Wachovia unit halts Alt-A home loans

NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Wachovia Corp. (WB.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the fourth-largest U.S. bank, on Friday said its Vertice lending unit has temporarily stopped making "Alt-A" home loans, a day after the company stopped making such loans through brokers. Vertice was a brand created in March for the combined entities of American Mortgage Network and Wachovia Mortgage Third Party Lending. A spokesman said Vertice will monitor market conditions and reintroduce products as conditions become more favorable.

Wachovia stopped making Alt-A loans through all brokers on Thursday, the spokesman said. Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has said it is also curtailing such loans.

Alt-A loans, short for "Alternative-A," fall between prime and subprime in quality. Investors have shied away from the loans on concern about rising defaults, and that credit issues affecting riskier "subprime" loans would spread to higher-quality loans.

((Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, Editing by Mark Porter; Reuters Messaging: jon.stempel.reuters.com@reuters.net, 646 223 6317)) Keywords: WACHOVIA LOANS/

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