Mortgage Elements started out as a tool to help mortgage brokers find wholesale lenders and research their different loan programs. But as the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) rolled out the Qualified Mortgage (QM) rules on Jan. 10 of this year, many brokers supplemented or switched their loan originations to the correspondent lending channel. This coincides with many large mortgage lenders such as Wells Fargo, Fifth Third, Everbank, NationStar, and Suntrust that have closed their wholesale mortgage divisions in 2013 and shifted their resources to the correspondent lending channel. Along with existing mortgage lenders shifting resources to correspondent lending, many new entrants have opened correspondent lending divisions.
The addition of correspondent lenders to its database is a natural progression for Mortgage Elements. Mortgage Elements is a tool designed to help mortgage professionals find and research different loan programs being offered by various wholesale and correspondent lenders throughout the country. The website helps lending professionals quickly navigate through an ocean of data to find relevant mortgage information.
When a mortgage broker migrates from the wholesale lending channel to the correspondent lending channel they become a "mortgage banker." Becoming a mortgage banker requires a higher net worth, more regulatory scrutiny, is much more work, and carries higher risks. For many mortgage brokers, this is just a natural part of their long term growth plans, but other Brokers have become mortgage bankers in response to the new regulations.
The Web site and database are free for use by all mortgage professionals with no registration or subscription fee required. Listing in the database is also free for all wholesale and correspondent lenders. The database is accessed through the Mortgage Elements homepage by using a unique graphic interface—a periodic table of mortgage programs. This design enables the user to quickly find lenders and loan programs from a desktop computer, iPad/tablet, or smartphone - all it takes is a few mouse clicks or taps on the screen. The website contains links to different wholesale/correspondent lenders' websites which helps to research the various loan programs.
