Countrywide Financial Corp. benefited from the second consecutive month of rate increases with loans originating in the month of January up 13 percent, the company reported on Friday.

The company also cut back on risky subprime loans.

New mortgages for the Calabasas-based lender rose to $37.1 billion while refinancings jumped 30 percent to $23.8 billion for the month.

Countrywide said that borrowers holding adjustable-rate loans took out new loans with fixed rates to avoid increases in payments. The swaps helped the nation’s largest lender offset an 8 percent drop in new loans for home purchases.

Countrywide also trimmed its subprime lending to $2.94 billion from $3.04 billion as part of a strategy to pull back from riskiest loans as home prices have shown little or no growth for the past few months.

The percentage of total loans that were past due increased to 4.7 percent from 4.4 percent a year earlier. The percentage of loans with foreclosures pending jumped to 0.69 percent from 0.46 percent.

Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo said in a statement that 2007 is going to be a “tough year” for the industry and also added that those in the real estate market will have to wait for the dust to settle “until we see the light in 2008,” to see if there will be a rebound.

Shares in Countrywide dropped 2.1 percent (95 cents) to $42.64 in midday trading Friday.