GreenPoint Prefab Loan Unit Expanding Servicing Portfolio

Corp. has contracts to service $900 million of loans for units of Bank of America Corp. and Deutsche Bank.

The subservicing agreements will bring GreenPoint Credit's servicing total to $13.3 billion.

GreenPoint Credit said Monday that it had started to service 18,500 loans for the Bank of America unit, NationsCredit Manufactured Housing Corp. GreenPoint also said that it had a contract with Deutsche Financial Corp. to service 6,000.

The NationsCredit loans have balances of $630 million, and the Deutsche loans balances of $270 million.

John Wheeler, president and chief executive of San Diego-based GreenPoint Credit, said it charges a monthly fee, based on portfolio size, to take over servicing.

GreenPoint Financial bought the unit, which was formerly known as BankAmerica Housing Services, from Bank of America on Sept. 30 of last year for $603 million. Bank of America retained all of the manufactured housing loans in its portfolio. GreenPoint Credit continued servicing the loans for a fee.

"We're just getting started," Mr. Wheeler said. "For us, servicing other people's loans has been very lucrative, and something to fill in the gaps until we build a portfolio of our own."

Fee income makes up about 60% of GreenPoint Credit's revenue, Mr. Wheeler said. The company has 1,600 employees, 80% of them in regional offices, and the servicing is needed to keep them fully active, he said.

"As we go down the road, we will have more and more servicing income," Mr. Wheeler said, "but we'll also be making money on loans that we generate.

"Companies like Deutsche come to us wanting to get out of lending on manufactured housing retail contracts," Mr. Wheeler said. "Deutsche wanted to dismantle their business and needed someone to service their outstanding loans and securitizations. They let us service it for a fee so they can let their people go."

GreenPoint Credit also signed a backup servicing agreement with Dynex Capital, covering 8,700 loans with outstanding balances of $380 million. Mr. Wheeler said that if Dynex defaults or if something goes wrong within the company, GreenPoint would assume the servicing for all of the investors.

Mr. Wheeler said that in the last three or four years, about 10 companies have entered manufactured-home lending because they thought it was an inexpensive business to get into.

The reality that they found, he said, is that entry is costly and the business is a tough one.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER