Foreclosures up 93% from same period last year

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Countrywide cuts 500 mortgage jobs.

Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, said Monday it has eliminated about 500 jobs as it tries to ride out problems from a credit crunch that has rocked the home loan industry.

...The Calabasas-based company also tried to reassure its banking customers that their money was safe. Countrywide ran full-page ads in U.S. newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and Detroit Free Press, in which it asserted "the future is bright" at Countrywide Bank FSB.

...Countrywide said last Thursday it had borrowed $11.5 billion so it could keep making home loans.

U.S. foreclosures rise sharply in July.

Foreclosure filings rose 9 percent from June to July and surged 93 percent over the same period last year, with Nevada, Georgia and Michigan accounting for the highest foreclosure rates nationwide, a research firm said Tuesday.

...The figures are the latest measure of the ailing housing market, which has seen defaults and foreclosures soar as financially strapped borrowers have failed to make payments or find buyers.

In all, 179,599 foreclosure filings were reported during July, up from 92,845 in the year-ago month, according to Irvine-based RealtyTrac Inc.

If you're in California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio or Georgia, keep those blinders on -- those states account for over 50% of the foreclosure filings.