Sovereign Taking Hits on B&C, Warehouse

Mortgage lender Sovereign Bancorp, Philadelphia, says it expects to take $70 million worth of charges on home equity loans and warehouse lines of credit when it reports third-quarter earnings next week.In a statement, the company said it will take a $50 million charge tied to its remaining correspondent home equity portfolio. The thrift exited the correspondent home equity business in early 2006. In the first quarter of this year it sold $3.3 billion in correspondent home equity loans, but kept certain mortgages that it could not sell. Sovereign said it would take a $20 million charge on warehouse lines of credit made to now-defunct subprime lenders. Sovereign ranked 51st among all mortgage lenders in the second quarter, funding $950 million in loans, according to the Quarterly Data Report, a MortgageWire affiliate. It is scheduled to release third-quarter earnings on Oct. 17. Sovereign can be found online at http://www.sovereignbank.com.