Aapex Mortgage (Apex Financial Group) - Retail subprime broker

Update - 2007-09-29: We've spoken to a source who was formerly with Aapex and learned some additional details on the company and its implosion. Aapex had over 2700 branches and was doing over $200 million in loan volume per month at peak. They were one of the biggest retail brokers (if not the biggest). The company started in 1991; by 2000 they were licensed in about 43 states. Growth accelerated after 2001 with lower interest rates, and branching began in '02-03. Branch growth accelerated starting in 2005 and the company went from 30 branches to 2700. However, Aapex had not been properly attaining licenses and this year or last Maryland went after them and issued a cease-and-desist. About half of the rest of the states Aapex did business in followed suit, ultimately resulting in the company's shutdown.

Original Listing - 2007-09-27: Many readers have forwarded to us a notice apparently sent from Roy Williams of Apex Mortgage (aapexmortgage.com and apexmortgage.com) that Aapex Mortgage d/b/a Apex Financial Group ("Apex", "Aapex" or "Apex Mortgage"), a retail broker, was ceasing "all operations". Per the notice:

To All Affiliates,

Effective immediately, Apex Mortgage will cease all operations. We appreciate and value the business we have done together over the years, however we are unable to overcome the regulatory issues that have recently affected our ability to do business in multiple states.

No new loan files may be submitted to any investor in the name of Apex Mortgage. All existing loan files already submitted to an investor must close by October 12, 2007, to be considered for payment. Any loan files closed after October 12 will not be paid under any circumstances. Existing closed files already submitted for payroll will be processed as soon as possible ...

Sincerely,

Roy Williams
President
Apex Mortgage

Note: Aapex is not to be confused with Apex Lending, which is a separate, unrelated company. Nor is this listing for Aapex to be confused with Apex Mortgage Corp. based out of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, which is also a separate unrelated company.

This notice confirms what we had originally heard yesterday, when a source wrote in indicating that Aapex was on the verge of closing. We shared our source's tip with our premium subscribers in an alert yesterday. The tip:

A reliable source tells me that Aapex will close it's doors on Monday.There are loan officers around the country waiting to get paid on deals that closed and funded in June and July.The entire staff is unreachable by phone.Receptionists answer and patch calls through then noone answers.Roy Williams (owner) is about to pull off the big one ...