New Century disposes of its sub-prime loan inventory

New Century Financial Corp., the largest sub-prime lender in bankruptcy, said it had disposed of all the loans it was processing that were still to be funded.

Under pressure from state regulators and with their help, the company unloaded its entire inventory of loans as of April 3, Irvine-based New Century said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. It didn’t say who the buyers were.

New Century, which specialized in arranging mortgages for home buyers with shaky credit, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Monday, citing criminal and regulatory investigations and rising default rates.

The Delaware Bankruptcy Court released $50 million of the $150 million it had approved in debtor-in-possession financing last week, the company said in a separate filing Friday. The credit line helps a company going through bankruptcy to stay open while it auctions off assets.

Last week, New Century said it planned to sell most of its assets within 45 days and fire about 3,200 people, more than half the workforce. That will cost the company about $4.6 million in severance expenditures, New Century said Friday.

New Century has agreed to sell its mortgage billing and collections unit to Carrington Capital Management. The price for the unit was reduced to $133 million on Friday from the $139 million announced Monday.