OneWest Bank Chief Executive Officer Terry Laughlin is stepping down to join Bank of America Corp., where he’ll replace mortgage executive Jack Schakett.

Laughlin announced his resignation from the Pasadena, California-based OneWest on June 21 and will stay with the bank through the end of July, according to spokeswoman Diane Henry.

“Terry brings deep mortgage and financial services leadership experience,” Barbara Desoer, president of Bank of America’s home-loan and insurance unit, told employees in a memo obtained by BusinessWeek. “He has played a critical role in the mortgage industry developing creative mortgage finance solutions that balance the need of customers, investors and shareholders.”

OneWest Bank is the parent company of Financial Freedom, the 5th largest reverse mortgage lender in the country according to data from Reverse Market Insight.  It was acquired as part of the deal when OneWest purchased IndyMac Bank in March of 2009.

OneWest CEO Resigns, to Replace Schakett at BofA (BusinessWeek)

The competition between reverse mortgage lenders continues with MetLife’s decision to roll out produt changes late last week.

The company introduced a “HECM Fixed No Service Fee 2″, which improved pricing on their fixed rate product to compete with the 100% Mortgage Insurance Premium credit from Bank of America.

In a message to correspondents, MetLife said it strives to be the lender of choice. “One of the ways we intend to reach this goal this is by offering a wide array of products that best serve the needs of the senior borrower,” said the company.

It eliminated the previous HECM fixed with no servicing fee as of Friday last week. MetLife also rolled out a lower fixed rate rate product at 4.99%, matching Live Well Financial.

Below is a chart we published last week showing the growth of the fixed rate product.

Financial Freedom announced to wholesale customers that it has enhanced its HECM Fixed Rate product by offering a lender paid credit to borrower closing costs on all refinance transactions.  The new product will be available starting June 3, 2010 and was designed to maximize flexibility for loan originators and provide better tools to capture interested reverse mortgage borrowers.

”By providing a lender credit to the borrower, we are effectively reducing the total closing costs paid by the borrower making the refinance more affordable while increasing the available loan proceeds,” said the company.

The enhanced HECM fixed also includes a lower rate of 5.39% and no servicing fee.  The lender credit can be used to reduce the loan origination fee charged and or the initial up-front HUD required Mortgage Insurance Premium.

A lender-paid credit is not available for HECM for Purchase transactions, in accordance with HUD guidelines said Financial Freedom.

The news comes after Bank of America announced it would be paying the entire upfront MIP for consumers for its HECM fixed product and Sun West’s decision to release a “zero fee” HECM fixed last week.

New View Advisors has added Jim Mahoney to its staff.  Based in New York, the company is a financial services firm advising clients on capital markets, product development, mergers and acquisitions, and asset investment strategies in the reverse mortgage industry.

During Jim’s career as CEO of Financial Freedom he had helped the company grow to 1500 employees and capture 55% of the industry market share at the time.  He was also a founding member and director of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA), and served as either Chairman or Co-Chairman since 1999. He currently serves as NRMLA’s Chairman Emeritus.

When RMD asked what type of role Mahoney would be fulfuiling at the company, Mike McCully, Partner at New View Advisors said, “We expect him to be a valuable resource in many of our initiatives.”

Financial Freedom’s servicer rating has been upgraded to ‘RPS3′ from ‘RPS3-’ said a statement from Fitch Ratings.

A subsidiary of One West Bank, FSB, Financial Freedom is a reverse mortgage lender headquartered in Irvine, CA and conducts its servicing operations from Austin, TX, Kalamazoo, MI and Norcross, GA. As of Dec. 31, 2009, Financial Freedom managed a reverse mortgage portfolio of nearly 164,000 loans with an unpaid principal balance of approximately $24.5 billion.

The rating actions reflect the company’s experienced senior management team, established reverse mortgage servicing experience, and solid technology platform said Fitch.

Financial Freedom’s rating was lowered after it was acquired by One West Bank, FSB but since has made operational and technological improvements across its servicing platform. Specifically, the company enhances its proprietary reverse mortgage servicing system to support improved controls, automation and reporting capabilities.

In addition, it expanded its management team to provide more direct supervisory oversight, and increased staff in its customer care and default management areas to support increased volumes.