The mortgage division of Wells Fargo & Co., funded $120 billion of new home mortgages in the fourth quarter – three-times the volume of its closest competitor JPM Morgan Chase, according to figures released Tuesday morning.
In 3Q Wells out funded JPM by almost double.
Moreover, Wells reported that its mortgage banking division had non-interest income of $2.4 billion in 4Q, a $531 million improvement from 3Q. But like JPM, Wells is seeing costs tied to loan repurchases increase. It took a $404 million charge in 4Q for secondary market buybacks, compared to $390 million the previous quarter.
Although Wells saw its repurchase charges increase slightly, buyback demands from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other investors fell 31% from a year ago.
The megabank reported that its delinquency rate was 7.96% at yearend, compared to an all time high of 8.96% in 4Q 2009.
It booked an MSR gain of $201 million during the quarter compared to a gain of $607 million in 3Q. (MSR stands for mortgage servicing rights.)
Company-wide, nonperforming loans totaled $26 billion, down $879 million from 3Q and a decrease of $6.3 billion from 4Q 2010.
