In The News

SitusAMC Launches Licensed Loan Underwriting To Help Lenders Improve Originations

SitusAMC, a provider of solutions supporting the entire lifecycle of real estate finance, has launched its Licensed Underwriting offering as a component of its Loan Fulfillment Support Services. The expanded service provides turn-key support for a variety of product types and helps lenders improve margins, increase loan volume, and shorten turnaround times.

SitusAMC already offers a variety of fulfillment support services, including origination, closing, funding, and post-closing. The new full-service licensed underwriting offering supports all major mortgage products including agency, home equity, jumbo, non-QM and debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) programs. The offering can be customized to align with the lender’s specific needs, helping them expand into new product areas efficiently and with confidence while optimizing operations in a fluctuating originations environment.

SitusAMC is responding to the current purchase-driven market, where lenders are struggling to maintain volume and compete for market share while navigating increasing origination expenses, rising interest rates, heightened regulatory demands, and a highly competitive talent market. In addition, robust home appreciation and changes in how people earn money in a gig economy have resulted in a shrinking agency market, driving many lenders to explore other mortgage products, such as non-QM and home equity lending, to maintain volume and protect profitability.

“Our new loan fulfillment support services are designed to help originators navigate today’s challenging market dynamics,” stated Jon Gerretsen, SitusAMC managing director and head of credit services. “The scope of services can be customized to fit a range of needs. We are excited to expand our comprehensive suite of capabilities across our wide range of areas of support that include origination, closing and funding, and post-closing.”

SitusAMC’s Loan Fulfillment Support Services builds on the firm’s 25-plus years’ experience of credit underwriting as part of its comprehensive solutions supporting the residential mortgage market. The new services expand its mortgage origination support offerings, in particular the offerings added by the 2021 acquisition of Assimilate Solutions, LLC, a leading provider of mortgage process outsourcing for the residential originations market. The new offering also benefits from SitusAMC’s deep underwriting experience in non-agency programs such as non-QM, home equity, jumbo and DSCR, and from its underwriting experience in support of secondary markets, where it is the No. 1 third-party review firm for private label securitization.

“Given today’s challenges in a rapidly-changing mortgage space, it is extremely difficult for a lender to strike the right balance in terms of priorities,” Gerretsen added. “We work with many of the country’s top lenders, and for most of our clients the current focus is on maintaining profitability and finding the right operating model while not compromising world-class customer experience.”

Leading SitusAMC’s campaign to bring the loan fulfillment support services to the nation’s lender community is Chad Berreth, who has been named senior director of sales. He is a proven and respected mortgage professional, having held numerous leadership roles at firms including Accenture Mortgage Cadence and Stewart Lender Services. He will partner with the broader residential services sales team to bring Licensed Underwriting and the Loan Fulfillment Support Services offering to market.

“Our expanded offering enables lenders to add new channels, scale effectively, and take on unprecedented volume levels while improving their margins, lowering recruiting and training costs, and staying compliant,” Berreth said. “I’m eager to help more mortgage banking firms realign their variable and fixed costs and achieve better results.”