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Countrywide to help 35,000 stay in homes

By Times Wires
Published September 25, 2007

CALABASAS, CALIF.

Countrywide Financial Corp., the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said it is altering the terms for 35,000 home loans this year to avert foreclosures. Changes include repayment plans, postponement of payments, refinancing and modifications that bring loans out of default. The U.S. Treasury Department and Federal Reserve have urged mortgage companies to cut or postpone payments for cash-strapped homeowners. Moody's Investors Service said lenders have eased terms on only about 1 percent of subprime mortgages nationally, according to a survey of mortgage servicers. Late payments on subprime mortgages, made to people with the worst credit, rose to the highest rate in more than five years during the second quarter.

BEIJING

Dell to set up shop in Chinese stores

Dell Inc. announced a deal Monday to launch a retail presence in China by selling computers through the country's biggest chain of electronics stores as it struggles to capture a bigger share of the booming market. The deal extends Dell's strategy of expanding beyond its traditional Internet- and phone-based sales model into retail to cope with competition from Hewlett-Packard Co. and other rivals. Dell also has targeted China with a low-cost PC unveiled in March and aimed at rural customers.

WASHINGTON

T-bill rates fall

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction. The Treasury Department auctioned $16-billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 3.820 percent, down from 4.050 percent last week. An additional $13-billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.000 percent, down from 4.130 percent last week.

[Last modified September 25, 2007, 00:11:59]