U.S. Mortgage Lender Slashes Jobs

The biggest mortgage lender in the United States, Countrywide Financial, says it is making big job cuts. Their Chief Executive said the company, based in California, was being forced to cut up to 12,000 jobs, one-fifth of its staff. He also said the firm had been badly hit by the US house price slump and the increasing number of buyers who are defaulting on mortgage repayments. The firm expects new mortgages to fall by 25% in 2008, compared with 2007.