JB Nutter announced today that it would be extending its moratorium on new files until March 2009.  The Kansas City, MO based lender originally sent out an email announcing the moratorium to correspondents on January 9th, citing a funding bottleneck that was supposed to be cleared up by the end of last week. 

According to an email sent out today, JB Nutter’s warehouse lenders have forced the company to reduce the number of files it can close each day.  Below is a copy of the email:

Re: Extension of New File Moratorium

To our Valued Correspondents:

Warehouse lending issues have forced us to reduce the number of files we can close each day. As such, we must extend our moratorium on new files until March 2009. We advise that you seek out another wholesale lender for the time being and we will keep you posted when new file submissions can resume.

With respect to existing loans in the pipeline, James B. Nutter & Company remains fully committed to closing every one of these loans as soon as possible. These loans have the highest priority and we are working diligently to close them.

We cannot say enough how thankful and appreciative we are of your business, and we apologize for this moratorium which was caused by national events beyond our control. Your professionalism during these unique and challenging times has been an inspiration, and we are chomping at the bit to resume normal operations. Stay tuned!

JB Nutter was the second largest wholesale reverse mortgage lender according to data provided by RM Insight earlier this year.  The company was able to gain ground on Financial Freedom and I expected them to surpass them in 2009.

Now, that will be a little more difficult but I don’t think you can count them out totally.  As far as wholesale lenders are concerned, their reputation for being great to work with was unmatched even though their technology is a bit out dated.  Will they be able to get customers back once things are straightened out?

Your guess is as good as mine… if you’re looking for another wholesale lender check out the link below.

Wholesale Reverse Mortgage Lenders