Certain whole loan sale contracts include provisions requiring the Company to repurchase a loan if a borrower fails to make certain initial loan payments due to the acquirer or if the accompanying mortgage loan fails to meet customary representations and warranties made by the Company when the loans were sold. These representations and warranties are made to the loan purchasers about various characteristics of the loans, such as manner of origination, the nature and extent of underwriting standards applied and the types of documentation being provided and typically are in place for the life of the loan. In the event of a breach of the representations and warranties, the Company may be required to either repurchase the loan or indemnify the purchaser for losses it sustains on the loan. In addition, an investor may request that the Company refund a portion of the premium paid on the sale of loans if a loan is prepaid within a certain amount of time from the date of sale. Although a breach of a representation and warranty may result in a repurchase demand at any time, the Company believes that most repurchase requests occur within the first five years of the origination of the loan. The Company records a provision for estimated repurchases and premium recapture on loans sold, which is charged to gain on sale and other income from loans held for sale, net, on the Consolidated Statements of Operations. The current unpaid principal balance of loans sold by the Company represents the maximum potential exposure to repurchases related to representations and warranties. Reserve levels are a function of expected losses based on actual pending and expected claims, repurchase requests, historical experience, and loan sale volume. While the amount of repurchases and premium recapture is uncertain, the Company considers the liability to be appropriate. Repurchase reserves are included in payables and other liabilities on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition.

The activity of the outstanding repurchase reserves was as follows (in thousands):