Nonconforming lending, online underwriting touted in announcement
By MortgageDaily.com staff
4/18/2005

Mortgage brokers now have another nonconforming wholesaler to deliver loans to. The new operation promises high speed turnaround through online underwriting.

Bear Stearns Companies Inc. announced today that it now provides brokers with home loan financing through its new division, Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage Corp.

"The business allows us to round out our mortgage franchise and provides us with an additional way to serve our clients," commented Bear Sterns President Warren Spector in the announcement.

The wholesale division, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., will focus on nonconforming loans, according to the company -- which says it purchases and securitizes residential mortgages. The new company also has an East Coast operations center in Philadelphia.

Bear Stearns, which owns and operates mortgage servicer EMC Mortgage Corporation and recently invested in United Kingdom-based Essex & Capital, said for over 20 years it has been one of the largest purchasers of residential mortgages to be securitized.

The company noted that brokers can minimize the period between funding and closing loans through its Web interface -- located at www.BearDirect.net -- which allows them to electronically submit loan applications for approval by an automated underwriting engine and lock in loans online.

"Account executives still pull over to the side of the road to calculate the pricing of loans for brokers," said the new company's chief executive Jeff Walton in the prepared statement. "What we have created is a fully automated system that allows brokers to run what-if scenarios, check on the status of loans, get immediate online approval, lock in loans and minimize paperwork."

Bear Stearns said the wholesale division will better serve the needs of mortgage originators. "As mortgage brokers obtain warehouse lines and become mortgage bankers, Bear Stearns Residential provides underwriting capability prior to funding which permits newer mortgage bankers to mitigate the risks of closing loans in their own name."

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