Country wide takes 51.1 Billion cash advance.

[scaredneko]

In Sept on top of another 2 Billion from BoA in August and looks to file Bankruptcy it seems. Doubt they will have to wait six months plus. and I wonder if citi will be laying off the telemarketrs in there debt dept as part of the 45,000 jobs to go poof.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Dispatch/071126markets.aspx

I dont feel so bad about my 93k anymore.

[treehugger1]

It appears Citi Financial (subsidiary) is taking a beating. They provided high-risk unsecured loans to just about anyone, including me! I wonder how many of their 2 - 3 person offices they'll keep open around the country. They are one of the few unsecured lenders who refused to work with me.

I also have a Citi CC, but they at least are workign with me for 12 months at 0%.

I'll be intrested in seeing what Citi Financial's next moves will be to at least attempt to get their principle.

Things are going to get quite interesting.

[SinkingFast]

Copied here in case the link does not work in the future.

From MSN Money

Market Dispatches11/26/2007 7:25 PM ET

Concern that Countrywide Financial's troubles may worsen batters financial stocks and drags the market lower. Early reports suggest decent weekend sales for retailers. Crude oil slips on reports of increased OPEC production.

Stocks slumped sharply this afternoon after investors began to see a bankruptcy filing by mortgage lender Countrywide Financial (CFC, news, msgs) as a real possibility.

At the close, the Dow Jones industrials had fallen more than 237 points, or 1.8%, to 12,743. The Nasdaq Composite Index was off 56 points, or 2.1%, to 2,541, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slumped 33 points, or 2.3%, to 1,407.

The classic definition of a market correction is a 10% decline. The Dow and S&P 500 are down 10.1% from their Oct. 9 all-time closing highs, and the Dow has fallen 200 points or more on six occasions this month alone. The S&P 500 is again negative for the year with a 0.8% loss. It was briefly negative last week.

The Nasdaq, meanwhile, has fallen 11.1% from its Oct. 31 close, which had been a six-year high.

Only two of the 30 Dow stocks finished with gains today -- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, news, msgs), up 0.7% to $67.37, and Boeing (BA, news, msgs), up 0.4% to $89.93.

Only 48 S&P 500 stocks had gains, along with 11 Nasdaq-100 stocks ($NDX.X) stocks, led by Garmin (GRMN, news, msgs), a maker of global positioning systems for consumers, up 5.3% to $96.71.

Market technicians who watch charts will tell you a market bottom is near. An S&P level of roughly 1,370 appears to be a major support point.

But the market faces more headwinds this week with reports on existing- and new-home sales on Wednesday and Thursday; the Federal Reserve's beige book report on Wednesday; a preliminary estimate from the government of third-quarter economic growth on Wednesday; and a government report due Friday on personal income and spending for October.

A number of retailers will report third-quarter earnings as well, including Staples (SPLS, news, msgs) and Talbots (TLB, news, msgs), both on Tuesday, and Sears Holdings (SHLD, news, msgs) on Thursday.
Countrywide and Schumer's letter
The concern over Countrywide, whose shares were down 10.5% to $8.64 this afternoon, erupted when Sen. Charles Schumer wrote the Federal Housing Financial Board, which regulates the nation's savings and loans, to question billions of dollars of credit extended to Countrywide by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta.

"I am concerned that the loans being pledged by Countrywide to secure these advances may pose a risk to the safety and soundness of the FHLB system as a whole," the New York Democrat's letter said.

The Atlanta Federal Home Loan Bank made $51.1 billion in advances to Countrywide Bank, representing 37% of the bank's total outstanding advances as of Sept. 30. That far exceeded advances made to the next largest borrower, wrote the senator, a member of the Senate Banking Committee.

If the credit is pulled from Countrywide, the company would have little choice but to seek bankruptcy protection, analysts said. It could affect Bank of America (BAC, news, msgs), which invested $2 billion into Countrywide in August. Bank of America was down 2.9% to $41.88 on the day.

The worries about financial stocks sent many investors scurrying to the safety of Treasury securities. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.84% from 4.01% on Friday, its lowest level since Sept. 1, 2005.

Countrywide wasn't the only problem facing financial stocks. In fact, its loss was just the third-worst among S&P 500 stocks after CIT Financial (CIT, news, msgs), down 17% to $23.74, and E*Trade Financial (ETFC, news, msgs), down 14% to $4.60.

All stocks in the financial sector have been reeling since the subprime-mortgage crisis erupted last summer, and banks and other financial institutions have been struggling to understand their exposure to the problem.

Citigroup (C, news, msgs) closed down 3.1% to $30.70. Its low of $29.75 was its lowest level since October 2002. CNBC's Charles Gasparino reported that the banking giant may lay off as many as 45,000 workers because of the subprime-mortgage crisis. In after-hours trading, the shares were down an additional 3% to $29.79.

Freddie Mac (FRE, news, msgs) and Fannie Mae (FNM, news, msgs), the nation's largest suppliers of mortgage capital, were down more than 7.4% to $24.50 and 10.2% to $28.92, respectively. Freddie Mac announced a huge loss last week because of subprime problems.

The Federal Reserve today announced it would add cash reserves to the banking system for long-term periods spanning the end of the year, a step aimed at keeping its key overnight lending rate between banks, the federal funds rate, in line with the central bank's 4.5% target.

Excerpts about oil prices were edited out.

The rate exceeded the target seven of the past eight days, a sign banks are reluctant to lend.

HSBC to bail out two investment vehicles
British banking giant HSBC (HBC, news, msgs) said this morning that it will provide up to $35 billion in funding to support two of its structured investment vehicles (SIVs). HSBC is also moving those SIVs, Cullinan Finance and Asscher Finance, to its balance sheet, to prevent a forced liquidation of their assets. HSBC said that its earnings wouldn't be materially impacted.

SIVs use short-term funding from the asset-backed commercial paper market to finance higher-yielding and longer-term debt securities, like mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations.

HSBC's plan is different from the "superfund" that Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase (JPM, news, msgs) and Bank of America are creating; rather than simply change the accounting of those assets, that fund will buy SIV assets in order to help stabilize the financial sector.

HSBC shares were down 2.6% to $82.54 this afternoon.

Meanwhile, Bank of America is taking the lead on persuading smaller banks and companies to participate in the funding of the $80 billion super-SIV, Bloomberg News reported. Bank of America will kick off what's being called the super-SIV campaign this week, with Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase in supporting roles, Bloomberg reported.
Subprime mess to get worse . . .
As bad as the subprime-mortgage mess was in 2007, it may well get worse next year.

Billions of dollars in subprime mortgages -- loans made to high-risk borrowers -- are resetting this quarter and in the first quarter of 2008, The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend, citing statistics from Banc of America Securities unit.

Interest rates on $362 billion of adjustable-rate subprime mortgages (often called ARMs) will reset next year, which could cause more delinquencies and defaults, the paper reported.

An additional $152 billion of other adjustable-rate loans are also scheduled to reset next year, The Journal added, including Alt-A loans, a category between subprime and prime mortgages.
. . . But Citigroup says the economy won't collapse
Despite the grim outlook for the subprime and housing markets, Citigroup's Economic and Market Analysis group said things will be OK next year.

"The current stresses from the U.S. housing sector, high oil prices, a weak U.S. dollar and the recent financial turmoil will not overwhelm the global economy," said Lewis Alexander, the bank's chief economist and head of its Economic and Market Analysis group, in a statement.

Economic data point to "moderation of growth, not a collapse," the group said, but "the level of uncertainty" remains high. Home prices are expected to fall through 2008, with energy and credit costs rising, Citigroup said. The Federal Reserve will continue to cut rates at coming Federal Open Market Committee meetings, the analysts said. The federal funds rate, now 4.5%, will be cut by a total of one percentage point. The FOMC holds its last meeting of the year on Dec. 11.

Citigroup also said that the Fed will lower the federal funds rate by another percentage point.

[treehugger1]

In the meantime, another big financial house is willing to "loan" Citi some money to help them out. Where, oh where, does all of this debt service end? LMAO

[BassBoy]

I'm LMAO! I hope Countrywide falls flat, hits rock bottom and ceases to EVER EXIST!

[danaf]

It's like - the Perfect Storm!

[DebtSlave]

Countrywide is still advertising on TV

[halloweendmb1]

and all over the internet

[NotFun]

Yes Countrywide is alive, but they have closed nearly half of their home loan centers and half of their processing centers.

What they need to do is open more collections centers and try and get back all the money they are loosing.

I work for lenders and it boils down to them being way to greedy the last several years.