Washington Mutual

I personally didn't do a lot of business with WaMu so it doesn't really affect me but I know many loan officers who had solid working relationships with Washington Mutual and they will have to invest a lot of time to build a working relationship with another lender.

The way the mortgage broker business  works is that most of us have access to many lenders who, until recently, offered many different mortgage products for our clients.  When a new lender came calling on a mortgage broker office, the broker owner would ask, "what mortgage products to you offer that we don't currently get through one of our existing relationships?".  If the lender rep had a good answer, a unique mortgage product that would meet the needs of certain group of clients, the broker would add them to their quiver and schedule a meeting to introduce them to their loan officers. If not, the broker would send them packing. 

Most loan officers, while having access to more lenders than they will ever use, generally end up with solid working relationships with between 2 and 5 lenders.  These relationships allow the loan officer a better chance at getting exceptions, rushes, and having a little more control over the loan which can be critical in a purchase transaction.  When working with a new lender or a lender they don't use much, it is more difficult to get the attention of decision makers, underwriters or anyone else and this can be frustrating especially when a loan starts to unravel due to unforeseen circumstances or loan officer mistakes.   Washington Mutual had some great wholesale account reps and were a great lender to get loans done with, they will be missed by many.