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Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Countrywide: Foreclosures, Overdue Loans Rise

by Calculated Risk on 1/09/2008 11:18:00 AM

From Bloomberg: Countrywide Says Foreclosures, Overdue Loans Rise

Foreclosures doubled to 1.44 percent of unpaid principal in December from 0.7 percent a year earlier at the company's unit that handles billing and processing, Countrywide said in a statement today. Late payments advanced to 7.2 percent of unpaid balances from 4.6 percent.
...
``It appears that the housing trends in 2008 will look a lot like 2007, so Countrywide will remain under a lot of stress,'' said Tom Atteberry, a money manager in Los Angeles at First Pacific Advisors LLC, in an interview yesterday. ``What they are left with is a pretty low-margin business.''
...
Mortgages funded rose 1 percent from November, and fell 45 percent from year-earlier levels, according to the Countrywide statement. New loans in December totaled $24 billion.
And a few other tidbits:
Countrywide made $6 million in subprime loans in December, down from $3.7 billion a year earlier ...
From $3.7 billion to $6 million (with an m) - that is quite a decline in subprime loan originations. I wonder why it isn't zero?
Countrywide's bank attracted a net $2.3 billion in deposits in December, ending the year at $61 billion. The bank is boosting interest rates to help attract deposits, while borrowing more than $50 billion from the Federal Home Loan Bank system.
As I noted yesterday, Countrywide is paying 5.45% APY on 6 month CDs. This is attracting deposits, but squeezing their net interest margins (NIMs).