Factbox: Countrywide's subprime lending

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Angelo Mozilo, the former head of Countrywide Financial Corp, and two former executives from the company on Friday agreed to a settlement of charges of duping investors.

Following are some key facts about Countrywide's involvement in the subprime lending crisis:

* Once the largest U.S. mortgage lender, Countrywide and its long-time chief executive Mozilo became synonymous with risky lending practices.

* Countrywide extended no down payment, adjustable rate mortgages and interest-only loans to lenders. The loans often appealed to borrowers who would otherwise be unable to obtain a traditional mortgage, but the amount they owed each month often ballooned beyond their ability to pay.

* Countrywide grew exponentially through the years until it became the largest U.S. mortgage lender by writing up riskier and riskier loans. By September 2006, Countrywide estimated that it had a 15.7 percent share of the market, up from 11.4 percent at the end of 2003.

* As the mortgage crisis spread in 2007 and early 2008, Countrywide acknowledged about one in 11 borrowers overall and more than one in three subprime borrowers had fallen behind on home loan payments.

* Bank of America Corp acquired Countrywide in 2008 for $2.5 billion, less than a tenth of what it had been worth in early 2007. The all-stock deal was originally worth $4.1 billion, but the price fell as Bank of America's stock went down.

* Bank of America later dropped the Countrywide name from its mortgage operations, shedding a 40-year-old brand.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Richard Chang)