Previous In this conversation from Dallas, Texas, Sarah Wheeler sits down with David Schneider, President and CEO of Cenlar, to discuss the proposed acquisition of Cenlar by Pennymac and what it means for clients, employees and the broader mortgage servicing market.
Schneider said the deal is “such a great fit for a few reasons,” starting with Pennymac’s strategic move into sub-servicing. “Pennymac’s decided that they want to get into the subservicing business, and when they thought about getting into it, they thought about, we should partner with the very best — and that’s what Cenlar is. We’re the nation’s largest subservicer.”
He emphasized that the acquisition brings advantages beyond expansion for Cenlar. “It’s great for our people and our clients, because we’re partnering with a larger institution that brings a lot more resources, a lot more capital strength,” Schneider said. “They own their own servicing platform. They can invest in servicing. So we think it’s just a great fit.”
For clients, Schneider underscored continuity and stability through the transition. “From now until close, it’s business as usual,” he said. “The day of close, the day after close, versus the day before close, will look exactly the same. We’ll have the same people, the same agents on the call answering the calls, the same client managers.”
Over time, enhancements will come thoughtfully. “As we move forward, we’ll start to think about the transition and how we leverage their platform to better serve our clients,” he said. “It’ll take some time, because it will be done very thoughtfully, very considerately. But when we do that, it will be a platform that has more capability and is better for the consumers and better for the clients.”
Scale, Schneider noted, is a defining advantage. “Combined, the two platforms [have] about 4 million loans,” he said. “It’s hard to go a day now without reading something about AI or technology investment, and having 4 million loans over which you can spread that technology investment is just massive.”
Culturally, Schneider noted alignment between the two organizations. “They are a large correspondent lender. They already deal with many of our clients buying loans,” he said. “We’re an institutional subservicer. So that fit together is just — we think the same way. We think about client service. We think about how to interact with clients and provide a better level of service.”
Reflecting on a joint town hall with Pennymac CEO David Spector, Schneider said, “We both talked about the same thing. We both talked about the values that we share, how we work with our clients, how we treat homeowners and how we treat employees. And that sync was there.”
On day one after close, he said, the visible change will be minimal. “We’ll become part of Pennymac, and we’ll be employees of Pennymac,” Schneider said. “I will trade in my Cenlar shirt for a Pennymac shirt. But we’re still going to answer the calls. We’re still going to be the same people.”
Strategically, Schneider sees this as a great opportunity. “Size and scale make a big difference in terms of a servicing platform,” he said. “The technology costs you have to make in terms of investment are significant. We might want to look at partnering with someone who can really bring that technology, bring the AI capability, bring the people who have the experience.”
He added, “We’re actually looking at this as an opportunity to not only keep our business, but to grow it — and grow it really significantly.”
More broadly, Schneider views the deal as part of a larger trend. “You’re seeing a lot of activity in the mortgage world in terms of consolidation,” he said. “I don’t see that trend stopping. I see that continuing.”
Ultimately, his enthusiasm centers on what the combined company can become. “The opportunity to be part of a company like Pennymac is pretty special,” Schneider said. “I’m confident that as these teams come together, we’re really going to build a powerhouse of a business that will serve our clients and customers for years to come.”
