Countrywide Lending, Hiring Jump

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Countrywide Financial Corp. added some 1,300 jobs and made 15 percent more home loans in May as refinancing increased but its foreclosure rate doubled.


The Calabasas-based lender said that mortgage lending totaled $44 billion for the month, up from $38 billion from the same period a year earlier. New home loans edged up 2 percent to $18 billion, while refinancings increased 26 percent to $26 billion.


The nation’s largest mortgage lender said it ended May with nearly $70 billion of loans in its pipeline, the most in nearly two years. However, nonprime lending, which includes subprime and Alt-A loans, dipped 43 percent to $2.2 billion.


Also, pending foreclosures as a percentage of unpaid principal balances rose to 0.90 percent from 0.45 percent from the same period a year earlier. And foreclosures based on the number of loans serviced rose to 0.71 percent from 0.47 percent. Delinquencies also rose to 4.7 percent from April’s 4.5 percent mark.

Countrywide said earlier this year that it plans to add market share as the U.S. housing slowdown and rising defaults cause weaker rivals to fold or reduce risk. It has boosted staffing 8 percent this year, including adding 1,329 jobs in May, giving it nearly 60,000 employees.


Shares in Countrywide rose 69 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $37.53 Tuesday in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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