Countrywide Cuts 900 Jobs

Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif., said late Wednesday that it had laid off 900 workers across the United States, most of whom worked in production-related jobs.Earlier this week MortgageWire reported that the company was contemplating layoffs of between 7,000 and 10,000. Last month Countrywide, the nation's largest lender, cut 500 workers in its subprime division. The company has exited that business for now, concentrating instead on government-sponsored enterprise mortgages and loans insured by Ginnie Mae. Meanwhile, the publicly traded lender has rescheduled its annual Investor Forum from Sept. 5 and 6 to Nov. 12.