SunTrust Bank Equity Wholesale - Home Equity

Notice has been sent to brokers (view pdf) that SunTrust Bank Equity Wholesale is being shut down, and no more equity products will be offered through the wholesale line of business. Applications will not be accepted after today, and all loans must be closed and funded by 2008-08-29.

Emails sent to brokers by AE's point to the volume of SunTrust's equity lending:

"With an average loan size of $75,000, which was one of the smallest within our footprint, you booked over $98 million in 2nds last year and over $104 million in 2006!!!!"

More information was available from their web site:

"Since 1996, SunTrust Bank Equity Wholesale has been providing mortgage brokers with second mortgage options. In 2001, we extended our business from Florida into Georgia and began offering home equity lines of credit and home equity loans through our broker partners. As SunTrust Bank continued to grow across the Southeast, so did we. This expansion added seven states and increased our sales force to 17. By the end of 2005, SunTrust Bank Equity Wholesale tripled our 2004 production of $300 million and achieved over $1 billion in originations.

In 2006, SunTrust Bank Equity Wholesale continued to expand. We have extended our footprint to include Washington, Oregon, and New Mexico. We now have a sales force of 16 and do business in 12 states and Washington, D.C. We funded over $1.4 billion in originations in 2006."

In their 2008 second quarter Earnings Release, overall loan production was reported as decreasing 48% from the same period in 2007. The problems for home equity were clear:

"Net charge-offs were $323 million in the second quarter of 2008... The increase in net charge-offs in 2008 was most pronounced in home equity and residential mortgages."

"Retail and Commercial Banking net income for the second quarter of 2008 was $110.7 million, a decrease of $88.9 million, or 44.5%, compared to the second quarter of 2007. This decrease was primarily the result of higher provision expense due to home equity line net charge-offs and lower net interest income related to deposit spreads, partially offset by higher noninterest income."

Please contact us if you have more details about the number of employees that are being affected.