Biggest Mortgage Lenders in Q3Chase$22.0$17.6$41.1Chase $932.8

Residential lenders lifted loan originations in the third quarter from the prior period but fell short of their year-earlier levels. There was a new No. 4 lender and No. 4 servicer.

Mortgage bankers originated an estimated $320 billion in mortgages during the period that started on July 1 and ended on Sept. 30.

Home lending activity increased from an estimated $300 billion in mortgage production generated during the second quarter.

During the first nine months of 2014, national production amounted to an estimated $890 billion.

Wells Fargo & Co. solidly remained the biggest lender in the country with $48 billion in third-quarter 2014 originations.

Also holding on to its prior-quarter ranking was No. 2 JPMorgan Chase & Co. with $22 billion in volume.

At $16.1 billion in third-quarter production, Quicken Loans Inc. overtook Bank of America Corp. as the third-biggest lender.

The data were collected by Mortgage Daily for its Third Quarter 2014 Mortgage Origination Survey.

Among lenders that generated at least $1 billion in third-quarter production, Navy Federal Credit Union saw the biggest increase in originations from the second quarter: 33 percent.

At the other end of the spectrum was Nationstar Mortgage LLC, where activity was down 7 percent.

Mortgage Daily data indicate that total U.S. originations fell 31 percent from the third-quarter 2013.

However, business skyrocketed 148 percent at Freedom Mortgage — the best year-over-year performance.

Fifth Third Bancorp, on the other hand, saw originations plummet by 56 percent — the biggest decline from a year earlier.

Fannie Mae estimates that there were $9.849 trillion in total mortgages outstanding as of the third quarter.

Servicing $1.772 trillion of U.S. outstandings was Wells Fargo — the biggest servicer in the country.

The only change in position among the 10 largest servicers was Nationstar, which displaced Ocwen Financial Corp. as the fourth-biggest servicer.