Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is exiting the reverse mortgage wholesale production channel, a spokesman confirmed. However, it still will originate these loans through the retail channel.
The company will accept applications for the product from third party originators through the end of business on March 18.
The decision to exit wholesale for reverse mortgages was made, the spokesman said, after Wells Fargo did a detailed review of its production volume and goals for this product.
While unable to provide data on the breakdown of retail vs. wholesale, most of the reverse mortgages originated by Wells Fargo are through the retail channel, he said.
The spokesman added that the team members who supported the reverse mortgage wholesale channel would be transitioned to continue supporting the product on the retail side. He was unable to disclose how many positions were involved.
According to the Quarterly Data Report, in the third quarter 2010, Wells Fargo was the top producer of reverse mortgages with volume of $1.4 million. Several weeks ago, the No. 2 originator, Bank of America, announced it was dropping the reverse mortgage business entirely.
