Okay, I *think* I might be able to answer this one (sorta). We're using CountryWide for our home loan (though they're on shaky ground -- we might end up going with Quicken - I dunno).
CountryWide Home Loans is a subsidy (or whatever you call it) of Countrywide Financial Services. They ARE a bank -- they offer savings, checking, the whole nine yards (homeowner's insurance, too). According to several sites I found (when DH said "We're using these guys" I did oodles of research), while they have been bought out by BoA, they're still operating under their own steam. CountryWide will stay branded as CW.
In fact, it's scuttlebutt that if any employees have been shown the door, its been BoA employees, not original CW employees.
How all that pans out, I dunno. Frankly, I like BoA and the fact that they bought out CW was the only reason DH hasn't been sleeping on the couch. I'm also hoping that once 2010 rolls around (when BoA is "expected" to really have a hand in CW's daily ops), it'll put us in the catbird's seat vis a vis CCs and such.
