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Special Reports
Recruiting and Training
Tradition Suits Franklin American Well
By Bonnie Sinnock
Franklin American Mortgage Co., a privately held mortgage banker that concentrates
on government and government-sponsored enterprise product, has been lucky enough to be in a position to recruit,
according to chairman, president and chief executive officer Daniel G. Crockett.
And in the competition among surviving players for some of the experienced and talented mortgage professionals
made available for hire by the challenging market, Franklin American also has been lucky enough to "capture
a few," Mr. Crockett said.
At 39, running a company that got started in the 1990s, the Franklin American executive might not quite yet be
thought of as an industry veteran. But he indicates that he has gotten some good advice from some who do fit that
description that has served him in good stead. Thanks to his attention to more experienced players' stories about
past problems with negative-amortization loans, for example, Mr. Crockett, even before the recent credit crunch
hit, usually refrained from originating more risky, less traditional products.
He believes in sticking with tradition not only when it comes to loans, but also when it comes to recruiting and
corporate culture. Franklin American employees wear a "suit and tie every day," he said. "There
is no casual day" at the company, said Mr. Crockett.
The Franklin American executive also displays a kind of traditional humility and respect for his peers in the business
even while pursuing a competitive strategy and market share goal.
Mr. Crockett said he is saddened by the woes of so many other market participants that suffered because of nontraditional
mortgage woes or the market-wide credit crunch that they sparked. "I would never wish anything bad on anybody,"
he said.
The Franklin American executive said he understands the profitability pressure public companies faced in the latest
business cycle and believes that if he had had to face it himself, his firm may not have been able to avoid to
the extent it did the nontraditional mortgage frenzy so much of the market was caught up in.
In fact, Franklin American didn't completely avoid the nontraditional mortgage trap. It was just fortunate to get
caught in it and learn from it early on, he said.
Franklin American did originate a relatively small number of reduced documentation and investor loans in the 1990s,
and it is still literally paying for it today, Mr. Crockett said. Because of that experience the company generally
has refrained from doing business in the nontraditional mortgage space since then, he said.
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