American Advisors Group (AAG) today announced the introduction of a new program called “AAG & You, Better Together,” a result of the company’s increased investment in wholesale partner relationships.
The program includes a new online portal that aims to provide more than 700 of AAG’s approved wholesale partners with access to product-specific information and tools partners can leverage for the purpose of growing their reverse mortgage lending businesses.
“AAG Wholesale has one of the industry’s most experienced sales leaders in Kimberly Smith, and has been investing in every aspect of the division, from our top-notch account executives and partner support, to our loan underwriting and processing operations,” said AAG Executive Vice President of Alternative Distribution Jesse Allen in a press release announcing the new initiative.
One of the catalysts for the creation of this program was the pace at which the wholesale marketplace is evolving, said Kimberly Smith, AAG Senior Vice President of Wholesale, in an email to RMD.
“After we shifted our core company focus to full retirement solutions, we realized that our wholesale clients could benefit from the same approach, but knew it would take a greater integration,” Smith said. “This moves us beyond transactional relationships and builds true partnerships where we can succeed together.”
The program follows a series of changes made by AAG’s operations division, and intends this new program to provide mortgage brokers and partners to a suite of reverse mortgage products, along with a more direct connection to qualified industry professionals.
“The program’s re-designed online portal contains customizable content to help AAG’s partners stay abreast of current business trends, including webinars, industry news and senior based-statistics,” the announcement release read. “AAG’s wholesale division is dedicated to educating mortgage brokers and bankers, credit union lenders, community bankers, and other financial service professionals on how to leverage reverse mortgage loans as a strategic financial planning tool for their senior clients.”
Among the new features that will be available to wholesale partners are sales team development training, customizable and compliant materials, legal and compliance review for marketing materials, a lender support team, and a suite of proprietary reverse mortgage loans including fixed and variable jumbos.
The specific forms that the educational materials will take will also have a broader focus on tapping home equity beyond a reverse mortgage.
“The program provides live training, online materials and webinars that reach beyond educating on what a reverse mortgage is and focus on using home equity holistically as a retirement tool,” Smith told RMD.
As to the idea of how this new program could potentially affect the industry’s growth, the customizability of the solutions presented by it have the potential to affect different companies in different ways, Smith explained.
“Every company operates differently and we provide customized solutions that meet their individual needs,” Smith said. “We work closely with each of our partners to design and implement a plan that helps them grow their business.”
By helping them grow their businesses, it will help expand the scope of the industry as a whole, said Smith.
“This is all about innovative ways to build our partners’ businesses. This industry thrives when we work together,” she said. “Our success is dependent on the success of our partners.”
For more information on AAG & You, visit its dedicated website.
