Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is getting out of the reverse mortgage wholesale production channel, a spokesman confirmed. However, it still will originate these loans through the retail channel.
The Wells Fargo & Co unit will accept applications for the product from third-party originators through March 18.
The decision was made to exit wholesale for reverse mortgages after Wells Fargo did a detailed review of its production volume and goals for this product, the spokesman said.
While unable to provide data on the breakdown of retail versus wholesale, most of the reverse mortgages originated by Wells Fargo are through the retail channel, he said.
The spokesman added that the team members who supported the reverse mortgage wholesale channel would be transitioned to continue supporting the product on the retail side. He was unable to disclose how many positions were involved.
According to National Mortgage News' Quarterly Data Report, in the third quarter of 2010 Wells Fargo was the top producer of reverse mortgages, with volume of $1.4 million.
The No. 2 originator, Bank of America Corp., announced several weeks ago that it was dropping out of the reverse mortgage business.
