Ideal Mortgage Bankers Ltd. says it will exit the wholesale lending business to concentrate on expanding Lend America, its rapidly growing retail lending platform. The company joins a growing list of banks and mortgage companies to abandon the wholesale lending model, such as Wachovia, Washington Mutual and National City.
The company believes job losses in the wholesale lending business will be limited to outside account executives, and many employees will be redeployed within Lend America. Ideal Mortgage will accept loan submissions until July 31, honor all commitments and close its wholesale pipeline in the normal course of business.
‘After conducting an extensive review of our wholesale operations and taking into consideration the inherent risk in the current environment and the direction of the mortgage industry, we have decided to exit the wholesale lending business after approximately a year in operation,’ states Michael Ashley, chief business strategist. ‘Our core competency has historically been as a direct-to-consumer retail lender, which is validated by the enormous success over the last two years of Lend America, our rapidly growing retail platform.
‘With the new housing bill on the horizon and the momentum that Lend America continues to demonstrate, we have made a strategic decision to refocus 100 percent of the company's energy and resources on building on the success of our retail platform,’ he adds.
Source: Ideal Mortgage Bankers Ltd.