COUNTRYWIDE REACHES OUT TO ITS BORROWERS.

Countrywide said Tuesday it will begin calling borrowers to offer refinancing or modifications on $16 billion in loans whose interest rate is set to adjust by the end of 2008.
Countrywide has been under pressure since early July -- it has had difficulties with loan financing, its had to tap its lines of credit, and lay off 1000s of jobs.
Countrywide plans to contact borrowers of some $2.2 billion who are late on their loans and having trouble paying as a result of their Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) adjusting. So far this year, Countrywide has completed about 20,000 loan modifications -- a figure that represents less than 5 percent of the more than 500,000 loans the lender reports were behind in payments as of last month. The figure amounts to about 24 percent of the roughly 82,000 loans the company said were in foreclosure as of September. Still, the company notes that its efforts to help troubled borrowers through refinancing, loan modification, repayment plans and other loan workouts, have kept some 40,000 borrowers from losing their homes.
Under the initiative announced Tuesday, Countrywide plans to offer an estimated 52,000 borrowers with subprime loans refinancing into prime rate loans or federal assistance mortgage loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.
The company estimates some 10,000 borrowers with subprime loans who are now behind on their payments due to their mortgage interest rate resetting will be offered rate reductions by the end of the year. If your Adjustable Rate Mortgage is getting ready to adjust, contact your local lender, and know your new payment schedule.