With all of the wholesale mortgage lenders that have recently closed down, in addition to the rush of business being generated through the government-supported refinance program, one wholesaler has more business than it can handle.
So far in 2012, CitiMortgage Inc., ING Mortgage and Wells Fargo & Co. have abandoned wholesale lending. In addition, mortgage brokers lost access to MetLife Home Loans and Residential Capital LLC. Just this week, Pacific Mercantile Bank disclosed that it was closing its wholesale division for a second time.
Last year, Sidus Financial LLC, Southern Trust Mortgage Co. and Walker Jackson Mortgage Corp. all stopped taking on new business from mortgage brokers.
But just as their wholesaler options have been dwindling, mortgage brokers’ refinance activity has been soaring as a result of the Home Affordable Refinance Program.
As a result, the remaining group of wholesale lenders has been experiencing elevated demand.
Among them is TMS Funding.
The Milford, Conn.-based wholesaler is a subsidiary of Total Mortgage Services LLC that launched in December 2009.
The elevated activity is impairing TMS’ ability to provide high-quality service, according to Total Mortgage President John Walsh.
“In order to maintain our commitment to the highest level of service, we made a strategic decision to temporarily moderate volume until we increased our operational infrastructure to match origination flow and to assess the quality of file submissions,” Walsh said in a written statement.
TMS still plans to continue increasing its share of the wholesale lending market — though only with brokers that “make TMS Funding their primary funding source.”
Walsh said TMS remains “fully committed to the wholesale space.”
