Countrywide Earnings Dip; Neg-Am Surges

Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif., has reported slightly lower fourth-quarter earnings than in the fourth quarter of last year, but also revealed a huge jump in accumulated negative amortization on its payment-option ARM portfolio.According to the lender's earnings statement, it holds $32.7 billion in option adjustable-rate mortgages on the balance sheet of its bank, a 23% gain from last year. But its option ARMs have accumulated negative amortization of $653 million -- a stunning increase of 782% over 12 months. Countrywide earned $622 million in the fourth quarter (down 3%), but had record earnings of $2.67 billion for the year. It funded $124 billion in the fourth quarter (mostly residential), an 8% drop from that of the fourth quarter of 2005. Acquisitions by its capital markets conduit fell 69%, to $2.7 billion. Countrywide now services $1.298 trillion in loans, a 17% increase from a year ago. The company can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.