Guaranteed Rate launches PowerBid Approval tool

Guaranteed Rate has been vocal in its quest to be the nation’s top fintech lender, citing the mission as part of the reason for discontinuing its third-party wholesale channel Stearns Wholesale Lending.

In January, Texas-based Stearns Lending LLC revealed plans to lay off 348 employees in a move prompted by the closure of its wholesale channel after its acquisition, according to a notice to state regulators.

Headquartered in the Dallas suburb of Lewisville, the company was purchased last January by Guaranteed Rate, one of the nation’s largest retail mortgage lenders. In a January 05, 2021, press release, the acquiring firm described Stearns as a “…national top 25 lender with more than $20 billion in origination volume in 2020.” Stearns was founded in 1989, with operations in all 50 states through retail, joint venture, partnership and wholesale channels, according to the statement.

One year later, however, Guaranteed Rate opted, after a “strategic review”, to discontinue third-party wholesale channel Stearns Wholesale Lending, according to various reports. In a letter circulated by various media outlets, Guaranteed Rate CEO and president Victor Ciardelli alerted brokers of the decision to close Stearns – which was originally purchased with an eye toward making Guaranteed Rate the number one lender, according to the letter.

The decision to close the channel will throw 348 people out of work by month’s end, according to a notice from Stearns Lending sent to the Texas Workforce Commission in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act compelling employers with 100 or more employees to provide advance notification of plant closings and mass layoffs.