Wintrust Financial Corporation’s mortgage unit on Tuesday was named a preferred investor of the Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative. Members of the mortgage banker alliance can receive pricing incentives for agency, government and jumbo fixed-rate products from the federally-chartered Wintrust Mortgage Corporation, which is also a member of Lenders One. Combined, the more than 125 members of Lenders One originated $40bn in mortgage loans last year, and the cooperative has already originated more than $17bn in loans in Q109 alone. The Q109 origination volume is up from $7.6bn in Q108. Lenders One said it hopes members will originate a combined $70bn in 2009. “The surge in refinancings has left many lenders searching for more options to help them maintain large loan volumes,” Lenders One CEO Scott Stern said in a statement. “Our investor partners, such as Wintrust, are providing cooperative members with the quick funding and aggressive pricing they need to serve their communities and competitively continue business operations.” Write to Austin Kilgore