Irvine Company Sells Loan-Servicing Portfolio

Irvine sub-prime lender New Century Financial Corp. said Monday its mortgage unit has completed the sale of a servicing portfolio containing $4.8 billion in loans to Ocwen Financial Corp. for $19.7 million.

New Century, which specializes in loans to borrowers with poor or little credit, said in a press release that it will retain ownership of about $700 million in mortgage servicing rights. The amount sold and the price are down slightly from what the companies previously announced.

Servicing is the billing and collecting of mortgage payments. A fraction of the interest rate is used to pay for servicing.

New Century used the proceeds from the transaction, in part, to pay off a line of credit.