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| Mortgage originations resumed at Wachovia Corp., which had a loss of more than $40 billion last year.“Loan originations have resumed” at the struggling institution, which was acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. on Dec. 31, 2008, an earnings report released today by Wells said. The statement suggests that originations may have been halted at some point before the acquisition closed.
Wells did not release fourth-quarter or 2008 production numbers for Wachovia. But residential production was $6.9 billion during the third quarter 2008 — the last available data for the Charlotte, N.C.-based company. During all of 2007, originations were $87.4 billion. A Wells spokesman clarified in a statement to MortgageDaily.com that Wachovia’s originations were included in the $50 billion fourth-quarter originations reported by Wells. Wachovia’s application pipeline ended the year at $5 billion, Wells reported. Wachovia’s servicing portfolio was $0.271 trillion as of Dec. 31. Wachovia’s pick-a-payment portfolio ended 2008 at $95.3 billion, while other consumer loan holdings were $151.5 billion. Its core home-equity portfolio ended 2008 at $42.5 billion. Commercial real estate and construction loan holdings were $70 billion on Dec. 31. Wachovia had losses of around $44.5 billion last year — a far cry from the $6.3 billion profit reported for 2007. The loss was $11.0 billion during just the fourth quarter, improving from a $23.7 billion loss in the third quarter. Preferred dividends — likely reflecting costs of the capital purchase program under the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program — were $0.1 billion in the latest quarter. Around 122,100 people were employed at Wachovia on Dec. 31, higher than 117,227 people as of Sept. 30. |
