Mortgage originations at Ally Financial Inc. were better on a quarterly and annual basis. The company trimmed its repurchase liabilities.
Residential loan production during the last three months of 2010 was $23.2 billion, earnings data released today said. The company closed $3 billion more than it did during the third quarter, while business was $5.6 billion better than in the fourth-quarter 2009.
Included in the latest quarter’s activity were $20.0 billion in prime conforming loans, $0.4 billion in prime non-conforming mortgages and $2.8 billion in government originations.
Full-year fundings were $69.5 billion, higher than 2009 production of $64.7 billion.
The domestic mortgage servicing portfolio finished last year at $355.7 billion, growing from $352.8 billion at the end of the third quarter. The servicing portfolio sat at $349.8 billion at the close of 2009.
“We substantially reduced risk in the mortgage business and are focused on our conforming mortgage origination and servicing platform,” Ally Chief Executive Officer Michael A. Carpenter said in the statement.
GMAC Mortgage has reportedly remediated all but 2,548 of the 25,000 potentially affected affidavits identified as of Sept. 30, 2010. Almost all of the remaining cases await further guidance from the states that require remediation.
“The company has not found any evidence of inappropriate foreclosures in its review process to date related to the affidavit matter,” the report stated.
Repurchase claims outstanding finished last year at $888 million, unchanged from three months earlier. But outstanding claims improved from $919 million at the end of 2009. Mortgage repurchase reserves have fallen to $0.8 billion from $1.3 billion a year prior.
The vintage 2007 accounted for 44 percent of GMAC’s new claims during last year. The share for the 2006 and 2008 vintages were each 22 percent.
Mortgages held-for-investment ended last year at $10.1 billion, a hair below $10.3 billion on Sept. 30 and on Dec. 31, 2009.
Commercial mortgage holdings were $1.8 billion as of Dec. 31.
The New York-based firm earned $123 million from its mortgage operations, less than the $154 million the unit earned in the third quarter. But mortgage operations — which include mortgage activities at ResCap, Ally Bank and ResMor Trust — swung from a $3.4 billion loss reported for the fourth-quarter 2009.
At the parent company, earnings before taxes fell to $533 million from $635 million, though that was an improvement from the $3.5 billion loss a year earlier.
