California-based mortgage lender New American Funding (NAF) announced plans on Wednesday to add nearly 1,000 new jobs to its national employment ranks by the end of 2019’s fourth quarter.
While not specifically mandated to add to the company’s ranks of reverse mortgage staff, NAF Reverse National Production Manager Ellen Skaggs confirmed for RMD that the recruitment drive will include the addition of reverse personnel.
In terms of how the company’s reverse mortgage division will be interacting with this push, Skaggs tells RMD that it depends on how well a potential recruit fits in with the company’s reverse mortgage division.
“As New American is expanding with the recent decision to hire 1,000 new employees, we are looking at expanding our reverse division in several areas,” Skaggs told RMD in an email. “Northern California, the Midwest and Southwest. We have branches on the forward side located in these areas. The candidates [for positions in our reverse mortgage division] must be able to self-source reverse loans, as well as take referrals from the forward loan officers.”
The move is expected to significantly increase the company’s current national workforce from 2,982 employees to nearly 4,000, and will impact as many as 209 branches, 5 call centers, and the company’s Tustin, Calif.-based corporate headquarters.
“We are excited to be adding almost 1,000 jobs to keep fueling our tremendous growth,” said Patty Arvielo, President of New American Funding, in a press release announcing the hiring push. “Our commitment to innovation has led to the development of an impressive suite of cutting-edge tools and resources to help our team work even smarter.”
Through a program at NAF called Specialized Training Empowering People (STEP), new hires added to the ranks of the company are provided with a complete corporate training curriculum, the press release says.
“A major component of STEP is Launch Lab, a series of rigorous online and on-site training courses for prospective loan officers who are new to the industry or experienced mortgage professionals who want to transition into a different role,” the company says.
New American Funding is a DBA of Broker Solutions, Inc., and originated 150 reverse mortgage loans in the 12 months between June 2018 and May 2019, according to data from Reverse Market Insight.
