Shares in embattled Countrywide Financial Corp. continued to tumble Wednesday after the lender announced its December loan foreclosure rate had doubled from a year ago to nearly 1.5 percent.

The 9 percent fall in share price comes a day after the Calabasas-based lender lost nearly one third of its value on concerns that a cash shortage would force Countrywide into bankruptcy. The company denied it will be forced into bankruptcy.

Countrywide announced Wednesday that it funded $24 billion worth of loans in December, up 1 percent during a traditionally slow month for home sales. Loan fundings totaled $69 billion for the fourth quarter

However, the lender said that December foreclosures doubled to 1.44 percent compared to a year ago and late payments rose to 7.2 percent of unpaid balances, the highest on record.

Subprime volume also shrunk to $6 million, a fraction of the $3.74 billion worth of the riskier loans the company funded last December. Countrywide also said it has cut nearly 11,000 jobs since the end of July, in line with prior estimates.

Shares in Countrywide were off 47 cents to $8.59 in afternoon trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock is now worth just a fraction of its value a year ago when shares hit a 52 week high topping $45 in February.