I think I was a little too easy on Countrywide Financial yesterday. While I think talk of "predatory lending" is excessive - homeowners have a duty to study the terms of their loans - Countrywide and its mortgage broker confederates used too much trickery for my comfort.

I did a little after-hours research and found a noxious example from my neighborhood. Some details:

The borrowers are an immigrant couple with a limited command of English. They both work and make a decent middle-class income. When they bought their house, Countrywide, via the builder's mortgage division, offered them an adjustable rate mortgage starting at about 7 percent.

But by next year their rate, after a series of mini jumps, will rocket to 14 percent. 

Fourteen percent? We're talking Larry the Loan Shark territory.

The couple didn't know their rate would double. Back in 2006 when they bought the house, they just wanted to close the deal fast and painlessly. If they made a mistake it was their failure to get the important documents translated into their native language.

The punchline of this joke is that Countrywide will never get its 14 percent. The homeowners are upside down on their mortgage and owe $50,000 more than the home's worth in this depressed market. They'll just walk away. And who can blame them?

Don't get me wrong: The bulk of Countrywide's mortgages are legit. But you have to admit that in the tug of war between business ethics and short-term greed, ethics often landed face down in the sand.