Delinquencies on subprime home loans that Countrywide Financial owns or services for other investors rose to 19 percent by the end of 2006, up from 15.2 percent at the end of 2005 and 11.3 percent at the end of 2004.
Subprime loans pending foreclosure also rose to 3.53 percent, compared with 2.03 percent at the end of 2005 and 1.74 percent at the close of 2004, Countrywide said in its annual report to investors.
The $116.2 billion in subprime mortgages serviced by Countrywide account for 9 percent of the lender’s $1.28 trillion owned servicing portfolio.
Most of the servicing portfolio — 83 percent, or $1.06 trillion in loans — consists of conventional mortgages. Those loans had a delinquency rate of 2.76 percent at the end of the year, up 16 basis points from the end of 2005. The foreclosure rate for conventional mortgages was up 11 basis points to .31 percent.
The delinquency rate for FHA-insured and VA-guaranteed mortgages at the end of 2006 was down 67 basis points from the previous year, to 13.94 percent, with 1.28 percent of those loans pending foreclosure. Government-backed mortgages in the servicing portfolio totaled $53 billion, or 4 percent of loans.
The percentage of delinquencies among all loans in Countrywide’s servicing portfolio, including $47.6 billion in prime home equity loans, stood at 5.02 percent at year-end, up from 4.61 percent at the end of 2005 and 3.83 percent at the close of 2004. Loans pending foreclosure across all loan types stood at .65 percent at year-end, up from .44 percent at the close of 2005.
In reporting fourth-quarter results in January, Countrywide said $2.06 billion in net earnings from mortgage banking for the year represented a 15 percent decline from 2005 profits. But the company, which employed 54,655 workers at year-end, also has banking and insurance divisions and posted a record profit of $2.67 billion.
