Countrywide Losing It’s Umph

Standard & Poor’s Rating Services dropped Countrywide Financial Corp. and Countrywide Home Loans Inc.’s ratings from BBB+/A-2 to BB+/B after BofA’s disclosure that no assurance of Countrywide’s debt will either be redeemed, assumed, or guaranteed. Investment ratings below BBB are deemed “not investment grade.”

As an ex-subprime loan guy, watching Countrywide’s demise has been impressive. But WaMu, who I worked for and who was in the subprime game through its acquisition of Long Beach Mortgage, isn’t doing to well either. It’s going to be a long road ahead for banks who were living it up during the boom times.