NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick will have a new sponsor when he climbs behind the wheel of his #4 Chevrolet SS this weekend, and the name will be familiar to those in the mortgage finance world.
Ditech Mortgage Corp. has announced a partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing, which owns Harvick’s race team, to serve as an associate sponsor for Harvick’s team beginning with the Sept. 12-14 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race weekend at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois.
ditech, which refers to itself with a lower case spelling in in all non-formal references, will appear on Harvick’s car and on the chest of his firesuit, the company announced this week.
“At ditech, we’re all NASCAR fans,” said Patti Cook, president of DT Holdings, parent company of ditech. “NASCAR is part of the fabric of America, and so is ditech’s goal of securing home ownership for as many Americans as possible. Everyone – from our employees to our customers – can’t wait to cheer on Kevin’s amazing team on the racetrack.”
ditech was once one of the biggest names in the mortgage market. In the pre-crash days, ditech was one of the leading subprime lenders, with the bulk of its mortgages being interest-only, low-documentation subprime loans.
The company was also a pioneer in offering 125% loans, which allowed the borrower to borrow more than the sale price of the home. When the mortgage bubble broke, ditech suffered huge losses and disappeared from view until very recently.
The company re-launched in a new form in May, having been formed from the assets of the GMACRescap estate, purchased by Walter Investment Management Corp. (WAC) in November 2012.
At the time, the company said it was launching with a three-pronged approach to reclaiming some of the market share it once had, albeit with a new plan. The company’s new plan called for a focus on direct consumer lending, retail lending and correspondent lending with their 600-plus institutional partners.
“The fact that the ditech brand was so recognizable and highly regarded convinced us that this was the name under which we wanted to do business,” Cook said at the time.
Now the company is leveraging that brand with the Stewart-Haas partnership, which the company refers to as “multiyear.”
Stewart-Haas Racing is co-owned by former Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, the founder of Haas Automation. Stewart-Haas also fields three other teams in the Sprint Cup circuit, the #14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart, the #10 GoDaddy Chevrolet for Danica Patrick, and the #41 Haas Automation Chevrolet for Kurt Busch.
Harvick’s primary sponsors are currently Budweiser and Jimmy John’s.
“What ditech stands for are the same things I stand for,” said Harvick of the partnership. “Anyone who knows me knows that I’m pretty direct, and that I expect people to be treated fairly and honestly.
“It’s how I operate, and it’s how we all operate at Stewart-Haas Racing. Our expertise is in racing, and ditech’s is in the mortgage industry. Together, we make a powerful team that delivers on and off the racetrack.”
(Picture above courtesy of KevinHarvick.com)
