Countrywide, The biggest mortgage home lender until very recently is being retired now by Bank of America. This move by Bank of America allows it to put its own stamp on its mortgage operation while getting rid of the tarnished Countrywide name. Countrywide Bank, which was acquired by Bank of America last July, was strongly identified with the collapse of the housing market due to its heavy involvement in subprime mortgage loans.
The newly unveiled Bank of America Home Loans division technically combines both the Countrywide and Bank of America home lending operations, although efforts to fully integrate the two will continue until the end of the year. At the time of the merger last year, Countrywide was the nation's largest home lender and Bank of America was second.
