According to a press release issued on June 29th, Bank of America has completed the acquisition of Seattle Mortgage’s reverse mortgage division. BofA made the announcement to acquire Seattle Mortgage back in April. Colin McCormick, BofA’s Reverse Mortgage Product executive commented, “Seattle Mortgage has been the gold standard in the reverse mortgage industry. We are excited about the opportunity to now integrate their sales and service expertise with our superior distribution and delivery platform.”
There has been no word if Bank of America is planning on using the Reverse Mortgage of America brand that Seattle Mortgage has built over the past few years, but they are integrating the former staff with the BofA team. The former VP and COO of Reverse Mortgage of America, John Nixon will be Bank of America’s reverse mortgage origination executive. “Our sales and service teams are excited about joining Bank of America, the nation’s premier consumer financial services organization,” Nixon said. “We now have the distribution and delivery power to reach more seniors who are actively seeking innovative financial solutions to meet their retirement needs. We also expect to expand our commitment to the wholesale channels by providing them with even more innovative products in the coming year.”
I wasn’t able to find out any information on how BofA was planning to integrate Seattle Mortgage’s wholesale business line. One of the drawbacks for signing up with Seattle’s wholesale division was their application fee which was fairly large. If BofA would eliminate this fee I’m sure that you would help to generate more business for the wholesale division. If this happens, Financial Freedom is the only other wholesale lender that charges a substantial application fee that I am aware of. I would also think that BofA would keep the wholesale business separate from BofA’s forward wholesale operation like Countrywide has done. Later on this week I will post some details on BofA’s proprietary product, the Senior Equity Maximizer. To read a full copy of the press release click the link below.
