New Century Posts Production Record

Subprime lender New Century Financial Corp., Irvine, Calif., produced a record $1.74 billion in home mortgages in December, bringing its fourth-quarter production total to $4.47 billion.The company, a nondepository, also said it increased its warehouse credit facilities to $3.47 billion. Previously, New Century had reported facilities of $2.55 billion. Company chief executive Robert Cole said the lender increased its warehouse lines to "support the record pace of fourth-quarter loan production and our growth initiatives for fiscal 2003." New Century is the fifth-largest subprime lender in the United States, according to figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report. In trading late Tuesday morning, the firm's shares were down slightly to just over $26. Its share price fell below $20 in November, but has rebounded nicely over the past few weeks. (See Jan. 13 issue of NMN for more details.)