Countrywide Touts Record Funding Pace

Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif., has reported that its average daily fundings grew 7% in November to a record $1.6 billion, while daily applications averaged a record $2.2 billion.In addition, the mortgage pipeline rose 6% to a record $55 billion. Stanford L. Kurland, Countrywide's chief operating officer, said the broker division achieved a new milestone in November as the company's business-to-business e-commerce site, Countrywide Wholesale Business Channel, topped $100 billion in fundings originated since its inception. Mr. Kurland also pointed to the $14 billion increase in Countrywide's servicing portfolio to $435 billion as testimony to the success of the company's macro-hedge business model. "The servicing portfolio grew by $104 billion over last year," he said. "It is notable that this portfolio growth was attained in the midst of one of the most challenging prepayment environments in the history of our industry." Countrywide can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.