SunTrust Delinquency, Originations Improve

In-house retail originations accounted for $6.4 billion of volume — more than doubling from $3.1 billion in the fourth quarter. Wholesale business jumped to $3.6 billion from $2.1 billion, and correspondent activity increased to $3.5 billion from $2.0 billion.

Refinance share shot up to 80 percent in the first quarter from just 43 percent during the prior period.

Originations are headed higher based on new application activity; SunTrust reported $25.6 billion first-quarter applications, surging from $16.8 billion in the fourth quarter.

The mortgage servicing portfolio ended last month at $166.4 billion, climbing from $162.0 billion at the end of December. Included in the portfolio were $131.9 billion in loans serviced for others, up from $130.5 billion.

As of March 31, the company said it owned $32.2 billion in residential mortgages, edging up from $32.1 billion on Dec. 31. Home-equity lines-of-credit on the books were unchanged at $16.5 billion, and construction loans fell to $9.0 billion from $9.9 billion.

First-quarter delinquency of between 30 and 89 days on residential mortgages was 2.79 percent, down from the fourth quarter’s 2.93 percent. HELOC delinquency also declined — to 1.44% from 1.65%.

Commercial mortgage holdings ended the first quarter at $15.1 billion, edging up from $15.0 billion at the end of December.

SunTrust said it had a company-wide loss of $815 million in the first quarter, worsening from a $379 million fourth-quarter loss and a $291 profit in the first quarter 2008.

The bank paid out $66 million in preferred dividends to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for $4.9 billion in investments under the capital purchase program.

SunTrust said it employed the equivalent of 29,279 full-time employees as of the end of March, easing from 29,333 at the end of December. A year prior, headcount stood at 31,745.