(Adds Bank of America statement)

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI, July 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. state of Florida hopes to negotiate a monetary settlement with Bank of America Corp (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) for what the state calls deceptive lending practices by the bank's newly acquired mortgage unit, Countrywide Financial Corp, the state attorney general said on Tuesday.

"There is technically a deep pocket. They've acquired them, they assume their liabilities," Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum told journalists on a conference call.

Bank of America completed its purchase of Countrywide on Tuesday, a day after Florida filed a civil lawsuit accusing Countrywide of deceptive and predatory lending.

"We are not going to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit, except to say that we are fully cooperating with the office of the Florida Attorney General," Bank of America said in a prepared statement.

The state alleges that Countrywide "carelessly or intentionally" gave subprime mortgage loans to borrowers who could not repay them, loaned money at higher subprime rates to people who qualified for prime rate loans and engaged in other unfair trade practices.

The lawsuit says Countrywide threatened to fire its own underwriters if they tried to verify the ability of borrowers to pay.

"They knew very well that these people couldn't qualify," McCollum said.