Sue Potteiger, chief appraiser at MetLife Bank ($43.30 0%), confirms the mortgage lender and insurance giant will reimburse appraisers for work performed at the request of defunct contractor.
AppraiserLoft, an appraisal management firm that contracted with MetLife and other lenders to arrange for home valuations, recently went out of business, leaving a wake of unpaid invoices due to appraisers. The writing was on the wall for months before the full dissolution of AppraiserLoft in October 2011. The California appraisal management company cited slow incoming payments to the firm as the reason for long-delayed payments to appraisers.
Financial documents, obtained by HousingWire, show radical spending patterns on its corporate American Express card in the two months leading up to the firm shutting its doors.
At any rate, despite performing their contracted jobs, appraisers did not get paid immediately following the closure.
Potteiger said MetLife is now going to pay those appraisers, despite already paying AppraiserLoft for the valuations.
In total, when AppraiserLoft closed, $3 million in unpaid contracts were left behind. For its part, MetLife deals represent a tiny fraction of that total.
"I cannot provide an exact amount because we consider such financial figures internal and not for public disclosure," said MetLife spokesman David Hammarström, "but I can tell you that the total amount paid to the appraisers in this situation is in the five figures, meaning, under $100K all in."
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