Countrywide Donates to Dollar Wi$e Campaign

Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif., has announced the donation of $1 million over the next five years to the U.S. Conference of Mayors' National Dollar Wi$e Financial Literacy Campaign.The campaign, launched in 2004 by the Conference's Council on the New American City, encourages the development of local efforts to educate citizens about personal financial issues. The funds will be used to support the national Dollar Wi$e campaign and to create a program that will provide Capacity Grants to participants seeking to expand their Dollar Wi$e financial education programs, the company said. "High-quality financial literacy training is critical if we are to establish a new generation of educated consumers, who are not only able to secure a home, but who have the necessary financial management skills to retain it," said Countrywide's president and chief operating officer, Stanford L. Kurland. "In this way, programs like Dollar Wi$e benefit consumers by helping them become and remain homeowners, and the mortgage industry, as well, by helping to lower costs for originations and servicing." Countrywide can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.