After suspending then returning to correspondent mortgage lending last year, CitiMortgage Inc. is now looking to the channel for growth.
The O’Fallon, Mo.-based lender suspended its correspondent registrations in June 2009. The company said it needed to re-engineer its process and beef up quality controls.
The next month, the Citigroup Inc. subsidiary resumed limited correspondent operations, allowing registrations only for a select group of correspondent customers.
Today, CitiMortgage confirmed in a statement to MortgageDaily.com that it plans to expand its correspondent channel.
“We have re-engineered quality controls to be best in class and are looking to grow the correspondent channel, in a controlled, deliberate manner, with high quality lenders who provide superior quality loans,” the statement said. “This expansion is an important step to ensuring the foundation for future success is in place.”
The statement highlighted, however, that growth at the mortgage unit will be tempered by “a focus on quality and long-term sustainability.”
The move follows similar actions at its wholesale channel — which Citi cut back on during 2008. Last month, CitiMortgage began inviting some of those brokers back.
