Countrywide lays off loan originators

CALABASAS, Calif., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Countrywide Financial Corp., the No. 1 U.S. mortgage lender, has begun laying off employees involved in originating loans, a published report said Monday.

The layoffs occurred in the company's Full Spectrum Lending unit, which handles home mortgages between prime and subprime that often involve borrowers who don't document their income, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A Countrywide e-mail, sent to employees by a senior Full Spectrum official Friday, did not say how many employees were let go, the Journal said.

Full Spectrum had a sales force of about 6,800 out of a total Countrywide loan-origination sales force of about 18,000 as of June 30, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing said.

Countrywide as a whole employs about 61,000 people, the Journal said.

A company representative had no immediate comment on the layoffs.

Countrywide, of Calabasas, Calif., said Thursday it had borrowed $11.5 billion under a line of credit from 40 banks so it could keep making home loans.