New Orleans In the daily implosion of the sub-prime industry with loan calls, credit withdrawal, credit extensions, and market ups and downs, the faithful reader no doubt would like some guidance so that they can keep a scorecard and follow at home. We have dealt with a huge number of these companies as we have tried to reform the industry and deal with predatory problems, so here’s a list of the biggest of the big (as provided largely by the Mortgage Bankers Association) so that you can plot who falls and who is left standing.

Top Ten Sub-prime Lenders by Market Share by Percentage and by Value in Billions

Countrywide 8.0% $38.5
New Century 7.0% $33.9
Option One (owned by H&R Block) 6.5% $31.3
Fremont 6.2% $29.8
Washington Mutual 6.0% $28.8
First Franklin 5.8% $28.3
RFC 5.4% $25.9
Lehman Brothers 5.1% $24.4
WMC 4.5% $21.6
Ameriquest 4.4% $21.4

The top 10 have about 60% of the market with another almost $200 billion in loan value held by smaller operators. When the papers indicate that more than 200 sub-prime lenders have already gone under some of them are in that number.

If you are thinking about having an office pool on whom of this list will go down under next, be careful not to bet too, too much. It appears too many wild bets were already made.