WaMu Exec: No More Plans to Sell Servicing

Washington Mutual, Seattle, has no plans to unload any more residential servicing rights and likely is done restructuring its mortgage business, a top company executive has told MortgageWire."I don't see any more major moves," said WaMu home loans chief David Schneider. "We feel good about where we are positioned." The executive also confirmed that the nation's largest thrift will no longer originate government-insured mortgages, and will "stop chasing market share" in "low-margin" conventional loans that are purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. "We are out of government lending," Mr. Schneider said. WaMu agreed on July 19 to sell its entire government servicing portfolio, and part of its conforming loan portfolio -- $140 billion in receivables -- to Wells Fargo Bank in a deal that will result in a $157 million pretax loss for WaMu. WaMu can be found on the Web at http://www.wamu.com.