Countrywide Loss Widens on Delinquencies

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Countrywide Financial Corp. posted a first-quarter loss Tuesday due to $3 billion in credit-related charges and rising mortgage delinquencies.


The mortgage lender reported a loss of $893 million (-$1.60 per share), compared with a profit of $434 million (72 cents) the same period a year earlier. Wall Street was expecting a profit of 2 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial.


Revenue for the Calabasas-based lender dropped 72 percent to $679 million, also missing analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion.


Countrywide said it set aside $1.5 billion to cover loan losses as charge-offs loans written off as not being repaid — totaled $606 million during the first quarter.


Delinquency rates rose across the board for all loans when compared to the fourth quarter and prior year. Countrywide said 36 percent of subprime loans were delinquent as of March 31, up from 34 percent in the fourth quarter. The delinquency rate of conventional loans rose to 6.5 percent from 5.7 percent.


In January, Countrywide agreed to sell itself to Bank of America for about $4 billion in stock.


Shares in Countrywide were up one cent to $5.84 in early trading Tuesday.

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