Washington D.C. joins Countrywide settlement

NEW YORK, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The District of Columbia said on Tuesday it had joined a multi-jurisdiction settlement with Countrywide Financial Corp to resolve claims that the company had engaged in unfair and deceptive mortgage lending practices.

Countrywide, now part of Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), agreed with several state attorneys general last October to modify $8.4 billion of loans made to about 400,000 borrowers.

Peter Nickles, the District of Columbia's attorney general, said the settlement meant that Countrywide would not pursue foreclosures against borrowers who may be eligible for loan modifications until the company had decided whether the borrowers were interested in receiving help and qualify.

Bank of America bought Countrywide in July 2008, and faces many lawsuits over that company's lending practices.

In August, a Manhattan federal judge rejected Countrywide's claim that a lawsuit by investors seeking to force it to buy back mortgages should be heard in federal court, and sent the case to a New York state court.

Countrywide had argued that new federal laws to encourage loan modifications had negated obligations it might have had to buy back modified loans.

In June, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against three top former Countrywide executives, including former Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo, for defrauding investors by hiding information about the company's risks.

Mozilo and the other executives, former Chief Operating Officer David Sambol and former Chief Financial Officer Eric Sieracki, filed motions last month to dismiss the SEC case, court records show.

The SEC case is SEC v. Mozilo, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles), No. 09-3994. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Ted Kerr)