FirstFed posts another loss tied to mortgage loans

FirstFed Financial Corp. on Wednesday reported its second consecutive quarterly loss, a $35.5-million deficit stemming from troubled housing-boom loans.

The losses totaled $2.60 a share, in line with expectations, and FirstFed stock rose 73 cents, or 8.5%, to $9.31.

In last year’s second quarter, the thrift earned $29.1 million, or $1.74 a share.

The Los Angeles parent of First Federal Bank of California provided refinancing loans for borrowers with good credit who were eager to extract equity as home prices soared. It faces a double whammy created by the battered housing market and its own easy-money lending, which its executives acknowledge helped to inflate the price bubble in the middle of this decade.