New Wholesalers, Programs

Countrywide Financial Corp. has rolled out SimpleEquity, a higher loan-to-value reverse mortgage for seniors with high-dollar homes, according to a company document. No mortgage insurance premiums are required and monthly servicing fees are lower.

The origination fee is waived if 75 percent is initially drawn, while 100 percent draws also include waiver of closing costs, Countrywide spokesman Daniel Weidman confirmed. The loan is available throughout the country except in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and North Carolina, he added.

At Flagstar Bank, secure e-signed mortgage documents are available to brokers and originators through a custom plug-in to a la mode’s SureDocs system, according to a press release. Once the plug-in delivers SureDocs e-documents to the bank through Flagstar’s back-end processes over a secure connection, brokers are able to log in to check processing status.

NovaStar Mortgage Inc. announced an option-ARM product with a fixed rate for five years for Alt-A borrowers. Brokers can find more product information online at www.novastarIS.com.

Newport Beach, Calif.-based Icon Residential Capital LLC said it will launch a wholesale lending division. Kathleen Lipps has been named the division’s national production manager and will be in charge of launching and expanding the wholesale efforts.

GrupoMac has been created as a wholesale division of IndyMac Bank F.S.B. that will focus on serving mortgage brokers and emerging bankers in markets with significant Spanish-speaking populations, according to an announcement. Mark Mozilo, son of Countrywide Financial Corp. CEO and founder Angelo Mozilo, will head the unit — which will offer IndyMac programs.

This year’s plans include an expansion of GrupoMac’s bilingual support staff into a number of IndyMac’s regional mortgage centers. IndyMac noted the Hispanic homeownership rate is expected to jump by more than 50 percent by the end of this decade, while the number of Spanish-speaking residents is expected to more than triple from 31 million to 100 million by 2030.

“In 2006, IndyMac funded approximately 24 percent of the loans for this demographic,” said GrupoMac’s Mozilo in the statement.