Wells Fargo dominates home loan business
Wells Fargo & Co. is the largest U.S. mortgage lender, taking an unprecedented 28.8 percent share of all home loans nationwide last year, up from 11.2 percent in 2007.
“They are dominating the retail space because they are huge, and because there is so little competition from other big banks that have pulled back,” says Alan Rosenbaum, chief executive of GuardHill Financial Corp., a New York-based mortgage bank, to The Wall Street Journal.
Wells Fargo’s home loan production topped $524 billion last year – a record for any one lender. What’s more, that number is more than all of the next five lenders home loan production combined, according to the publication Inside Mortgage Finance.
Wells Fargo has been aggressively approaching real estate brokers and developers to expand its home lending business, striking deals to become preferred lenders.
Wells Fargo preferred-lender arrangements give it “first crack at a lot more loans,” says Rosenbaum.
Source: “Real Estate News: Mortgage Gamble Pays Off for Wells,” The Wall Street Journal (April 3, 2013)
Chris Ryder
