Countrywide wanted to work with you, or maybe even modify your mortgage? Shaaaaa, you thought. LoLo sends me this story about Countrywide’s legal defense to charges of fraud and misrepresentation:

In marketing, advertising and testimony before Congress, Countrywide Home Loans has said repeatedly that it is working hard to modify the mortgages of financially strapped borrowers caught up in the subprime meltdown. But in a New Hampshire court, attorneys for the lending giant are singing a different tune, describing such assurances as “mere commercial puffery.”

Saying the modification offers are “only Countrywide’s vague advertisements,” attorneys for the lender are asking the court to throw out a lawsuit alleging breach of good faith, fraud, negligence and misrepresentation, which was filed on behalf of a family that was refused a loan modification by the California-based company.

Puffery, for those who don’t commonly blither about marketing, is language so ridiculous that you would have to be at the mental level of a four-year-old to believe it, e.g., like if Citibank took out an ad saying they were the best financial institution ever. So apparently, even though Countrywide continues to say they can help borrowers and is a member of HOPE NOW, anyone who believes it and asks for a modification should probably be expecting a letter in the mail that says “SIKE!!” in big red letters.