More troubles

Countrywide Financial Corp. said that its September mortgage lending fell 44 percent from the same period a year earlier as decreased demand, tightened underwriting standards and surging delinquencies pushed activity down. The firm's mortgage loan funding for the month totaled $21 billion and delinquencies rose to 5.9 percent--up from 4 percent.
Funding for adjustable-rate mortgages also slid 76 percent and nonprime loan funding tumbled 92 percent as the lender continues to cut back on riskier loans. Separately, Richard Moore, the North Carolina state treasurer, formally asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the timing of stock sales made by Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide's chief executive. Moore, the trustee of a state pension fund that holds more than $10 million in the Calabasas-based lender's stock, said he was "shocked" to learn that Mozilo "apparently manipulated his trading plans to cash in" as the subprime crisis was healing up.