Countrywide stops no-money-down lending

The mortgage lender tells brokers to end offering the option of no down payment as delinquencies increase.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Countrywide Financial Corp., the largest U.S. mortgage lender, Friday told its brokers to stop offering borrowers the option of a no-money-down home loan, according to a document obtained by Reuters.

Loans financing 100 percent of a home's value are among those leading to a sharp rise in delinquencies at U.S. mortgage lenders. Such mortgages below "prime" quality have resulted in the closure, sale or losses at more than two dozen mortgage lenders, analysts said.

"Please get in any deals over 95 LTV [loan-to-value] today!" Countrywide said late Friday in an urgent e-mail. "Countrywide BC will no longer be offering any 100 LTV products as of Monday, March 12."

Countrywide (Charts), along with lenders ranging from HSBC Holdings Plc (Charts), Europe's biggest bank, to NovaStar Financial Inc. (Charts) to New Century Financial Corp. (Charts) have reported rising delinquencies lately.