Countrywide Reports Loss

Countrywide Financial, the mortgage lender that Bank of America plans to buy,

reported a third straight quarterly loss as late payments and home foreclosures escalated.

The net loss was $893 million vs a profit of $434 million a year earlier.

Provisions for credit losses were $1.5 billion in the first quarter, compared with $925 million in the preceding quarter and $158 million in the year-earlier period.

Paul Miller, an analyst at Friedman Billings Ramsey:

"The problem with Countrywide is that it comes with this portfolio that was not underwritten correctly and is very sloppy."

About 43% of Countrywide's $87 billion loan portfolio is in California, followed by 7% in Florida.

According to OFHEO, California had the nation's sharpest price decline in Q4, 6.6%, Nevada dropped 5.9% and Florida slid 4.7%.

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