FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                           CONTACT:          Eric Sieracki
                                                                  David Bigelow

                                                                  (818) 225-3550

                        COUNTRYWIDE ANNOUNCES OFFERING OF
                      ZERO COUPON SENIOR CONVERTIBLE NOTES

CALABASAS,  CA  (February  2,  2001)  -  Countrywide  Credit  Industries,   Inc.
(NYSE:CCR)  today  announced  the  offering  of  30-year,   zero  coupon  senior
convertible  notes (the "Notes").  The company expects to receive gross proceeds
of $500 million,  which will be used to pay down debt and for general  corporate
purposes.

The Notes will be  convertible  into shares of  Countrywide  common stock if the
market price of the shares  reaches  specified  thresholds  above the conversion
price. The initial  conversion  premium is 30 percent,  which would result in an
initial  conversion  price of $64.08,  based on  Countrywide's  closing price of
$49.29 on February 1, 2001.  Implicit in the issue price of the Notes is a yield
to maturity of 1.00 percent.

This notice does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer
to buy securities.  Any offers of the securities will be made only by means of a
private  offering  memorandum.  The Notes and the shares of  Countrywide  common
stock issuable upon conversion have not been, and will not be,  registered under
the Securities Act of 1933 or any other  jurisdiction  and may not be offered or
sold in the United States absent  registration  or an applicable  exemption from
registration requirements.

Certain  of  the  information   included  in  this  press  release  may  contain
forward-looking  statements.  These  forward-looking  statements  are subject to
certain  risks and  uncertainties,  which could cause  actual  results to differ
materially  from  historical  results  or those  anticipated  due to a number of
factors  such as the  direction  and level of interest  rates,  competitive  and
general economic conditions in each of our business sectors,  expense management
and other risks  detailed in documents  filed by the company with the Securities
and  Exchange  Commission  from time to time.  Words like  "believe",  "expect",
"should",  "may",  "could",  "anticipated"  and other expressions which indicate
future  events and  trends  identify  forward-looking  statements.  The  company
undertakes  no  obligation  to  publicly  update or revise  any  forward-looking
statements.