Two States Start Countrywide Investigations

The state attorneys general in California and Illinois started investigations into the lending practices of Countrywide Financial. The Calabasas-based mortgage company confirmed receiving subpoenas for documents from California and Illinois but did not elaborate, the Los Angeles Times reported. A spokesman for California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown has stated he is taking a broad look into the lending practices of mortgage bankers and brokers and their role in the mortgage crisis but a spokesman would not comment on the Countrywide investigation, the Times reported. The investigation in Illinois, first reported by the New York Times, came from a probe of broker One Source Mortgage, which the state has charged with giving loans to borrowers who could not afford them, the Times said.