Bank of America - Wholesale - Agency, FHA/VA

The banking giant put out an announcement to brokers and gave a press release this afternoon that it would be exiting its wholesale business channel. In their memo, BofA stressed they remained committed to brokers via their Correspondent client channel:

"Bank of America remains committed to purchasing and financing loans from Correspondent Lending clients, including those approved to originate loans from brokers. We intend to build upon our leadership position in the market to provide enhanced liquidity to the smaller financial institutions and independent mortgage companies that supply mortgages as our correspondent clients."

Our tipline was inundated with bits like this:

"They had a conference call with all of their reps this morning and let them go..."

"...transitioning people over to Retail due to a walkout on that side..."

"They are going to wind down the existing pipeline and are stopping all new applications today."

We spoke with Terry Francisco at Bank of America's media relations department, who told us the division's production accounted for less than 5% of the company's overall mortgage volume. The Correspondent channel is much more robust and commands a 45% share. Of an estimated 1,000 employees, roughly 800 staff in the fulfillment centers in Chicago, IL, Richardson, TX and Chandler, AZ were being offered positions elsewhere within the bank. Under 200 sales persons nationwide were let go.

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