Eye on the Industry: Mortgage Company Mergers and Anniversaries

 

Civic Financial Services, LLC announced that Pacific Western Bank has purchased the company from Wedgewood, LLC. Based in Redondo Beach, Calif., CIVIC is one of the leading institutional private lenders in the U.S. specializing in originating residential business-purpose loans (BPLs). Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The company will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of PacWest Bancorp, while William J. Tessar will continue to serve as CIVIC’s President.

The acquisition advances Pacific Western Bank’s strategy to expand its lending portfolio and diversify its revenue streams. “We believe there is growth and earning potential in the residential BPL space,” said Pacific Western Bank President and CEO Matt Wagner. “This acquisition opens the door for us to grow in the private lending space with a proven market leader, creating value for both of our organizations. We are excited to welcome the talented CIVIC team to Pacific Western Bank.”

“As a part of PacWest Bancorp, CIVIC is poised to dominate our market more fiercely than ever before,” Tessar said. “More importantly, PacWest Bancorp shares the values our company has been built upon as well as our vision and goals. With a strong capital base, we have the ability to continue to invest in scaling our infrastructure and operations and expand into new markets. CIVIC customers will continue to experience our outstanding service with an even broader array of competitive financing solutions to help them grow their businesses.”

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LendersOne Cooperative, a national alliance of independent mortgage bankers, celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2020. The cooperative reported significant growth with the addition of 26 members and the development of new programs to help its members become even more profitable.

Some highlights for the year included:

• L1 Flood surpassed one million transactions
• A 3600% increase in e-closing activity with more than 12,000 loans closed and 5,000 e-note transactions since Q2
• Launched the L1 Verifications program with over 50 members using it and growing
• Over 20 members have joined the L1 Data Program, which was introduced in January, that provides monthly peer benchmarking for participants by aggregating and anonymizing data from the cooperative’s large and diverse group of members
• The National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America (NAMMBA), Rewire, Inc., Top of Mind, and Absolute Logic joined the National Programs platform
• PollyEx, Spring EQ, TIAA Bank, and First National Bank of America (FNBA) were added to the Capital Markets platform

Four new individuals were added to the Lenders One Advisory Council: Christina Brown, CMB, Chief Lending Officer of Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group; Alvin Shah, Managing Partner of First Option Mortgage; Taylor Stork, COO of Developer’s Mortgage Company; and Matthew VanFossen, Chief Executive Officer of Absolute Home Mortgage Corp. In addition, Jon Gwin, COO of American Financial, Inc., was added to the Lenders One Board of Directors.

“While 2020 was unusual and challenging, that didn’t dampen the spirit of celebration for our 20th anniversary as a cooperative,” said Brian A. Simon, President of Lenders One. “Working together with our growing alliance of members, we saw them achieve substantial successes through our existing and new programs. Looking ahead, we have several more initiatives and strategies planned. We’re excited to help our members take their companies to the next level in 2021 and beyond.”

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Sagent, a fintech company modernizing mortgage and consumer loan servicing for America’s top banks and lenders, today announced a three-year partnership extension with MassHousing. The extension represents an eight-year collaboration on Sagent’s loan servicing platform.

Throughout 2020, MassHousing leveraged intelligent automation within Sagent’s LoanServ and Account Connect platforms to manage its portfolio during an unprecedented industry environment. The future of LoanServ, a real-time system of record, and Account Connect, a branded consumer-facing dashboard for homeowners, will allow MassHousing to continue to serve as a valuable partner to homeowners by anticipating their needs, resolving their problems, and earning their trust throughout the entire life of the loan.

“At MassHousing, we’re committed to building a data-driven culture that inspires our team to provide an impactful customer service experience and helps our borrowers have confidence in managing their loans in good times and in times of hardship,” said Kevin Mello, Director of HomeOwnership Servicing and Operations at MassHousing. “With Sagent, we can execute on a sound fintech strategy that integrates workflow automation as a core part of our servicing operations.”

The extended partnership is rooted in Sagent’s ability to deliver an agile product that serves the most important needs of the modern servicer. By proactively responding to wider industry, market, and economic trends, Sagent has anticipated the future of loan servicing and built a product that will be as impactful tomorrow as it is today.

“The loan servicing process needs to be seamless, efficient, and digitally accessible from a consumer perspective, regardless of the current market cycle,” said Dan Sogorka, CEO and President at Sagent. “A year ago, that might have seemed like a lofty goal. Now, it’s a reality for MassHousing, and we’ll continue to facilitate servicer-customer support throughout the next chapter — whatever that may be.”