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Special Reports
Origination Technology
Wholesale Lending Online Creates Origination System
By Amilda Dymi
Wholesale Lending Online is addressing broker needs in a slower mortgage volume
environment through high efficiency technology solutions primarily for the alt-A marketplace. "In 2006, we
will continue to harness technology and increase our sales force," says WLO director of mortgage banking,
Bill Lopez.
A division of Preferred Financial Group, WLO is currently creating a unique loan
origination system expected to further improve WLO's niche market business model and overall loan underwriting
efficiency.
The goal, Mr. Lopez said, is to make it "as user friendly and user easy for
the broker" so it is fast and easy to work with when brokers choose loan options.
He agrees with experts who anticipate shrinking mortgage loan origination volumes
during 2006. "I see a pretty good size consolidation going on," he said. "The smaller players who
can operate efficiently are either closing or selling. And that is going to pretty much continue for the next six
months and the rest of this year. I still see that as a big, big part of the marketplace, meaning brokers are going
to have less options down the line."
In times when the marketplace continues to consolidate, Mr. Lopez said technology
is the most important tool for lenders and brokers. "It makes every loan a little bit more important for the
broker," he said, so brokers will continue to look for lenders who provide the fastest processing and best
pricing. And "that's where we see the new technology helping us and our back office," he said, with overall
higher efficiency and technology that allows brokers to manually key in certain data directly from their LOS. "In
the alt-A marketplace where we operate, either interest rates are expensive or the software does not offer all
the aspects of technology that we want it to cover," he said. "So we end up putting Band-Aids or little
fixes on them, which doesn't cover the level of fulfillment we are looking for."
WLO has recruited an expert who is in the process of building a unique LOS platform
with various features that Mr. Lopez says will distinguish it from existing LOS options. "On the sale side,
it will allow brokers to input loan characteristics, identify programs and pricing," he said, in addition
to enabling users to submit the loan via the platform allowing WLO to review the accuracy of all the submitted
data.
Since WLO's primary market is alt-A, underwriting and verification includes collateral
valuation data, borrower credit checkup, the capacity of the borrower to go through with the transaction, estimated
loan risk and other information, Mr. Lopez noted. The new platform will facilitate the loan origination process
and data verification also through the various AVM links provided. "It will save us anywhere from 12 to 24
hours of processing time for each loan," he said. "Also, because in the alt-A arena there are so many
different variations of loans including the very definition of an alt-A. Right now, the biggest problem brokers
face is how to price the loan."
However, besides technology, the company said strategic efforts to increase business
efficiency in 2005 included hiring top producers and entering into new alliances.
WLO also formed a strategic alliance with Shearson Home Loans, a national mortgage
brokerage firm.
Since its creation in 2002 the company has funded over $1 billion in mortgage
loans.
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