Countrywide Financial Corp. boosted its borrowing capacity by $12 billion (¤8.63 billion) as the mortgage lender struggles to weather the slowdown in the U.S. housing market, the company said Thursday according to The Associated Press. The move came after the largest U.S. home lender borrowed $11.5 billion (¤8.28 billion) and sold a $2 billion (¤1.44 billion) stake to Bank of America in recent weeks so it could keep operating its retail banking and mortgage businesses. Countrywide said it arranged the $12 billion (¤8.63 billion) in additional borrowing capacity through new or existing credit agreements. Shares of Countrywide rose $2.31, or 14 percent, to $18.93 Thursday. Countrywide also saw a 17 percent drop in its new home loans for August compared with the same period last year. The amount of funding totaled$34 billion (¤24.47 billion). The company processed $2.3 billion (¤1.66 billion) in loan applications a day, marking a decline of 12 percent.
