Mutual of Omaha’s inverse division is launching a broker protection program
Mutuality of Omaha MortgageThe company’s inverse division has launched a new program, ‘Broker Protect’, which aims to provide so-called ‘industry-first’ protection to brokers doing business with the company.
Mutual of Omaha-approved brokers and lead agents will have access to five core protections, including a promise that the lender “will not solicit borrowers located within the broker network.” It will also exclude borrowers from the broker network from the company’s outbound marketing campaigns.
The company will alert broker partners of potential refinancing activity and notify them if “a payout is ordered on any of their loans within the broker network.” It will also add the broker’s name to the borrower’s monthly settlement statement so that an interested borrower can contact them directly for a refinancing option.
‘In line with their success’
This protection is intended to indicate that brokers can have more confidence when bringing their business to Mutual of Omaha, said Alex Pistone, president of the reverse division.
“To our knowledge, this is the first time an investor has offered this type of protection in the reverse mortgage space,” Pistone said in an interview with HousingWire‘s Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD). “We see this program as a way to show our broker and principal agent partners that we are aligned with their success.”
If a new broker becomes aware that the company won’t solicit its borrowers, it makes for a more productive relationship on both sides, Pistone explains.
“Once a new customer knows we’re not going to approach their borrowers, the air clears and we can get to the important work of helping our brokers build a more profitable business,” he said.
When asked what prompted the creation of the new program, Pistone said it comes down to Mutual of Omaha’s brand recognition among older homeowners and bringing some of those sentiments to broker partners.
“We know that brokers who use our brand win more loans,” Pistone said. “What our wholesale customers wanted to know was: If they join our brand, will they lose relationships if those borrowers later refinance or move?”
The program, he said, is an “unequivocal statement that we understand and value those hard-won customer relationships and do not intend to come between our brokers and their borrowers.”
An eye for wholesale growth
Pistone said that as the company continues to focus on additional growth in the wholesale lending sector, it wants to make its commitment to these partners as explicit as possible. Broker Protect is seen as a way to do that.
“We have been the fastest growing wholesale investor in this space in recent years,” he said. “If our commitment to wholesale wasn’t already clear, it should be now. In the short few weeks since we unveiled the program, the response from brokers and lead agent partners has been overwhelmingly positive.”
As for future plans, Pistone characterized the new program as just the beginning of Mutual of Omaha’s upcoming wholesale efforts.
“We’re just getting warmed up,” he said. “If you have watched our development over the past few years, you have witnessed purposeful, strategic growth across all our channels. Our goal is to become the largest wholesale investor in reverse mortgages. We are working to develop technology and programs that will help us achieve this goal. In the meantime, we will continue to grow by providing unparalleled support to all our customers.”
As for the message he hopes the industry will receive through the creation of the program, Pistone said it’s all about trust.
“We would like the broader industry to know that they can confidently work with us and leverage the Mutual of Omaha brand without worrying about losing borrower relationships,” he said.
According to Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) approval data composed by Reverse market insight (RMI), Mutual of Omaha has been the third-largest wholesale producer in the country since August. It only follows the channel leader Longbridge financial and leading lender Finance of America (FOA), respectively.
Based specifically on the retail sector’s HECM recommendations through September this year, Mutual of Omaha has overtaken FOA as the leading initiator in the sector.
Mutual of Omaha and Longbridge are currently involved in a legal dispute over marketing practices that Longbridge claims are misleading.
