With nearly a half trillion in mortgage production during 2005, Countrywide Financial Corp. was the biggest residential mortgage lender last year, according to a preliminary analysis of production data from MortgageDaily.com, the dominant online news source for the mortgage industry.

Wells Fargo & Co. placed a distant second with $366 billion reported fundings in 2005. While Washington Mutual has not yet reported fourth quarter production data, the company will likely place third among the nation's biggest originators. (http://www.MortgageDaily.com/Fundings.asp?spcode=pr )

Other big news during January included the closing of a nonprime operation. American Mortgage Network no longer takes applications for subprime loans, according to a company spokeswoman. Market conditions prompted the decision, which will result in 94 layoffs. (http://www.MortgageDaily.com/LayoffsAmnetSubprime011806.asp )

HomeView Lending Inc. has started business as a mortgage wholesale lender. The Calif.-based company will serve the subprime, Alt-A and option ARM markets, the company's founder told MortgageDaily.com. "People are attracted to the energy of a startup," he said.

A jury has hit Ocwen Financial Corp. with an $11.5 million verdict for attempting to force a woman to leave her childhood home. That verdict is the largest loss so far for the servicer of about 350,000 home loans. However, Ocwen has vowed to fight the decision. (http://www.MortgageDaily.com/LawsuitOcwenDavis011006.asp )

A Colorado mortgage company, which touted itself in its ads as providing financially distressed homeowners with a second chance, engaged in deceptive trade practices, a court found in a class action against the company. In a strongly worded 35-page opinion, the court said the company used "bait and switch" techniques, gave out "false and misleading" information and provided a disclosure of the program's practices so "voluminous and complex" that it acted more as an inducement for consumers under time and financial pressures to participate in the program rather than to clarify any questions about itself. (http://www.MortgageDaily.com/LawsuitPredatoryEquityLink010506.asp )

Subprime fundings fell from the third quarter to about $972.4 million and are expected to continue decreasing this quarter, according to an announcement from MortgageIT Holdings Inc. MortgageIT said it consolidated the unit by reducing the number of subprime branches from six to three, which also resulted in related job reductions. (http://www.MortgageDaily.com/MortgageItProduction011206.asp )

Read complete mortgage industry news archives at http://www.MortgageDaily.com/Archives.asp?spcode=pr

About MortgageDaily.com

Founded in 1998, MortgageDaily.com is the dominant online news source for the mortgage industry. More than one million mortgage business news pages are viewed monthly at MortgageDaily.com and its affiliates. Business Week magazine featured MortgageDaily.com in an article about its sensational news coverage.

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Source: prnewswire