Quicken Loans announced, just before the Super Bowl, that it officially passed up Wells Fargo as the No. 1 lender in the U.S.
The lender then announced its new position through its Super Bowl ad campaign, along with promoting its product Rocket Mortgage, which it says makes understanding mortgages easier for consumers.
The video below shows the company’s ad campaign for the 2018 Super Bowl:
However, because Quicken Loans is a private company, there was no way for HousingWire to verify its claims without waiting for 2017 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data to be released. That is, until now.
Inside Mortgage Finance conducted a recent report showing the top originators in the third and fourth quarters and full year of 2017. The data shows Quicken did indeed surpass Wells Fargo as the top mortgage originator, however there is one catch.
During the fourth quarter of 2017, Quicken Loans was the top lender $25.1 billion in originations, versus Wells Fargo’s $22.91 billion; a remarkable feat for a nonbank to beat a big bank.
“I could not be more proud of each and every one of our 17,474 team members, who each day bring incredible passion and determination to deliver our clients the best possible experience, during the single biggest financial transaction in most of their lifetimes,” said Dan Gilbert, Quicken Loans Founder and Chairman.
“Achieving the #1 market share of all mortgage lenders is an exciting accomplishment, but we are even more inspired that we reached this significant milestone, while at the same time delivering the best client experience in the nation for the last eight consecutive years and running,” Gilbert said.
However, for the full year of 2017, Wells Fargo still came out on top with its $94.67 billion, up from $86 billion from Quicken.
HMDA data shows that in 2016, Wells Fargo ranked first by total origination volume with its $126 billion, followed by Quicken Loans with its $90.6 billion in total originations.
And in this year’s Fortune Magazine Top 100 Best Places to Work For, Quicken ranked No. 14, the best ranking company in the mortgage industry.
And while its total annual volume still lags behind Wells Fargo, that could soon change. That’s because the Federal Reserve took an unprecedented step and ordered Wells Fargo to stop growing. The Fed cited what it called compliance breakdowns and widespread consumer abuses, as the primary motivations for the order.
Could the fourth quarter of 2017 be an example of what could soon become the new norm? Only time will tell.
IMF’s data also looked at other top mortgage lenders in the U.S., ranking Bank of America Home Loans as third overall in mortgage originations with $50.58 billion, followed by Chase with $50.28 billion, loanDepot with $29.91 billion, PHH Mortgage with $20.83 billion, Fairway Independent Mortgage with $19.91 billion, Guaranteed Rate with $19.14 billion, Caliber Home Loans with $17.94 billion and U.S. Bank Home Mortgage rounding out the top 10 with $17.84 billion.
The data also included other revelations, such as naming United Wholesale Mortgage as the No. 1 wholesale mortgage lender for residential loans for the third consecutive year. UWM produced an all-time company record loan volume of $29.5 billion, up 29% from the year before.
“Ranking as the No. 1 wholesale lender in America for three years in a row is a huge accomplishment, and speaks to the innovative work being done and the dedication of our 2,300-plus team members,” UWM President and CEO Mat Ishbia said. “We don’t take being No. 1 for granted.”
“We never relax because we know we have to earn our clients’ business every single day, and our brokers are growing faster because of their partnership with us,” Ishbia said.
