A group of mortgage brokers recently decided to stand up against the way things have always been in wholesale lending, thus creating BRAWL, Brokers Rallying Against Whole-tail Lending.
Their basic premise is that some wholesale lenders steal clients from brokers by cross selling to borrowers through their own retail channel and are therefore unsafe, while others are “good” lenders that avoid these practices.
BRAWL introduced itself to the industry a couple weeks ago, and was a topic of a lot of discussion at NAMB National, a well-attended conference by brokers nationwide. The movement claims it has received an overwhelmingly positive response from brokers and lenders.
They made a list of good and bad wholesale lenders, even naming names of the “bad” lenders.
But once they started naming names, lenders started stepping out giving their views on the movement.
Mat Ishbia, president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, one of the “good ones,” shared his thoughts on what the movement means for the space and why they support it.
But lenders on the “bad” list stepped up to defend themselves. Quicken Loans insisted BRAWL’s entire premise is misguided, and there are no “good” and “bad” lenders.
For example, loanDepot explained that it does, in fact, exclude wholesale loans from its company retention efforts. What’s more, the company said it even notifies the broker when a payoff notification is received.
Both parties claim to be doing what’s best for their brokers, but are approaching it from different sides.
As for BRAWL, it claims it will continue its fight until it sees permanent change for brokers within the mortgage finance.
“If these lenders are serious about making real changes to accommodate the practices that we want stopped; we are asking them to come sit down with us and we can discuss the changes we need made to support and protect mortgage brokers and independent loan originators,” Garden State Home Loans President Anthony Casa told HousingWire.
Click here to see what the lenders on the “bad” list are saying, or here to see what those on the “good” list have to say.
