Rumors surrounding the shut down of wholesale operations for a privately held Florida-based mortgage bank were dispelled, but not before causing some chaos.
What stemmed from the layoff of 18 account executives at TransLand Financial Services escalated into a fiasco when an anonymous “tipster” reportedly told a popular blog site that TransLand was closing its wholesale operations, according to a company executive.
“I had to spend the whole afternoon calling our investors,” Jonathon Woods, senior vice president capital markets for the Maitland, Fla.-based company, told MortgageDaily.com.
Woods said he was disappointed that the post made it on the Internet without the facts being checked first, but has since been given the opportunity to rebut the post with a company statement.
The statement, also forwarded to MortgageDaily.com, explains that the company has made some strategic reductions in their workforce, including the layoff of 18 account executives but is still funding wholesale loans.
“We are currently funding wholesale loans and are in the process of focusing our efforts on a more regional basis utilizing an inside sales team and a limited number of wholesale account executives,” the statement explained. “We believe in the wholesale mortgage business and are committed to building long-lasting partnerships with our broker customers.”
TransLand has been in business since 1996 and handles primarily A paper originations, Woods said. Right now, the company has limited its product offerings to conforming, FHA and VA and jumbo loan programs.
Woods further explained that several employees who were laid off were former employees of a predominately subprime company and TransLand was under the impression that they were familiar with A paper originations. But it did not work out as the company had hoped.
TransLand currently has 113 employees, is licensed in 26 states and has thousands of brokers, he added.
“We are committed to the mortgage business and believe that we can be successful long-term partners with the mortgage broker community.” Woods said in the statement.
