Lender growing – what’s prompted the surge?

He has more than 30 years of experience in the mortgage business and has held leadership positions with several companies including Quicken Loans, HSBC, Indymac Bank, Key Bank, and GE Capital.

O’Brien brings nearly 30 years of industry experience to his new role of vice president of sales for Spring EQ’s wholesale lending group where he will manage the sales team and partnership relationships. Most recently, O’Brien served as divisional vice president for Quicken Loans where he spent more than a decade of his career. Prior to that, he held roles at HSBC and various mortgage banking firms.

It’s the second time in as many months that Spring EQ has announced staff moves in anticipation of higher rates. In January, the company announced the hiring of David Haggert as chief marketing officer and Peter Schwartz as senior vice president of corresponding lending.

“The reason for the increase in staff is with the recent increase in interest rates, we believe that home equity loans – and you can see by our increasing business – are becoming more and more important in the future as people don’t want to refinance a very low rate first mortgage,” Schiano explained at the time. “They want to keep their low-rate first mortgage instead of providing cash-out from refinancing.”