Bloomberg.com: U.S.

Bloomberg.com: U.S.: "Countrywide Taps $11.5 Billion Credit Line From Banks (Update3) By Bradley Keoun Enlarge Image A Countrywide home loan branch Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, tapped an entire $11.5 billion bank line as the global credit crunch curbed access to short-term financing. Countrywide turned to the backup loan, which it said was provided by a group of 40 banks, a day after Merrill Lynch & Co. raised the prospect of bankruptcy for the Calabasas, California- based lender. Australia's Rams Home Loans Group Ltd. and Canada's Coventree Inc. also sought emergency funding today. ``When a company draws on its bank lines, it just basically gives off the impression that it has run out of options,'' said Christopher Wolfe, managing director at Fitch Ratings, which today dropped Countrywide to BBB+, its third-lowest investment- grade rating. ``Typically these bank lines are there but not really meant to be used.'' The U.S. housing slump forced rival lenders New Century Financial Corp. and American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. to file for bankruptcy protection earlier this year. They joined about 70 companies with links to the mortgage market that have had to close or put themselves up for sale since the start of last year. U.S. homebuilders started work on the fewest houses in a decade in July, the Commerce "