Quarterly home-loan fundings jumped 18 percent at USÂ Bancorp and were up more than three quarters from a year earlier. While earnings were weaker, residential and commercial delinquency showed an improvement.
Mortgage production jumped to $19.6 billion in the fourth quarter from the third quarter’s $16.6 billion, according to earnings data released Wednesday. Originations were much better than $11.1 billion during the same period the previous year.
(After this story was published, a U.S. Bancorp spokeswoman confirmed that production during the fourth-quarter 2010 was the highest on record.)
The financial services company originated $4 million in subprime residential loans, the same as the quarter before.
Home-loan fundings for all of 2010 were $55.8 billion — squeaking out a gain from $55.6 billion a year earlier.
Overall fourth-quarter lending of $65.6 billion included $16.0 billion in new commercial and commercial real estate commitments and $21.5 billion in commercial and commercial real estate commitment renewals.
At the end of last year, the portfolio of mortgages serviced for others climbed to $173.9 billion from $165.9 billion at the end of September. The third-party servicing portfolio was $150.8 billion at the end of 2009.
The Minneapolis-based firm’s own residential loan holdings were $30.7 billion, higher than the previous quarter’s $28.6 billion and higher than $26.1 billion at the end of the fourth-quarter 2009.
Fourth-quarter holdings included $6.4 billion in home-equity loans, more than $5.8 billion as of Sept. 30. HEL holdings were also higher than $5.5 billion a year earlier.
Additional holdings included retail home-equity and second mortgages of $18.9 billion, lower than $19.2 billion three months prior and $19.4 billion 12 months prior.
US Bancorp said residential 30-day delinquency, including nonperforming loans, was 5.18 percent as of Dec. 31, better than 5.55 percent on Sept. 30 and a big improvement from 6.95 percent at the close of 2009.
HEL delinquency climbed to 1.90 percent from the third-quarter rate of 1.84 percent. HELÂ lates were also worse than a year prior’s 1.88 percent.
Fourth-quarter repurchase payments were $69 million, higher than the third quarter’s $53 million. Repurchase losses realized rose to $27 million from $24 million, while the reserve was raised to $180 million from $147 million.
Commercial mortgage assets inched up to $34.7 billion from $34.1 billion at the end of the prior year.
The 90-day default rate on commercial real estate loans also improved. CRE delinquency fell to 3.73 percent from 4.20 percent at the end of the third quarter and 5.22 percent on Dec. 31, 2009.
Income before taxes was $695 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, less than the $746 million earned in the third quarter and $805 million earned in the final quarter of 2009.
US Bank operated 3,031 branches as of yearend, up from 3,002 at the end of 2009.
