Countrywide Financial (NYSE:CFC) announced recently (unbeknownst to me until today) that they will no longer provide press releases detailing their monthly operational status as they had been doing for many years.Instead we will only get a quarterly peer the “mess that Mozilo built” which is certainly a loss for those looking to gain a serious understanding of how bad the state of the mortgage industry is but I suppose a bit of a gain for Countrywide.
One has to wonder how much credibility is due a company (or its bank suitor) that proudly reports its operational results when times are good but then works to prevent transparency when business goes south.
By making such a weak and cowardly decision, the management of Countrywide Financial and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) are clearly demonstrating that conditions are deteriorating fast and likely far worse than had been originally reported leaving them to attempt “damage control” rather than present the reality.
Not to fret though as in the interim month’s Ill attempt to estimate their monthly foreclosure and delinquency rate based on the existing growth rate and seasonal trend as well as the strong correlation of Fannie Mae monthly operational results.
Check back as Ill have an “estimation” post prepared soon.
