During the first half of 2020, national mortgage lender and servicer Planet Home Lending LLC's correspondent channel posted 93% growth year-over-year in funding volume and 26% growth in its client base. For May alone, this performance helped the company rank as the seventh-largest Ginnie Mae correspondent lender and the 15th-largest correspondent lender in the country.
"We … took the opportunity to increase funding volume while other players curtailed volume or shut down outright," said Planet Financial Group CEO and president Michael Dubeck.
Amid record-low interest rates,
Planet Home Lending's retention team recaptured more than 47% of customers who refinanced or purchased a new home. As it extended forbearance to thousands of customers, Planet Home Lending's servicing channel also grew its portfolio to $22 billion and more than 115,000 customers.
During the first half of 2020, Planet Home Lending, also:
- Launched Stella, a chatbot responding to questions on the company's website
- Continually offered FHA 203(k) renovation home loans
- Was named a top 10 lender for customer service by SocialSurvey; earning 4.82 out of 5 stars from nearly 5,000 home loan customers
- Doubled retail volume without increasing turn times (compared to the first half of 2019).