BB&T Corp., which traditionally has kept a tight lock on its warehouse lending program, disclosed that it had $1.5 billion in commitments at June 30 with about half of that in the form of outstanding loans.
About a year ago, BB&T bought most of the troubled Colonial Bank of Montgomery, Ala., including its warehouse lending division, which is based in Orlando.
Colonial at one point last year had commitments of well over $3 billion, but that was before it failed. (The bank became ensnarled with Taylor Bean & Whitaker, which tried to buy the depository in 2009 only to have the deal collapse and a criminal investigation ensue. In the late spring of this year, TBW's chief executive was indicted on fraud charges.)
Before buying Colonial, BB&T had a small warehouse lending group. The bank disclosed its warehouse figures in a survey form filed with National Mortgage News. Based on preliminary figures, BB&T/Colonial ranks about fourth nationwide in terms of warehouse commitments. BB&T is based in Winston-Salem, N.C. TBW was headquartered in Ocala, Fla.
Meanwhile, in other warehouse news, Michele Perrin of Perrin & Associates in Irvine, Calif., said she is working on getting a line of credit for a nonbank lender that is an affiliate of a national home building company. She declined to name the lender or home builder but said at least five warehouse firms want to lend to the company.
"We're a few weeks into this deal," Perrin said. "There's five applications in the process."
