New Century Enters Forward Sales Pact

New Century Financial Corp., Irvine, Calif., has entered into a forward sales commitment for $1.5 billion of its fourth-quarter production.This brings the total forward sales commitment for the three-month period to $3.5 billion. Robert K. Cole, New Century's chairman and chief executive, said the fourth-quarter loan commitments "represent sales to 'repeat' institutional investors who remain very satisfied with the credit quality and performance of our product. That is a fairly good indication that our investors have determined that our product consistently meets the test of institutional quality standards in the marketplace." For the full year (including the fourth-quarter commitments), New Century has sold or will sell approximately $12 billion of whole loans. New Century can be found online at http://www.ncen.com.