MGIC Investment Paid Its Chief Executive, Curt Culver, $6.3 Million Last Year

NEW YORK (AP) -- MGIC Investment Corp. paid Chief Executive Curt Culver $6.3 million in 2007, a year in which the mortgage insurer lost $1.67 billion.

In a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Milwaukee-based company said it paid Culver a salary of $821,923, plus a $480,000 bonus and $5 million in stock and options awarded Jan. 24, 2007.

MGIC posted a massive loss last year because the insurer socked money away preparing to pay more claims. MGIC writes insurance policies promising to reimburse mortgage lenders when borrowers default. With borrowers saddled by an uptick in unemployment, a slowing economy and flagging property values, more people are missing payments on loans and the insurer is paying more claims.

MGIC's stock plunged 64 percent in 2007.

Associated Press calculations of total pay include executives' salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the SEC.