California Has Two Largest Lenders

The title of largest residential mortgage lender has a tie and both companies are located in California. During a review of second quarter earnings among lenders, the two companies exceeded the rest.

MortgageDaily.com, a dominant news source for the mortgage industry, has declared two companies located in California as tying for the title of largest residential lender for the second quarter. Countrywide Corporation and Wells Fargo both reported second quarter production of $116 billion, tying as the biggest in the business. The jump is the highest production that Wells Fargo has seen since 2003; Countrywide�s report boosted the company up by $13 billion from the first quarter.

Despite a slowing in the mortgage industry, Wells Fargo is trying to take the lead from Countrywide in the third quarter. The leap is expected due to a pipeline of originated mortgages that are $13 billion better than in March, whereas Countrywide�s pipeline has not changed going into the third quarter. Rounding out the top four residential mortgage lenders is Washington Mutual in third place and JPMorgan Chase in a close fourth. Other lenders, such as Bank of America, CitiGroup and National City Corp. have also reported a rise in earnings this past quarter.