Countrywide Home Loan Delinquencies Rise
Countrywide Financial Corp.'s shares tumbled for the second day Wednesday after the nation's largest mortgage lender said the delinquency and foreclosure rate of home loans in its portfolio surged in December.
The news drove Countrywide shares down almost 10 percent in midday trading. Shares slipped 54 cents to $4.93.
The drop followed a loss of $2.17, or 28.4 percent, on Tuesday.
The company said some 6.96 percent of the loans in its servicing portfolio were delinquent last month, up from 5.02 percent in December 2006.
About 1.04 percent of the mortgage loans were pending foreclosure, up from 0.65 percent.
Countrywide's loan fundings during the month rose 1 percent from the previous month, ahead of internal forecasts, the company said.
Calabasas, Calif.-based Countrywide said it funded $24 billion in loans in December, giving it a total of $69 billion for the fourth quarter.
Average daily mortgage applications in the month slipped from November, but Countrywide attributed that to a typical seasonal decline.
The company's banking operations had assets of $113 billion at the end of December, up from $83 billion at the end of November.