HighTechLending leaders say flexibility and value drive the new wholesale division

Based in California HighTechLendinga top 10 lender in the reverse mortgage industry, recently announced that it will be rebranding its wholesale channel to US Senior Lending Wholesale Division in an effort to better align its identity with core business lines designed to serve older borrowers.

One of the ways the company plans to continue to make a name for itself in the industry is by taking a “boutique” approach to customer service and partner relationships. The company doesn’t want to change the overarching experiences partners have come to expect, but the rebrand will help further emphasize its focus on serving older borrowers, said Eric Ellsworth, the company’s executive vice president of sales.

“Same great company, same great people, but we have a new, fresh brand,” Ellsworth said in an interview with HousingWire‘s Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD).

‘Red carpet service’

The company’s overall commitment to the senior population is better represented by the rebranding efforts, Ellsworth said.

“We are deeply committed to serving the 55 and older demographic and addressing the significant challenges they face,” he said. “Cash flow is one of the biggest problems for many in this age group, and our reverse mortgage product is designed to provide a solution. In this sector, a rising tide really does lift all boats. If we all focus on helping this population overcome their financial hurdles, it will benefit everyone involved.”

In terms of company size, HighTechLending/American Senior isn’t the biggest player in this space, but the company makes the case that this is an advantage from a service perspective.

“We may not be a huge company, but that brings a lot of benefits,” Ellsworth explains. “When brokers work with the American Senior Lending Wholesale Division, they benefit from our in-house account managers, who are typically licensed loan officers. This ensures that we can provide extensive support to our brokers and partners throughout the entire process.”

This includes tasks such as data entry, customer contact, underwriting and financing.

“We offer what we like to call our ‘wingman program,’ where we provide red carpet service,” Ellsworth said. “As your wingman, we are here to guide you through the process, even if it is your first time. The beauty of our approach is its flexibility: we can provide as much or as little support as you need, tailoring our assistance to your specific needs as a wholesale broker.”

Customized approach

Likewise, Ellsworth said the company can also accommodate that preference for those who don’t want as much help. Ultimately, the company just wants to raise awareness of its wholesale division.

“We are excited to expand and grow this channel with the American Senior Lending brand. I think we can take it to the next level,” he said. “I don’t think many people know much about our wholesale division, but when they discover us, it’s usually a very good outcome.”

Rich Walker, vice president of Wholesale Reverse, added that the “boutique” approach can help the company tailor its service offerings, which could be more challenging if the company were much larger.

“We’re bringing in a lot of partners and we’ll have a meeting between their operations staff and ours so we can understand how they prefer to operate, especially with our partners,” Walker said. “Over the past year we have brought on a number of principal agent partners, which has been a good experience that has helped us grow from just [third-party origination (TPO)].”

Growing and creating value

The division is growing through the creation of new personnel positions in wholesale, specialized in partner support. And along with the support of account managers, the company has direct approval underwriters who can help broker partners with “more in-depth questions,” Walker said.

“This has really helped us by giving our account managers the space to do more business while still serving the customers we already have,” Walker explains.

Ellsworth also cited the 2023 hiring of Phil Walker as vice president of retirement strategies as a key for HighTechLending, which is using its experience in financial services to help facilitate leads for broker partners.

“We have a series for all of our brokers called ‘financial planning series webinars’ that provide educational credits for our brokers’ referral partners who are financial planners,” Ellsworth explains. “Our goal is to help our brokers grow their business.”

The company is in the middle of a series teaching partners about effective tactics for selling reverse mortgages. This feeds into the company’s desire to provide value to partners as they look to grow their presence in the space, Ellsworth said.

“If they need end-to-end help – someone to help them sell the loan – we can do that,” he said. “If they just need help with fast turnaround times and meaningful adoption, we can do that too, because adoption is one of our greatest advantages.”

Earlier this year, David Peskin announced he would buy an ownership stake in the company. According to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) approval data collected by Reverse market insight (RMI), HighTechLending was the tenth largest reverse mortgage lender in the country, with 413 loans in the twelve months ending July 2024.