Reuters reported that Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC), the nation's largest mortgage lender, received $12 billion in secured financing -- prompting the stock to rise 8%.

This reminds me of an old banking adage. If you owe a bank $100,000 and you can't repay the money, it's your problem. But if you owe the bank $50 billion and can't come up with the money, it's the bank's problem. In this case, the bank is the U.S. economy and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson seems to have concluded that the U.S. cannot afford the problem of its biggest mortgage lender failing.

Is there less here than meets the eye? Countrywide stated that the $12 billion comes from new or existing credit lines. A credit line is the the option to borrow -- but it's not clear who the lenders are or the terms under which those credit lines can be drawn down. These questions matter because whoever is doing the lending had better have a clear idea of how they'll get paid back if Countrywide gets into further trouble.

The question for investors is whether the power behind the funding is the U.S. government -- because if it is, Countrywide is getting a stealth government bailout. And that might make Countrywide stock a buy.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Countrywide.

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