Altavera Mortgage Services (Altavera), a provider of SAFE Act-compliant outsourced residential mortgage origination services, reported a 30 percent increase in credit union demand for its outsourced mortgage origination services in the third quarter of 2016 compared with the previous quarter. The uptick in demand for outsourced services is linked to growing regulatory compliance costs and an overall increase in origination volume among credit unions.
“Reports early this year indicated that the credit union market was experiencing atypical growth, and our own observations confirm it,” Altavera CEO Debora Aydelotte said. “Increasingly, medium-to-large-sized credit unions are choosing Altavera as their outsource partner because we can deliver the service excellence required to meet member commitments while significantly reducing the burden of growing origination workloads.”
According to the September “Credit Union Trends Report” by CUNA Mutual Group, credit unions experienced a 3.3 percent year-over-year increase in first-mortgage originations and a 20 percent year-over-year increase in home-equity loans and second mortgages during the first half of 2016.
Ent Credit Union, the largest Colorado-based credit union and a mortgage lender since the 1980s, turned to U.S.-based Altavera for outsourced assistance in managing some of its record-breaking 2016 first mortgage volume.
“Ent has been active in mortgage lending for decades. Having just come off a record Q3, we anticipate record volume for 2016 and robust demand for mortgages into the foreseeable future,” Ent Credit Union Senior Vice President and Chief Lending Officer Jon Paukovich said. “We are fortunate to be able to invest in growing and training our in-house staff to handle most of our operations, but with the kind of growth we’ve been undergoing, the option to outsource through Altavera is helpful. Mortgage talent is in high demand and can be very expensive.”
Altavera is part of the Loan Services business unit of Computershare (ASX: CPU). Its sister company Capital Markets Cooperative (CMC), a provider of capital markets solutions to mortgage lenders, also serves credit union mortgage lending operations with its mandatory delivery and hedging advisory services.
“The credit union model is built on member trust, which drives a conservative approach to the mortgage business,” Capital Markets Cooperative Executive Vice President Jeff Harry said. “Still, credit unions are receptive to outsourcing when they feel it gives them an advantage around safety and soundness or when certain capabilities just aren’t available internally. Just as our credit union partners rely on CMC’s expertise in hedging analytics, more and more credit unions are turning to Altavera for SAFE Act-compliant mortgage loan fulfillment.”
Altavera expects the upward trend in credit union business to continue over the next 12 months and is preparing to dedicate further resources to this sector of the market.