In Brief: Countrywide Lent Record $23B in Quarter

Countrywide Credit Industries Inc., the nation's largest independent mortgage banking company, funded $7.3 billion of loans in August, it said in a monthly report.

This brought Countrywide's fundings for its second fiscal quarter to $22.9 billion, a record for the company, said chief executive officer Angelo Mozilo. Countrywide's fiscal year begins in March.

The pipeline of loans in process totaled $13.1 billion on Aug. 31.

Mr. Mozilo said Countrywide's strategy of having a large origination business to replenish its servicing portfolio - the "macro hedge" - continued to work, as fundings exceeded prepayments by $10.6 billion in the second quarter, another company record.

Countrywide's servicing portfolio ended the month at $195 billion, up 15% from last year but down slightly from $198.487 billion at the end of July. Though the amount of servicing Countrywide owns grew to $2.6 billion, that growth was offset by a transfer out of $6.5 billion of subservicing, Mr. Mozilo said.

"This transfer will have negligible effect on earnings and provides capacity for higher margin investment in owned servicing," he said. Refinancings represented 52% of Countrywide's total fundings in August. It funded $179 million of home equity loans and $245 million of subprime in August.

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