Quicken Loans Inc. generated an average of more than $500 million per month in originations last year from its Rocket Mortgage program.
When the Detroit-based lender introduced Rocket Mortgage in November 2015,
it promised a hard approval and more in just eight minutes.
Quicken said the the product would enable prospective borrowers to complete a simplified application either online or on a wireless device.
On Tuesday, an announcement indicated that out of the record $96 billion in previously reported mortgage originations for all of last year, $7 billion was generated through the Rocket Mortgage program.
“In just 11 months Rocket Mortgage’s closed volume alone would already rank as a top-30 national mortgage lender, among the nearly 50,000 banks, credit unions, brokers and mortgage companies in the United States,” the statement said.
Quicken said that the program appeals to a new generation of homebuyers — with two-thirds of 2016’s Rocket Mortgage production used to finance a home purchase. Eighty percent of that group was first-time home buyers.
Regis Hadiaris, who is senior product manager of Rocket Mortgage, explained in the news release that prospective borrowers prefer not to be limited to traditional business hours to navigate the mortgage process.
“They expect technology to service their demands and simplify their lives, whether it’s shopping, dating, arranging an Uber, trading their sneakers or even a complex infrequent transaction such as a home loan,” Hadiaris said.
Quicken’s announcement came just one day after its smaller rival, loanDepot LLC, announced the launch of its proprietary digital lending platform to compete with Rocket Mortgage.
