I recently had a RMD reader ask me what is going on with Reverse Mortgage Lender Network so I thought I would update everyone on why the website was recently taken down.  When I contacted RMLN this is the response I received.

RMLN was purchased by Quickenloans.com and we are in the process of revamping our wholesale organization.  For the time being we are not accepting wholesale file submissions but we plan to be back up and running with new products, technology, and pricing by July 1st.  Let me know if I can answer any more questions for you, thanks!

Christopher Russow

Any other details right now are pretty scarce.  I asked if the company would be re-branded under the Quicken name and they wouldn’t give me any answer.  So what can we expect from the new and hopefully improved RMLN?  One area that I’m hoping to see some advancements made is in the technology an institution like Quicken could provide.  Quicken was the pioneer in lending online, will they try to do the same thing in the reverse mortgage business?

In my opinion technology can be a slippery slope… it’s great, but companies need to be careful about investing too much money into software that people might not need yet or software that isn’t user friendly.  I will say our industry is making progress in the technology arena but in the grand scheme of things we are still in the dark ages compared to what is available today.  For example, what other industry can say that some of the LARGEST wholesale providers don’t even have a website that lists general product and contact information???  The reverse mortgage industry.  I’m not saying every wholesale lender has to have a unbelievable website, but if you are considered a player in our industry… at least have a general website dedicated to your wholesale presence.  Does anyone think I’m being to harsh here?    

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of speaking with one of the Rock Bridge Equity partners about acquiring One Reverse Mortgage and he seemed to be very committed to wholesale as well as One Reverse, the retail division.

I wish I had some more news for you but come July 1st we should know more… if you have anymore information before then, you know what to do.