In my job as a loan processor, and sometimes loan officer, I deal with a LOT of wholesale lenders. A lot. Most are pretty good, a few are so scary it’s beyond belief, and one or two are just phenominal.
My favorte lender EVER is a company in Novato, California, called 1st National. I’m pretty sure they bought out Sierra Pacific, at some point, because the website’s the same. But whatever. I love working with them. They’re always polite, they’re always responsive, and they have a staff that, while not always the most experienced, at least doesn’t make me feel like I’m training their underwriters for them.
On Thursday, I FedExed two loan files to underwriters. One loan went to 1st National, the other to Another Lender in the Same Building. They were similar files in identical stages of completeness. The file at 1st National is going into docs today. The one at the Other Lender won’t even be approved til Thursday. The market is not so busy that four-day turnaround times are usual or standard, and I’m annoyed.
The broker I did these files FOR isn’t a huge company. There’s one broker, and two part-time loan officers. They don’t generate a ton of business, but it’s enough…usually. Not enough that this company has a lot of clout with lenders, though, which is why I try to maintain relationships with the reps, via email and stuff. It helps. (Also it tends to result in me being gifted with lovely bottles of Beaujolais and Merlot at the holidays. Never a bad thing.)
So, I called the Other Lender, and asked for a rush, and they basically said, “Your broker almost never submits here; why should we bother rushing a file for you?” to which I answer, here, Because, by doing so it might convince us to use you MORE.
There’s a line in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, where Eliza tells Colonel Pickering, “…the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how shes treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will; but I know I can be a lady to you, because you always treat me as a lady, and always will.”
In similar fashion, 1st National treats every broker as if they were a top producer.
It’s really very wonderful.
What a great little view into your part of the business world. It works pretty much the same everywhere, only the businesses and customers are different. My attitude in our flower shop is to treat even the smallest purchase as if you were dealing with a lady, as you put it. Because for one thing, they won’t always be buying small things, and for second, they talk it up in the community for you (free advertising), but mostly because everybody in this little world is equal to everyone else. I could just as well have been born that little woman living on welfare as this guy now a flower shop owner, and so I’m going to treat her as if she were me.
Missmeliss, your writing style is wonderfully pure, by the way. A pleasure to read.