Last Thursday, HousingWire covered the acquisition of TIAA Bank's retail mortgage lending operations by U.S. Bank.
As part of that deal, TIAA Bank said it is moving to get out of retail mortgage lending and will shift its focus to digital mortgages. The journey so far has not gone smoothly for Loan Officers.
On the day HousingWire covered the announcement, TIAA closed its operations center in Jacksonville, Florida, as well as two branches, laying off nearly 200 staff in the process. Loan Officers report being caught off guard by the announcement.
“Obviously communicating with its employees was not at the top of TIAA corporate’s to-do list on Thursday 2/21/19,” wrote in one reader of LendingLife. “TIAA must have really been bleeding money in the mortgage division to close it after only 18 months and not give any notice to the departments it was closing. At this point in time it does not sound like the employees or middle management know where the loans-in-process are going to end up.”
They continued: “The loan officers who had their loans being processed in the Jacksonville mortgage operations center definitely were not informed that the operations center was being closed today by TIAA, did not know where to find their loans or who to speak with in regards to the status of their loans.”
“These loan officers were at a loss about what to tell their clients or if they would even be paid on these loans,” they said.
After receiving this email, we reached out to TIAA for comment. Elizabeth Anderson, the director of public relations at TIAA assured Loan Officers they were doing all they could to honor these deals.
“The strategic realignment of our residential home lending business will have no impact on the review and processing of existing mortgage applications," Anderson informed HousingWire, via email. "To ensure a seamless transition, we have resources in place to assist all clients through their home loan experience.”
