Want a Mortgage LO Job? Talk to a Nonbank

In February and January of this year mortgage firms hired 5,500 workers. That’s good news for the industry and shows that residential finance is on the rise again after several rough years of dealing with record delinquencies, sagging home values, tougher regulations, and the general perception that “renting is good.” But there is something else afoot going on in mortgage banking: the growing debate among residential loan officers over where they should work: a depository or a nonbank. We’ve reported extensively on the issue and plan to ramp up our coverage in the months ahead. One thing is for certain: going forward nonbank firms will try to market themselves as the only “true” licensed professionals walking the beat, which leads to this question: How will bank LOs and their employers fight back? Many banks are publicly traded and have to answer to Wall Street. We see several privately held nonbanks that aren’t afraid to spend real money to hire the ‘best in class.’ This could get interesting.