FACTBOX: U.S. mortgage lenders
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage lenders are suffering from rising default rates amid weak housing prices and slower sales in the housing market.
Subprime lenders, which serve borrowers with poor credit histories, have been hard hit. Many lenders lowered their underwriting standards too far, and as a result more than two dozen quit or sold their businesses, or went bankrupt.
Shares of major U.S. mortgage lenders have fallen by about 20 percent to upward of 90 percent since early February. The following is recent news involving selected lenders. For more stories, please click on
ACCREDITED HOME LENDERS HOLDING CO.
-- Delayed filing its annual report, saying it may need to write off some goodwill it acquired when it bought rival Aames Investment Corp. last year.
-- Subprime mortgage lender
Headquarters: San Diego
AMERIQUEST MORTGAGE CO.
-- ACC Capital, Ameriquest's parent, obtained working capital from Citigroup Inc. and gave the bank an option to buy its wholesale mortgage origination and servicing units.
-- Subprime mortgage lender
Headquarters: Orange, California
COUNTRYWIDE FINANCIAL CORP.
-- Said nearly one in five borrowers on nonprime loans it services were delinquent in the fourth quarter.
-- Tightened underwriting standards.
-- Largest mortgage lender, fourth-largest subprime lender
Headquarters: Calabasas, California
FREMONT GENERAL CORP.
-- Hired Credit Suisse to help sell its Fremont Investment & Loan subprime unit.
-- Stopped making residential mortgage loans and put many of its 2,400 residential mortgage employees on paid leave.
-- Agreed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on a cease-and-desist order to prevent risky lending practices.
-- Second-largest independent subprime lender
Headquarters: Santa Monica, California
H&R BLOCK INC.
-- Trying to sell its Option One subprime lending unit.
Headquarters: Kansas City, Missouri
HSBC HOLDINGS PLC
-- Said subprime weakness helped push North American bad debts up 38 percent last year to $6.8 billion.
-- Europe's largest bank, acquired Household International Inc. in 2003 and renamed it HSBC Finance.
Headquarters: London
IMPAC MORTGAGE HOLDINGS INC.
-- Delayed filing its annual report, citing a "material weakness" in its financial disclosure controls.
-- Restating amounts in 2004, 2005 cash flow statements.
-- Specializes in "Alt-A" lending, or loans to borrowers who lack documentation for prime loans.
Headquarters: Irvine, California
INDYMAC BANCORP INC.
-- Projected 2007 profit below 2006 level, citing shrinking margins.
-- Specializes in "Alt-A" lending, or loans to borrowers who lack documentation for prime loans.
Headquarters: Pasadena, California
NEW CENTURY FINANCIAL CORP.
-- Said doesn't have enough cash to pay its lenders, and faces possible defaults, fueling bankruptcy concerns.
-- Said being probed by the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California over trading in its securities and accounting errors, and being examined by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and NYSE Regulation
-- Restating results for first three quarters of 2006, and expects full-year pre-tax loss.
-- Trading in shares halted, and New York Stock Exchange may move to delist its shares, a source close to matter said.
-- Largest independent subprime lender
Headquarters: Irvine, California
NOVASTAR FINANCIAL INC.
-- Said may generate no taxable income from 2007 to 2011 and may drop its real estate investment trust status in 2008.
Headquarters: Kansas City, Missouri
WMC MORTGAGE CORP.
-- Said lays off 460 people, or 20 percent of its work force.
-- Stopped making no-down-payment loans.
-- Subprime lending unit of General Electric Co.
Headquarters: Burbank, California
MORTGAGE LENDERS NETWORK USA INC., OWNIT MORTGAGE SOLUTIONS
INC., RESMAE MORTGAGE CORP.
-- Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
