Calabasas, Calif. – Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, said Thursday that “unprecedented disruptions” in the nation’s home-loan market may curb its ability to lend, which would erode profit. Shares fell as much as 13 percent in after-hours trading.
Countrywide may be forced to retain more of the loans it makes to homeowners rather than selling them to investors, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It also said it may have difficulty obtaining financing from creditors.
“The secondary market and funding liquidity situation is rapidly evolving, and the potential impact on the company is unknown,” Countrywide said. “These conditions may continue or worsen in the future.”
Last month, Countrywide cut its 2007 earnings forecast after net income tumbled 33 percent as an increasing number of borrowers fell behind on home-equity loan payments. At least 70 mortgage companies have halted operations or sought buyers since the start of 2006, according to Bloomberg data.
Shares of Countrywide, which have lost a third of their value this year, fell to $25 in late trading from $28.66 at the close Thursday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
Countrywide assured investors that it has enough cash to cope with a credit crunch and said it may benefit as the industry’s capacity shrinks. The company said earlier this week that it had access to $186.5 billion at midyear.
“The challenges facing the industry should ultimately benefit Countrywide as the mortgage lending industry continues to consolidate,” the company said in the filing.
Still, the company said it was no longer trying to sell $1 billion of subprime mortgage loans and would instead hold them as investments “for the foreseeable future.” The loans now have a value of about $800 million, Countrywide said.
Bids for subprime mortgages, rated as the most likely to default, became scarce in March as overdue payments headed for their highest level since 2002.
Now buyers are shunning Alt-A loans, an alternative for people with A-rated credit who don’t meet all the standards for prime loans. The category includes low-documentation mortgages.
Chief executive Angelo Mozilo, 68, has tightened standards for approving loans to Countrywide’s riskiest borrowers as part of a plan to cut subprime lending to as little as 4 percent of total mortgages, half the level at the end of last year.
Now he must address an increase in missed payments for prime loans, or those granted to borrowers with good credit histories.
The company set aside $292.9 million for loan losses in the second quarter, compared with $61.9 million a year earlier, as it earmarked $181 million for prime home-equity loans.
“We are experiencing home price depreciation almost like never before, with the exception of the Great Depression,” Mozilo said during a conference call with investors last month.
He said it would take all of next year for the mortgage market to “turn this battleship around” before demand rebounds in 2009.
Countrywide accounts for almost a fifth of all mortgages made in the U.S.
