Beleaguered mortgage giant Countrywide Financial says it has lined up $12 billion of secured borrowing in a continued effort to shore up a stagnant housing market and an industry-wide credit crunch.

The news drove shares of Countrywide up almost 10 percent in Thursday morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The nation's largest mortgage lender also said in the statement that mortgage loan fundings for the month of August were down 17 percent from the same period last year, to $34 billion in total.

This latest financing move comes on the heels of the decision in early August to borrow $11.5 billion through a line of credit from 40 banks, at a time when rising loan defaults have left mortgage companies on the brink of a financing crisis.

"Looking forward, the company expects that it will be a long-term beneficiary of the current conditions and corrections in the mortgage industry, and we are confident that the actions which we have taken in response to the current environment will position us for profitable future growth and success," said David Sambol, the company's president and chief operating officer.