The bank is fighting lawsuits and creditproblemsrelated to its ill-fatedacquisition of homemortgagelender CountrywideFinancial Corpthreeyears ago as the U.S.housingbubbleburst.
However, unlike the cowboys employed during the housing boom by men like Angelo Mozilo of CountrywideCredit, Clayton lenders knew that their companies would be holding onto the loans they originated.
And that portfolio, inherited from CountrywideCredit, may still face further loss of value should the price of residential homes continue to soften another 5% to 10%, as many experts feel could happen.
Nothing is more dear to a finance company, especially one with a heavy hand in the subprime market, than its access to credit, something Countrywide Financial and others are finding out all too painfully.