Countrywide Exits Georgia Market

Countrywide Financial Corp. has stopped financing sub-prime loans in Georgia, joining 40 other lenders that have pulled out of that state in response to its new predatory lending laws.

The Calabasas-based mortgage lender and others say the Georgia laws have made it impossible to sell sub-prime loans to investors. Sub-prime loans are high-interest-rate mortgages made primarily to borrowers with poor credit.

Company executives said there were no plans to pull out of other markets. California’s new predatory lending law went into effect last year but, unlike the Georgia law, does not hold investors liable for violations.