Three super banks to dominate O.C. lending

October 6th, 2008, 7:01 am · 5 Comments · posted by Ronald Campbell

So who was the biggest home lender in Orange County and the state last year?

Hint: It ran a very annoying ad campaign.

Another hint: Terminated with extreme prejudice.

Yep, WaMu.

Washington Mutual easily outdistanced Wells Fargo and Bank of America, according to our analysis of The Fed’s Home Mortgage Disclosure Act database. Countrywide, which operates under two names, was close behind.

WaMu was a big subprime player, and that helped make it among the biggest casualties in the credit crunch last month. It also helped WaMu lead the mortgage market in Orange County, making $5.4 billion in mortgages, which accounted for 13% of the $40.4 billion total.

Two other members of the top 10 mortgage lenders — Countrywide and IndyMac — also failed or were swallowed up, and a third, World Savings, played a part in parent Wachovia’s forced trip to the altar.

Here’s an interesting stat: Bank of America and Countrywide Financial together accounted for 19% of the market in O.C., or nearly 1 in every 5 loans made. Those two companies are now one.

And how about the other big mergers? Wells Fargo is buying Wachovia, and JPMorgan Chase took over WaMu. Wells, Wachovia, JP Morgan, WaMu, BofA, and Countrywide together last year did a combined $20.2 billion, or nearly half the market. If the Wells-Wachovia deal goes through, then there will be only 3 independent companies, where once there were six making 1 out of every 2 loans in Orange County.

Below are the top 10 mortgage lenders in Orange County in 2007:

Lender	Prime	Subprime	Total	Subprime percent
WASHINGTON MUTUAL BANK	$4.8 billion	$662 million	$5.4 billion	12.2%
WELLS FARGO BANK, NA	$3.3 billion	$51 million	$3.4 billion	1.5%
BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.	$2.7 billion	$62 million	$2.7 billion	2.3%
COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS	$2.4 billion	$302 million	$2.7 billion	11.1%
COUNTRYWIDE BANK, FSB	$2.1 billion	$295 million	$2.4 billion	12.3%
WORLD SAVINGS BANK, FSB	$1.3 billion	$551 million	$1.9 billion	29.3%
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK	$1.7 billion	$39 million	$1.7 billion	2.2%
INDYMAC BANK, F.S.B.	$1.4 billion	$329 million	$1.7 billion	19.3%
CITIMORTGAGE, INC	$1.1 billion	$9 million	$1.1 billion	0.8%
ABN AMRO MTG GROUP INC	$806 million	$2 million	$808 million	0.3%

And here are the top 10 statewide:

Lender	Prime	Subprime	Total	Subprime percent
WASHINGTON MUTUAL BANK	$46 billion	$8.4 billion	$54.4 billion	15.5%
WELLS FARGO BANK, NA	$37.6 billion	$940 million	$38.5 billion	2.4%
BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.	$32.3 billion	$490 million	$32.8 billion	1.5%
COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS	$23.5 billion	$3.4 billion	$26.8 billion	12.5%
COUNTRYWIDE BANK, FSB	$20.5 billion	$3.2 billion	$23.7 billion	13.4%
WORLD SAVINGS BANK, FSB	$14.3 billion	$5.9 billion	$20.2 billion	29.1%
INDYMAC BANK, F.S.B.	$13.8 billion	$3.8 billion	$17.6 billion	21.6%
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK	$14.3 billion	$490 million	$14.8 billion	3.3%
CITIMORTGAGE, INC	$11.4 billion	$160 million	$11.5 billion	1.4%
NATIONAL CITY BANK	$6.3 billion	$880 million	$7.1 billion	12.3%

Here’s more of our mortgage meltdown coverage:

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Posted in: Alt A news • Bank woes • Countrywide • IndyMac • Loan volume • Meltdown • Subprime news • Uncategorized • Washington Mutual |

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5 Comments

Louis says:

October 6, 2008 at 11:50 am

Wamu…..all you can eat baby!

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John S. says:

October 6, 2008 at 1:04 pm

Time to consider someone like Chuck Baldwin of AIP for president. This nonsense has been going on since the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913.

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