Countrywide debt downgraded to “junk” status

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News item from Bloomberg News: ‘Countrywide Financial Corp.’s credit rating was cut below investment-grade status by Standard & Poor’s Corp.’

That would be junk to you and me.

More: ‘The revision reflects ‘the new level of uncertainty as to the ultimate legal status of Countrywide’s creditors’ after the lender’s sale to Bank of America Corp., Standard & Poor’s said in a release today.

The revision also reflects this piece of news today, also from Bloomberg: ‘Bank of America, the second- biggest U.S. bank, said it may not guarantee $38.1 billion of Countrywide Financial’s debt after taking over the mortgage lender, increasing the likelihood of a default. ‘There is no assurance that any such debt would be redeemed, assumed or guaranteed,’ the bank said in an April 30 regulatory filing...’

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