and facts the new york times 60 minutes employee letters highlights golden west has produced compound annual earnings per share growth of 20 % over the last 35 years a record that appears to be unmatched by any other financial firm with the possible exception of warren buffett s berkshire hathaway . forbes magazine may 2004 on 10 occasions fortune magazine ranked golden west as the nation s most admired mortgage services company or most admired savings institution . golden west is a paragon of corporate governance . morningstar 2004 ceos of the year announcement about golden west golden west financial corporation the parent of world savings bank was a unique and successful residential mortgage portfolio lender that operated from 1963 to 2006 with a reputation for quality lending ethics and integrity . the following fundamental factors set golden west apart from other mortgage lenders portfolio lender . golden west held its loans on its own books and did not securitize and sell its loans to third parties . risk averse business model . golden west s risk averse business model required keeping expenses and credit costs as low as possible . as a result the company always focused on making high quality loans not on generating a high volume of loans . conservative underwriting . golden west used traditional conservative underwriting and appraisal practices to assess the quality of all its loans . lowest loan losses . golden west had the lowest loan losses in the industry . in its final eight years as an independent company 1998 2005 golden west had a charge off ratio losses divided by outstanding loans of zero . safer arm mortgage . the portfolio adjustable rate mortgage arm that golden west used for 25 years was fundamentally different and safer for consumers than option arms securitized and sold by mortgage bankers . not a subprime lender . golden west made low yield low loan to value ltv loans to a full spectrum of qualifying borrowers . the company did not originate subprime loans that charged higher rates to certain borrowers . advocate for sound regulation . golden west was the only financial institution that repeatedly made early warnings to regulators and others about risks in the banking system and called for greater regulatory oversight transparency and accountability . view excerpts from golden west s letters to regulators . this website uses original documents and the best available data to explain golden west s successful operating history for more than 40 years .