Countrywide Lending Dips

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Countrywide Financial Corp. said Friday that overdue loans reached 7.5 percent in January, showing the real estate slump is far from over.


Payments later than 60 days advanced to 7.2 percent of unpaid principal in December, while foreclosures rose to 1.48 percent in January, from 1.44 percent.


Mortgages funded by the Calabasas-based lender declined 6 percent to $22 billion. Also, Countrywide said it made no subprime loans in January, compared with the $2.9 billion it made one year earlier.


Countrywide’s bank ended January with $111 billion in assets, down from $113 billion in December.


Separately, Countrywide said it had provided the requested documents to prosecutors in a case where the lender has been accused of fabricating letters to a Pennsylvania homeowner who filed for bankruptcy.


Sharon Diane Hill, the homeowner, sued the company late last year after being notified that she had defaulted on her loan and faced foreclosure, even though she had brought her payments up to date under a court-approved Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan.


Countrywide faces lawsuits in similar cases in at least three other states.


Shares in the lender were up 4 cents to $6.98 in early trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

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