Caliber Funding LLC in Irving, Texas, is talking with several loan officers and support staff who worked at MetLife Home Loans and may wind up hiring upward of 300 full-timers, according to officials familiar with the situation.
Caliber Chief Executive Brian Simon told National Mortgage News it is "in the process of nailing down a few specifics" involving a "significant number of them." He said he could not comment further.
Caliber, a fast-growing nonbank lender, is licensed to fund in 45 states. Simon said that within 90 days it should be in all 50 states.
Simon joined the retail/wholesaler lender last year from Freedom Mortgage Corp. in New Jersey.
MetLife Inc. is getting out of the "forward" mortgage business. Two weeks ago it announced its departure from mortgage banking, leaving the fate of 4,300 workers up in the air.
About 12 lenders have been courting the home loan unit's top producers.
