A journey that Nationstar Mortgage first began way back in 2015 is nearing its conclusion, as the company announced Tuesday morning that it will officially transition and become Mr. Cooper in August 2017.
As HousingWire previously reported, Nationstar initially said that it would transform into Mr. Cooper in the first half of 2016, but as Nationstar CEO Jay Bray told HousingWire late last year, the company is not just rebranding, it’s reinventing the way it operates, which meant that the transition would take longer than it first anticipated.
Bray told HousingWire back in December that the company planned to officially transition to Mr. Cooper in the first half of 2017, and now, for the first time, Nationstar is officially setting a date for the change – August 2017.
Nationstar began communicating the change to a number of its mortgage servicing customer earlier this year, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. The full rollout now starts in earnest, the company said Tuesday.
“Launching Mr. Cooper is another important step in our journey to transform the customer experience; and while our journey is still evolving, I’m incredibly proud of our team and the impactful changes we’ve made throughout our company,” Bray said in a release announcing the official Mr. Cooper date.
“Rallying around our new identity has helped us to create an entire company dedicated to keeping the dream of homeownership alive for our customers,” Bray added. “Becoming Mr. Cooper and making the home loan experience great are key in our goal of creating customers for life.”
As Bray said in December, before Nationstar unveiled the change to its customers, the company wanted to change its internal operations as well.
“Initially, Nationstar launched Mr. Cooper to its team members in early 2016, focusing first on cultural change and a newly established mission to keep the dream of homeownership alive for customers,” the company said in its release. “It redefined its values to encourage team members to be challengers of convention, champions for customers and cheerleaders for the team – all in an effort to help customers better navigate the often- complex mortgage process.”
Once that shift was completed, the company became ready to unveil Mr. Cooper to the world.
While Mr. Cooper may seem like an “out of left field” option for a mortgage company, Nationstar said that the idea is to personalize the mortgage experience from origination all the way through servicing.
“After extensive research and testing, Mr. Cooper was selected as the new brand name to personify the next generation of home loan servicing and lending for the company,” Nationstar said in its release. “It represents a more personal relationship customers can have with their home loan provider. The brand recognizes the critical role of a customer advocate in delivering a positive experience and aligns the entire company behind the spirit of customer advocacy.”
As HousingWire first reported in December 2015, the company’s rebrand was led by Nationstar’s marketing team and along with creative agency Phenomenon.
According to Nationstar, the company analyzed “thousands” of names before choosing Mr. Cooper. For much more on the reasons Nationstar chose Mr. Cooper as a brand, click here for HousingWire’s exclusive interview with Bray.
And now, the company will begin communicating the change to all of its customers.
According to Nationstar, the company will begin directly notifying customers of the name change later this month, which should help ensure a “seamless transition” until the official switch takes place.
In August, Nationstar’s current website (mynationstar.com) will redirect and become MrCooper.com, which recently launched as a landing page for the borrowers who received the first round of letters from Nationstar.
MrCooper.com is live, and soon, Mr. Cooper the mortgage company will be too. Soon enough, Mr. Cooper will cease to be Nationstar’s future and become its present.
