The chief executive officer of Quicken Loans Inc. sat down with Mortgage Daily and explained how the lender has achieved phenomenal success.
Detroit-based Quicken was founded by Dan Gilbert in 1985. Gilbert subsequently sold the company
to Intuit, then bought it back in 2002.
Last year, the company originated a whopping $59 billion, and for 2015 it is on track to surpass $70 billion in full-year production.
During just the second quarter, Quicken ranked as the fourth-largest home lender in the country, according to data collected by Mortgage Daily.
At the Mortgage Bankers Association Annual Conference in San Diego, Quicken Loans CEO Bill Emerson — who was sworn in as MBA chairman during the event — explained how the company has been able to ascend to the pinnacle of real estate finance even as thousands of mortgage companies have gone by the wayside.
“It starts with culture,” Emerson said. “It starts with a belief system and integrating that belief system into every new person that comes into the organization.”
The executive, who himself is an investor in Quicken, noted that the company has an entrepreneurial culture.
He explained that the employees are actively involved in the solutions presented to clients.
At last count, the Quicken staff stood at 13,000 people.
“So when they are interacting with
people, we want to get their feedback on how we can do it better,” he said.
Emerson highlighted that the company has been built on a scalable technology platform.
While it had previously been a typical brick-and-mortar operation, in 1999 it adopted a centralized lending model.
He explained that Quicken looks differently at how to do the mortgage business.
“The demographics are shifting and changing,” Emerson said. “Millennials are telling us every single day how they want to transact. It’s through technology. It’s through devices.”
Quicken, which began servicing loans in 2010, has been ahead of the game in this regard and has proven that high-touch service can be provided
through the Quicken model, according to the CEO.
“People, process, technology and culture,” Emerson concluded. “That’s it.”
