| Net Branch Closes Doors
QuoteMeARate.com closes branches March 27, 2006 By PATRICK CROWLEY
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| A Texas-based nationwide mortgage brokerage with as many as 300 branches abruptly shut down Friday, according to two of the company’s branch managers.QuoteMeARate.com Inc. informed employees about the closing through an e-mail it sent Friday, the managers told MortgageDaily.com.
“It just said you guys were done, there was really no other news,” Morgan Stebbins, who ran the company’s branch in Newburyport, Mass., said in an interview. “There was no other news. But they owe us a lot of money.” The company could not be contacted; its voice mail system was not taking messages Friday. Stebbins said he had an associate try to visit the company’s Houston headquarters Friday “but the lights were shut off and the doors were locked.” “I’ve only been here since January,” Stebbins said. “I quit a job with benefits. I have a family. This is a big pain in the butt.” On its Web site, which was still active today, the company says it “has closings in excess of a billion dollars a year from our 300 branches located nationwide.” Quote Me A Rate, also known in the industry and among consumers as QMAR, has described itself as “a network of mortgage consultants with access to over 100 lenders,” according to various Internet postings on commercial and consumer Web sites. Stebbins said he is worried that customers will rescind on loans he closed late last week, meaning he would lose even more business. “It’s tough right now,” he said. Another branch manager in an office in the south said he received the e-mail about the company’s closing Friday morning. The manager spoke on the condition that neither his name nor his branch would be identified. “They shut down,” the manager said. “There have been rumors the last two months … but there wasn’t even a shot across the bow. This caught employees off guard. I truly believed they’ve been acting in good faith.” The manager said the company indicated that “loans in the pipeline” and “existing business” will be addressed Monday, but he was given no other details. The manager would not forward the company’s e-mail, but he did read some excerpts of it over the phone. The company said it had “deepest regrets” but that it had “begun the process of closing the operations” because the “constant changing of the industry proved to be too great in the end.” Quote Me A Rate also acknowledged in the e-mail that it had lost “a significant amount of capital” and was “not able to overcome challenges.” Employees said they are hoping for an update Monday. SIMILAR Net Branch Company Shuts Doors
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Patrick Crowley is a feature journalist and blogger for MortgageDaily.com. He is also a reporter, blogger and columnist for The Cincinnati Enquirer. |
