South Carolina mortgage company hires industry vet to run the operation
Movement Mortgage (Movement) now offers reverse mortgages under the leadership of Harlan Accola, Movement’s national reverse mortgage director.
In this newly created position, Accola, a reverse mortgage author, speaker, and advocate, leads a team of reverse mortgage sales and operations personnel to support the company’s new mortgage product offering. Before joining Movement, he had been national reverse mortgage director for Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation for almost eight years.
Before joining Movement, Accola spent eight years in a similar position for a top 10 mortgage company, where he built the reverse mortgage division and helped the company grow into a perennial top 10 reverse mortgage lender.
“For reverse mortgages to be a mainstream option for older homeowners, leadership at forward mortgage companies must be completely engaged,” said Accola. “My team and I are thrilled to be part of Movement’s vision to love and value people and to be able to help them bring the homeowner advantages of reverse mortgages to their market.”
Joining Accola are Reverse Mortgage Professional George Vrban, a 23-year veteran in reverse mortgage planning and sales, and Kari Van Kleef, a 22-year industry veteran who serves as Movement’s reverse operations division manager.
Also now at Movement is Dan Hultquist, author of Understanding Reverse, the go-to handbook for the reverse mortgage industry. As the company’s director of reverse mortgage communications, Hultquist will handle Movement’s reverse mortgage product marketing, training and education. Jayme Dollar, a 13-year reverse veteran, also joins Movement as the reverse division marketing team lead.
Movement president Mike Brennan is thrilled about what the reverse mortgage team brings to the table, and he eagerly anticipates members' impact on the company culture. “Harlan’s expertise and track record in building a reverse mortgage division will be invaluable as we continue to expand,” he said. “George, Kari, Dan, Jayme and the rest of the sales and operations team are the missing pieces we needed to support our more senior clients. This strategic move will enable us to serve our customers better and provide a wider range of solutions to meet their needs. We are excited to welcome our new reverse team to Movement Mortgage.”
Movement Mortgage has been in the news recently. At the end of June, Movement reached an agreement with the Justice Department to pay nearly $24 million to resolve whistleblower allegations that it failed to follow guidelines for originating and underwriting loans backed by the federal government.
Also in June, loanDepot filed another in a series of poaching lawsuits, this time accusing Movement Mortgage of illegally luring away 25 employees over a three-month period in 2021.