NEW YORK, NY November 15, 2007 —The national mortgage lender Countywide Financial has agreed to renegotiate loans for one-thousand at-risk borrowers in the metropolitan New York area.

REPORTER: The move was prompted by state senator Jeffrey Klein, who represents parts of Bronx and Westchester counties. He says he hopes that other lenders will follow suit.

KLEIN: I think they're all going to realize, not only for their only profit margin, but for the stability of our real estate market and the stability of our neighborhoods, it just makes sense to try to keep people in their homes by refinancing or reconfiguring their mortgages.

REPORTER: Countrywide identified homeowners who are 60 days in default on their loan payments, and the senator's office is sending them letters to contact the mortgage lender to negotiate loan terms that they can better afford. Third quarter foreclosures were up 64 percent in the city, from the same period year ago.