Gateway Mortgage Group, Tulsa, Okla., this week launched a new correspondent lending division that will purchase conforming and government loans from depositories and mortgage bankers, with the aim of retaining the servicing rights.
Its entry into the space comes amid a handful of large banks – Bank of America, Ally Financial -- exiting, though there is growing evidence that the tide may be turning in favor of correspondent.
Founded by J. Kevin Stitt in February 2000, Gateway is one of the largest privately held nonbank mortgage companies in the Midwest.
GMG recently hired Scott Henley as vice president of national production, Molly Reed Davis as chief credit and compliance officer and Linda Garlock as correspondent operations manager.
The trio has more than 50 years of combined experience in correspondent and retail originations, working for such companies as Bank of America, MetLife, CitiMortgage, Cornerstone Financial, Freddie Mac and Countrywide Financial Corp.
Henley said one of the reasons Gateway is entering the channel is because of the market dislocation created by others leaving -- either because of Basel III or as a part of de-emphasis of the mortgage business.
There are frustrations among sellers of whole loans because of the reduction in secondary market buyers. Gateway wants to be a new sales outlet for these depositories and mortgage banks, he said.
For depositories, Gateway said one of the advantages of selling to it rather than another depository is that it is not a competitor for deposits, personal loans and credit cards.
Kevin Stitt, president of Gateway, said adding the correspondent channel allows the company to diversify the geography of its mortgage servicing portfolio.
