|
Special Reports
Wholesale Showcase: Watching
a Loan Channel
NRT Takes Growth Step As Wholesaler
By Brad Finkelstein
SHERMAN OAKS, CA -- No Red Tape Mortgage here has added enhancements to its jumbo
product menu. This includes increasing its minimum loan amounts to $400,000 for alt-A loans and $650,000 for A-paper
loans.
No Red Tape has rolled out two new pages of rate sheets combining some of its
best sellers that allow it to provide more aggressive pricing and more aggressive guidelines than it has ever offered
before, said Delaina Mitchell, national sales manager.
The company enables brokers to enter their loans online through its U-Close system.
Once the broker uploads the borrower's information into the system, they can click on the "check guidelines
now" button and the system automatically searches for all of the No Red Tape products the borrower qualifies
for. The changes described above have already been entered into U-Close.
The system gives a detailed description of all the rate sheet pages (programs)
available for the borrower, Ms. Mitchell said during a demonstration of U-Close.
The mortgage broker has the opportunity to register (simple electronic submission)
and lock (30-, 45- and 60-day) loans using the system. With the lock, a pre-approval is generated, which they can
print and put into the file, she said.
No Red Tape uses Advectis' BlitzDocs program, so brokers can scan their files
into the company's office, Ms. Mitchell said. It also allows fax file submissions. In this way, once a pre-approval
is received, the broker can send the file right to No Red Tape's underwriters, eliminating any delay from having
to send the file by overnight mail, she added.
Once the broker has a loan number, by using that along with the borrower's Social
Security number, they can get real-time loan status information. "The minute one of our underwriters signs
off on a condition, it is immediately updated on U-Close," she said. Brokers can make changes to the file,
resubmitted, lock the loan, extend the lock and order documents from U-Close.
The most exciting part about the product changes, said Todd Geritz, first vice
president of production, is that they allow No Red Tape to be the end lender. "We have always served as a
correspondent for other investors. We've used their rules and their pricing.
"This is our own underwriting guidelines, our own product, our own pricing,
so we're able to sell direct ... we're able to actually shop it out on the secondary market and have a number of
buyers buy our bulk commitments," he said.
"These are own proprietary guidelines, our own proprietary product, which
allows us to be a lot more competitive in the alt-A and A-paper market."
No Red Tape will be selling these loans servicing-released. "This is the
next step in the growth of a wholesale lender. We're starting to wear larger shoes now, which is really exciting,"
Mr. Geritz continued.
Rather than attracting more brokers, the new products allow No Red Tape to capture
more of current broker rosters' base of business, Mr. Geritz said.
Ms. Mitchell, who handles much of the training for No Red Tape, said right now
she is educating mortgage brokers about the company's Alpha Adjustables product, which is a one-month, four-payment
option ARM. "At this point, a lot of what I am doing is educating brokers on the importance of teaching their
brokers to margin. As we are moving into an increasing interest rate environment, that is an important thing for
borrowers to be aware of."
She is providing mortgage brokers with charts and marketing tools to help them
"intelligently sell" the four-payment option ARM.
Another program she is working with brokers on is "Zip, Zero, Zilch,"
No Red Tape's true no-documentation loan. A lot of brokers, Ms. Mitchell commented, are not familiar with the differences
between a stated/stated loan and a no doc. With a no doc, the broker does not put the borrower's income or assets
on the application.
|
