Lend America breaks through half billion dollar milestone in servicing assets in six monthsMortgagePress.comLend America, FHA lender, direct-to-consumer, servicing, Michael Ashley
Lend America, a direct-to-consumer FHA lender, has announced
that its servicing assets surpassed the $500 million milestone at
the end of the first quarter 2009, due to continued strength in
originations generated by the company's centralized retail
channel.
Lend America, which launched its servicing initiative after
receiving approval to issue Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities
in the second quarter of 2008, has already more than doubled its
servicing portfolio in the first quarter 2009 to over $500 million
compared to $223 million as of December 31, 2008. The Company is
now projecting its servicing assets will surpass $1 billion by the
end of the second quarter of 2009 and grow to over $2 billion by
December 31, 2009. The increase in the servicing assets is being
driven by the company's continued strong FHA retail originations
which topped $450 million in the first quarter 2009.
"The half billion dollar mark is a milestone that we are proud
of but it only represents 25 percent of our year-end goal of having
over $2 billion in servicing assets. The most important factor of
this milestone is that it demonstrates our continued commitment to
provide reliable fixed rate financing to promote healthy
homeownership during an unprecedented liquidity crisis," commented
Michael Ashley, chief business strategist for Lend America. Our
servicing initiative clearly leverages off of the experience of our
400 plus highly trained mortgage specialists that focus on getting
borrowers into the right mortgage solution in order to reduce the
chances of default and preserves the value of the mortgage asset.
The surge in borrowers looking to refinance to take advantage of
lower rates as well as the increase in activity related to our
structured refinance model, a B2B relationship model with Wall
Street investors and banks to refinance their loan portfolios, has
allowed Lend America to significantly increase its servicing
assets. We expect this trend to continue throughout the year and we
are now projecting our year end 2009 servicing portfolio to be in
excess of $2 billion, a 33 percent increase from our previous
forecast."
Mr. Ashley continued, "Our servicing portfolio has zero legacy
issues associated with adjustable rate or subprime mortgages and is
comprised of 100 percent fixed rate government-insured mortgages
originated at close to historical low interest rates. We believe
this structure enhances the quality of our portfolio and reduces
both prepayment and default risks. Moving forward, we will continue
to balance costs, risk and efficiency in order to build a very
profitable and sustainable servicing portfolio."
FNMA servicing initiative launched
On April 1, 2009, Lend America expanded its servicing capability
by launching a FNMA servicing initiative to service conventional
borrowers. In order to qualify, Lend America had to undergo a
thorough screening process to establish and clarify it could meet
the updated standards of FNMA and fully assume the operational and
financial responsibilities of being a FNMA servicer. These
standards included a higher minimum net worth requirement, as well
as several other requirements. For more detailed information
regarding FNMA servicing guidelines, please visit www.fanniemae.com.
Mr. Ashley stated, "We are very pleased to become eligible to
service FNMA mortgages which will allow us accumulate additional
quality servicing assets. This is another proof point of Lend
America's operational and financial strength and will create
additional value for our Company and customers. In this challenging
environment, everyone at Lend America continues to be committed to
being a part of forward thinking organization that can positively
impact the residential housing marketplace and help consumers
purchase and maintain homeownership."
For more information, visit www.lendamerica.com.
