It takes money to make money

Countrywide Financial Corp.'s plan to sail the stormy seas of the mortgage lending liquidity crisis can be summed up as follows: move all of its mortgage lending over from Countrywide Home Loans Inc. to Countrywide Bank by the end of September.

Countrywide Bank can tap into the Federal Home Loan Bank system to fund mortgage loans, and it can also make more mortgage loans by boosting its customers' deposits.

So it's no surprise that according to Bankrate.com, Countrywide Bank is advertising the best rate around on 12-month CDs -- 5.65 APY -- although you have to plunk down a hefty $10,000 to get that rate.

The challenge may be to bring in more new customers than the bank loses because of fears about the parent company's long term health. Countrywide Bank says its well capitalized with $107 billion in assets and that deposits are FDIC insured. But that didn't stop a mini-run on the bank last as reports of problems in mortgage lending dominated the news.

All rights reserved. This content may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News. Use of this content without permission is a violation of federal copyright law.