Between the end of September and the end of December, MetLife Bank, N.A., expanded its mortgage staff by more than 500 people. The company also expanded its quarterly originations, though the same couldn’t be said for annual activity or for the servicing portfolio.
Residential loans originated from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 totaled 25,234 mortgages for $6.548 billion, according to data provided by the company to Mortgage Daily.
The latest period was an improvement from the third quarter’s 20,326 loans closed for $5.088 billion. But it wasn’t much different than 29,249 loans funded for $6.621 billion in the fourth-quarter 2009.
In addition, MetLife closed 4,423 reverse mortgages for $0.558 billion during the fourth quarter. Reverse production was better than the 3,901 loans for $0.451 billion. But reverse volume was down from 5,112 reverse mortgages closed for $0.807 billion a year earlier.
Full-year production, including reverse mortgages, was $22.1 billion, sinking from $36.8 billion closed during 2009.
The company serviced 611,515 mortgages for $115.9 billion as of Dec. 31. The portfolio declined from 616,694 units for $117.2 billion at the end of September. The servicing portfolio stood at 564,276 loans for $103.4 billion at the end of 2009.
Of the Dec. 31, 2010, total, third-party servicing accounted for 151,911 loans for $28.5 billion.
MetLife’s mortgage operations employed 4,765 people as of the end of 2011, a big leap from 4,183 employees as of Sept. 30, 2011. Headcount was reported at 4,057 as of Dec. 31, 2009.
