Wells Fargo announced plans to cease offering reverse mortgages through their wholesale channel after March 18, 2011.  The move comes as little surprise considering Wells Fargo has made very little effort to sustain any meaningful reverse mortgage wholesale production.

Considered the retail behemoth with retail production more than double the next closest competitor, Wells Fargo's wholesale endorsements were about 6.9% of total production for 2010.  It is believed that Wells Fargo had maintained a limited number of approved wholesale clients for reverse mortgages and the offering was not considered key to their production.

According to data from RM Insight, Wells Fargo endorsed a total of 17,419 loans in 2010.  Of those, 16,213 were produced via their retail channel, and 1,206 were produced through wholesale.

A spokesperson for the company stated that the change should have little, if any, impact on Wells Fargo's production within the reverse mortgage industry.  The spokesperson noted that the employees who have supported the wholesale division will be transitioned into similar roles supporting the retail division.

The move is unrelated to Bank of America's plans to exit the reverse mortgage industry entirely.  Wells Fargo has never provided any indication that wholesale production was an integral component of their plans within the reverse mortgage sector.