Wells Adding 1000s of Originators

The Des Moines, Iowa-based division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., recently announced its goal of doubling the number of commission-based home mortgage consultants on its sales force to strategically double its retail market share.

“Over the past four years, we have consistently applied this strategy of adding mortgage consultants and it has been very successful for us in doubling our retail market share,” Cara Heiden, the recently named division president for national consumer and institutional lending, said in a written statement.

Based on the total number of mortgage originations in 2003, the division’s retail market share was 7%, according to spokesman Kevin Waetke. For Wells Fargo & Co. as a whole, the market share was 12.5%. From either angle, Wells Fargo outnumbered its competitors.

The Iowa originator and servicer currently employees approximately 10,000 home mortgage consultants, Waetke said, but has no specific time frame for the staff expansion.

“We’re really working under our past performance,” he added. “We’ve had outstanding performance in the past four years and we’re executing a plan to repeat that.”

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage reportedly serves all 50 states in more than 1,900 mortgage and Wells Fargo Bank stores and on the Internet.