Nationstar Mortgage - Wholesale Subprime

Update - 2008-09-09: "Nationstar Mortgage is planning to reinvent itself as a prime retail lender operating nearly nationwide," was the report from HousingWire back on August 13th. Since then we've also begun hearing news. Off our tipline, we have this:

"I just spoke with a gentleman [who] says that Nationstar Mortgage is getting back into the wholesale business, as of last week."

We called and confirmed Nationstar is coming back online with the wholesale channel, offering FHA products. Their rate sheet for today states, "Rate Sheets will be available from Secondary Marketing beginning: Tuesday, September 9, 2008."

Nationstar made the Imploded List at #153 on Sept. 24th last year when wholesale stopped originations. Nationstar also operates a retail channel through Champion Mortgage, LLC.

Update - 2007-09-27: We received the following update from a source regarding layoffs at Nationstar:

AS OF TODAY, NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE HAS AROUND 100-125 TOTAL ORIGINATION EMPLOYEES LEFT. MASS LAYOFFS HAVE OCCURRED IN THE DIRECT SALES CHANNEL, INCLUDING THE SHUTTING DOWN OF A 300+ employee call center in Tempe, AZ on Monday and further cuts at the last of the 4 Direct sales call centers Nationally (Denver, Cinci and Tempe-shut 100%)Lewisville, Texas has only 100-125 employees left. All Retail centers are now closed. Only origination channel open is Lewisville and it is only a retention unit for the existing portfolio.

Original Listing - 2007-09-24: We received word this weekend that Nationstar had ceased funding loans. Per one informant, the following notice regarding wholesale operations was at a link on the Nationstar website:

Wholesale Partners:

We have made the decision to stop all wholesale originations effective September 21, 2007.

Therefore, Nationstar Mortgage is no longer accepting any new loan submissions through any of its wholesale channels. Any approved applications in the pipeline will be honored. For more information, please contact 1-888-236-8391.

Nationstar Mortgage servicing operations are unaffected by this announcement. If you are a current customer of Nationstar Mortgage, please visit http://www.nationstarmtg.com or call our Customer Service department at 1-888-480-2432.

Further to the above, Reuters reported that Nationstar had ceased wholesale operations. The Reuters article noted:

The subprime unit of Fortress Investment Group, Nationstar Mortgage, said it is no longer accepting any new loan applications from brokers.

Nationstar's decision to stop all wholesale originations became effective on Friday, according to its Web site. Fortress was not immediately available for comment.

We've received no further word regarding Nationstar's retail operations. If you have any corrections, clarifications or additions to this post, please let us know.

Original Ailing/Watch post - 2007-09-20: Many have written in to inform us that Nationstar Mortgage, formerly Centex Home Equity, has been engaging in drastic reductions in their operations. Below is a sampling of the tips we have received from sources:

You might want to add Nationstar (formerly Centex Home Equity) to your ailing lenders list. On Tuesday they shut down all 75 retail branches throughout the nation. In their wholesale channel, they laid off all of their operations dept and about 90% of their sales force.

And another:

Nationstar Mortgage (formerly Centex Home Equity) based in Lewisville, TX is closing offices rapidly.

A good friend of mine works in their San Antonio, TX branch and says they are down to only 3 branches open in Texas, with lots more to come.

More:

To be fair you must add NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE to your ailing list. Yesterday they closed at a moments notice all but 10 retail units. They also closed 2 call centers in Denver and Cincinnati. At their height were 3500 employees estimates now are 800. ...

Colin at thetruthaboutmortgage.com noted the following about Nationstar being "on the ropes" on September 14^th:

Word on the street is that Nationstar Mortgage is beginning to wind down operations, though still kicking to some degree.

They aren't done yet, but sources say the wholesale department was knocked down to just a few branches recently, and that the retail department was the latest division to see heavy layoffs.

Apparently Nationstar employees received e-mails Wednesday morning that a skeleton crew (is anyone else sick of that term?) would remain to wind down some aspects of their current operations.

I heard multiple offices were shut down the same day the layoffs were announced, and that others were closed months ago as secondary market woes set in, and loan production began to slow.

If you hear more about Nationstar Mortgage, can provide additional clarifications, comments or corrections, please let us know.