{{Short description|American mortgage company, 1955 to 2007}} {{Infobox company | name = WMC Mortgage | logo = | logo_caption = | logo_upright = <!-- default: 1 --> | logo_alt = | former_name = Pacific Western Mortgage Company, Weyerhaeuser Mortgage Company, Western Asset Mortgage Capital Corporation | type = Subsidiary | industry = Financial services | founded = {{Start date and age|1955}} | founder = | defunct = {{End date|2007}} | fate = Collapsed during the subprime mortgage crisis | hq_location_city = Woodland Hills, Los Angeles | hq_location_country = United States | area_served = <!-- or: areas_served = --> | key_people = | products = Subprime mortgages | owner = GE Money | num_employees = | num_employees_year = <!-- Year of num_employees data (if known) --> | parent = | website = {{URL|www.wmcmortgage.com}} {{deadlink|date=November 2024}} }}
'''WMC Mortgage''' (also known as '''WMC Direct'''), was an American mortgage company based in Woodland Hills, California that focused on wholesale originator of subprime residential mortgages. It went into bankruptcy in 2007.
== History == The company was founded in 1955 as ''Pacific Western Mortgage Company''. It went through several mergers and became known as ''Weyerhaeuser Mortgage Company'' (owned by US timber company Weyerhaeuser).
In the late 1990s it was sold to private equity firm Apollo Global Management, and entered the subprime mortgage lending business. In 2004, GE Money (formerly GE Consumer Finance), owned by General Electric, bought WMC Mortgage for about $500 million.<ref>[https://www.publicintegrity.org/2009/05/06/13004/no-10-subprime-25-wmc-mortgage-corpgeneral-electric-co No. 10 of The Subprime 25: WMC Mortgage Corp./General Electric Co. The Center for Public Integrity May 6, 2009]</ref><ref>[https://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/01/06/7802/fraud-and-folly-untold-story-general-electric-s-subprime-debacle Fraud and folly: The untold story of General Electric’s subprime debacle The Center for Public Integrity January 6, 2012]</ref>
WMC Mortgage catered to consumers with less than perfect borrower profiles. The company was among the largest subprime lenders in the United States, ranking seventh in 2005 and fifth in 2006 in the dollar volume of subprime mortgage originations.<ref>[https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/staff_reports/sr318.pdf Understanding the Securitization of Subprime Mortgage Credit by Adam B. Ashcraft and Til Schuermann. Federal Reserve Bank of New York. March 2008.]</ref>
GE ceased WMC's operations in late 2007 due to the subprime market collapse.<ref>[https://www.occ.treas.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2009/nr-occ-2009-112b.pdf Index to the Worst Subprime Originators occ.treas.gov November 13, 2008]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018055026/https://www.occ.treas.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2009/nr-occ-2009-112b.pdf|date=2011-10-18}}</ref> GE's WMC Mortgage unit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/23/reuters-america-ges-wmc-mortgage-unit-felled-by-financial-crisis-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425064058/https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/23/reuters-america-ges-wmc-mortgage-unit-felled-by-financial-crisis-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy.html | archive-date=2019-04-25| access-date=2023-10-01 |title=GE's WMC Mortgage unit, felled by financial crisis, files Chapter 11 bankruptcy|first=Jonathan|last=Stempel|publisher=Reuters}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * News report by Michael Hudson, iWatch News - [http://www.truth-out.org/fraud-and-folly-untold-story-general-electrics-subprime-debacle/1326487654 Fraud and Folly: The Untold Story of General Electric’s Subprime Debacle (Friday 13 January 2012)]
Category:Mortgage lenders of the United States Category:Subprime mortgage lenders Category:Subprime mortgage crisis Category:Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019
{{US-finance-company-stub}}