for American mortgage paper.
You need to calm down and establish facts before making claims.
Don’t be patronizing.
Did you miss the quote from the article for this thread that said the secondary market is frozen?
If you disagree with this fact, then show a reason why.
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