MORTGAGE NON-IMPLODE QUESTIONNAIRE
Name of Lender: Financial Services, LLC
Web Site Address Link: www.assurityfinancial.com
Assurity Financial Services (Retail) <http://www.assuritysales.com/index2.asp> – Best “Common Sense” FHA Manual Underwriting Lender
Assurity Financial Services (Wholesale) <http://www.assuritywholesale.com/broker_information.aspx> – Great “FHA Platinum™” and CONFORMING A+ pricing & service
City and State: Corporate Headquarters in Denver (Englewood) Colorado
Contact Name: Calvin B. Hamler, AMP, co-founder & Managing Member
Contact Phone Number: 720-488-9200 x10001
Contact Email Address: calvin.hamler@assurityfinancial.com
Mortgage Implodes Independent Grades:
Disclaimer: Mortgage Implode in no ways endorses this lender or any other on the non-imploded list. All information gathered is through the interview process and strong due-diligence efforts (background and credit checks, audited financials…) are not conducted. Borrowers should not base borrowing decisions on this recommendation but are encouraged to talk to the lender themselves.
Overall Grade: A+
Management: A+
Technology: A+
Product Information: A
Credit Risk: B+
Geography: A
Innovation: A+
Services:
Wholesale Services: Assurity Financial Services is one of the few lenders steadfastly committed to wholesale lending and supporting the broker community. Assurity is an industry leading government and “A” paper lender, providing excellent pricing and unparalleled service to its wholesale clients. Additionally, the company dedicates significant resources in the form of support staff for its helpful and knowledgeable Account Executives. Assurity hasn’t just come lately to the government lending space – better than two-thirds of the company’s production since its inception in January of 2002 has been from FHA / VA loans. The majority of the balance of its production has been from FNMA / FHLMC conforming loans. In addition to being an FHA Direct Endorsement Full Eagle lender and sponsor for hundreds of “Mini Eagle” loan brokers, Assurity also sells directly to Fannie Mae, sponsoring its broker partners through Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter™.
FHA The Assurity Way™ sets the company apart from its competition with a seasoned staff of DE underwriters, combining decades of experience to make common sense underwriting decisions which are “out of the box” for many inexperienced FHA lenders. Often times, better than half of Assurity’s FHA credit decisions are rendered via manual underwriting approvals. Assurity has compliance and educational staff available to assist its broker partners in obtaining FHA approval with HUD. The company’s compliance staff, which reports to in-house attorneys, helps to advise its broker partners on their Quality Control plans, for example. The wholesale sales support and training staff frequently conduct educational seminars and webinars on the complexities of government lending from A to Z. The end result is that Assurity’s broker partners find themselves at a product, pricing, knowledge, resource and service level advantage in what is otherwise a commodity business.
Retail Services: Quite simply, Assurity Financial Services has the most competitive pay package in the industry for experienced loan officers, and the company does business the right way. All loan officers are required to be exclusive, W-2 employees of Assurity. The company pays an industry leading 100% commission payout to its loan officers on all banked loan production, and charges a fee of only 0.375% on brokered loan production. Loan officers are free to bank or broker their loans as they choose, and Assurity’s in-house retail rates are often times even better than its wholesale rates – the company is certainly dedicated to taking care of its own people. Assurity’s retail loan officers represent the industry’s best and “professional experts doing good business” is the company mantra. The company has a platform that is world-class in supporting the dedicated professional in running his or her business. From knowledgeable support staff, to compliance and IT resources, combined with the flexibility to manage their own business and pipeline, Assurity loan officers enjoy many advantages in an increasingly complex and competitive industry.
The company was founded by 2 successful, full-time loan officers with prior backgrounds on Wall Street and in business marketing, who have invested only their own personal capital into the company, and who carry no long term debt financing on the company’s balance sheet. Assurity Financial Services is a member of the Mortgage Banker’s Association, and both owners personally carry the MBA’s AMP (Accredited Mortgage Professional) designation. The owners are also very active in trade and regulatory associations in their local market as Assurity is a member of the CMLA (Colorado Mortgage Lender’s Association). One of the owners served as a member of a past CMLA Board of Directors, and one of the company’s former in-house attorneys served on the Colorado Division of Real Estate (DRE – which regulates mortgage brokers and bankers in Colorado) Rulemaking Task Force, advising the Director with other task force members, including members of the local lending community and the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. Due to its private ownership and size as a mid-level mortgage banker, Assurity Financial Services has remained athletic in its ability to quickly change and adapt to tough times in the mortgage industry. The company’s owners have been dedicated to government lending since Day 1, which has proven to be quite prescient in recent times; over a nearly 7 year look-back, better than two-thirds of the company’s production has been from FHA / VA loans. This conservative approach to credit risk management, loan manufacturing quality, corporate governance, and borrower loan product suitability has resulted in a company that continues to remain well positioned for future success.
Assurity views technology as instrumental in creating efficient and streamlined loan processes, recognizing the burning need in the mortgage lending industry for a comprehensive end-to-end platform. In addition to its own rock-solid IT support and development staff, the company partnered with Motivity Solutions in 2008 to co-develop its own, customized solution. You can read an article published by Reuters™ about this co-development venture by clicking on the following link: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS123237+14-Apr-2008+BW20080414
Product Information:
At present, Assurity is primarily a government lender, but is actively expanding upon its newly formed relationship with Fannie Mae. The company participates in a FNMA mortgage-backed securities co-issue program it became approved for and began using as a form of secondary market execution in 2008. It is anticipated that this will lead to an increase in its conforming book of business and market share going forward.
% of conforming loans: 15%
% of government loans: 80%
% of FHA loans: 80%
% of alt a loans: 0%
% of sub-prime loans: 0%
% of jumbo loans: 5%
% of stated loans: 0%
Investors:
Assurity has multiple investors, including most of the major conduits. The company also sells directly to Fannie Mae. Assurity has multiple warehouse lines of credit and both on- and off-balance sheet funding facilities to manage the size of its balance sheet, leverage, and funding capacity.
Geography.
Assurity currently funds loans through its wholesale channel in the following states: AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, MN, MO, NC, NM, NV, OH, OK, OR, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WY.
Assurity currently funds loans through its retail channel in the following states: AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, MN, MO, NC, NM, OH, OK, OR, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WY.
Innovation.
Assurity offers next day or same day underwriting for clean, “A” and “A+” credit quality files, while also maintaining excellent turnaround times for manual underwrites and more complex loans or those of slightly lesser credit quality. Assurity was an innovator in creating stratification of pricing and product promotions by credit quality, loan size, and other criteria within the FHA/VA and conforming product arena, creating niches in an otherwise commodity business. The company offers next day or same day doc drawing as well as next day or same day funding, and is beginning to explore off-shore outsourcing for some of its functions. Assurity is always looking for more efficient ways to service its customers, and the ultimate rollout of the Movation™ software solution that is currently under co-development is anticipated to result in more efficient processes, lower cost per closed loan, and an even better customer experience that is already top-notch. You can see Assurity’s rate sheet and current product offerings and pricing promotions at the following link: http://www.assuritywholesale.com/broker_information.aspx