COUNTRYWIDE HOME PROGRAM GROWS.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

CALABASAS - Countrywide Home Loans Inc. on Tuesday expanded its effort to increase homeownership of low-income and minority buyers by pledging to fund $600 billion in mortgages to these groups over the next seven years.

It is an extension of the Calabasas-based company's ``One Hundred Billion Dollar Challenge'' initiated two years ago.

At that time the company said it would make $100 billion in home loans to these groups in five years. Countywide reached that goal three years early and exceeded it by $15 billion.

Company Chairman Angelo Mozilo announced the expanded program in a speech Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies and the National Housing Endowment.

``Now, we are committing to an even greater goal, and I wholeheartedly look forward to the day when I can announce that we have funded $600 billion to help lower income and minority home buyers achieve the dream of homeownership,'' he said in his remarks.

A variety of factors, including unprecedented demand for housing and low interest rates, contributed to the borrowing surge.

It is a boost to the overall economy, too, as homeowners build wealth through equity.

This is not new territory for Countrywide. More than a decade ago the company initiated House America, an initiative to provide increased homeownership opportunities for all Americans.

The program included a low down payment home loan that would appeal to lower-income borrowers.

The extension announced Tuesday night is not free money and will include all of Countrywide's mortgage products.

And reaching the goal will only help the company's bottom line.

``They are in the money-making business and they are going to make money off these loans,'' said John Karevoll, an analyst with DataQuick Information Systems. ``It's good for the market and good for Countrywide. It's good for everybody all around.''