Chevy Chase Bank - Wholesale - Agency, Jumbo

Update - 2008-12-04: In a member newsletter last week we shared a tipster's report that Capital One suits were meeting with Chevy Chase officials to sign papers. Today it became official. MarketWatch reports that Capital One has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Chevy Chase Bank for a total of $520 million in cash and Capital One shares. Combined, the two will have $110 billion in deposits, making it the 8th largest depository institution in the U.S.

Original Entry - 2008-10-03: Chevy Chase sent a bulletin out to brokers today announcing they would not accept new registrations or lock-ins as of Monday, October 6, 2008. This effectively puts an end to their wholesale operation, which had further diminished its offering to just one product - 5yr Conforming and Jumbo ARMs. We will provide further updates as to layoffs and/or office closures as that information becomes available.

Original Ailing Listing - 2008-08-12: In a memo sent to brokers today, Chevy Chase Bank announced they are restricting their mortgage lending to just eleven eastern states. According to one tipster, they had "dropped 12 states." A call to their Broker Services department confirmed that tip.

According to their web site, the only products being offered now are 3 and 5 year Conforming and Jumbo ARMS. States that have been dropped include:

It appears our original assumptions were correct, as ongoing wholesale operations are now reduced to the Bethesda, MD office and a handful of inside and satellite AE's. One AE we spoke with said there were no layoffs associated with the elimination of business in the above states.

Update - 2008-03-17:Just in from a tip: "Effective Immediately, Chevy Chase CP has been shut down."

"There was no warning, only a voice mail message when you call the Construction Team phone number. The message states, "effective immediately, Chevy Chase Bank has discontinued Construction Lending, and we are no longer accepting new files.""

Update - 2008-01-18: One day before the axe fell, we predicted that BF Saul (a Division of Chevy Chase) was going down, and sure enough, this division was shuttered. All files were immediately packed up in San Ramone CA and sent by car to the office in Orange CA. Anything not processed by the end of the month would be shipped to Maryland for final clean-up.

Although many have written in to tell us Chevy Chase is finished with Wholesale, we think they might maintain some presence in MD. Perhaps it's just a pipeline clean-up crew, so time will tell.

But at the moment, here's one Brokers comment on the current Rate Sheet:

"...and have cut back their guidelines to make it nearly impossible to get loans funded."

Original Post - 2008-10-14: We are receiving news that Chevy Chase Bank Wholesale is shutting down its western operations centers. The Concord, CA office (which handled Northern California to Washington) closed today, consolidating those operations to their Aliso Viejo CA office, one of only two regional centers remaining open per the company's web site.

Conversations with several AEs and inside staff confirmed 10-11 AEs and 5-6 Ops staff in Concord were laid off, and all files were transferred to Aliso Viejo (the Southern California center). The Concord office had a funded volume of between $10-$12 million in December.

Aliso Viejo also got a visit from the shutdown boys... total layoffs of some 45 people today. Per our sources, it will be closed by February 1, 2008, and only a couple of underwriters and a funder remain to wrap up remaining business there. December volume of $15-$16 million was a far cry from past monthly productions of over $500 million for this office which handled national production generated across three time zones (Central, Mountain, to the Pacific Coast). It isn't much of a stretch to imagine the wholesale division will see further consolidation, eventually operating strictly out of the main banking center in Bethesda, MD. operated by Inside Reps only.

We anticipate an official release soon, and will continue to follow developments. FedEx severance packages are out tonight.

Further discussion can be found on our forum. Contact us with more information please.

Is B. F. Saul Mortgage or B. F. Saul Wholesale next? It is our understanding there is an Op's Center in San Ramone, CA. We don't know, but the answer could be coming as soon as tomorrow.