EllieMae.com How the company started: Founded in 1997, Ellie Mae is a high-tech mortgage software company with old-fashioned values. Now processing almost a quarter of all U.S. mortgage applications, Ellie Mae ensures compliance and high quality. Ellie Mae founders Sig Anderman and Limin Hu started the company with one goal: to use technology to reduce friction, paper, time and cost. They never imagined this simple idea would grow Ellie Mae to what it is today, supporting thousands of clients and millions of mortgage transactions.
America’s best small companies, and has received various industry awards for its Encompass platform.
How the company has changed the mortgage industry: While the industry has changed since the company’s founding almost 20 years ago, Ellie Mae’s mission to automate mortgages so lenders can achieve compliance, quality and efficiency hasn’t. Ellie Mae is committed to innovating how mortgage professionals work together to originate, process and close loans. Ellie Mae’s Encompass software gives the mortgage industry an all-in-one, end-to-end enterprise solution that handles all functions involved in running the business of originating mortgages. Ellie Mae’s Encompass clients save on average $231 per loan, receive 57 percent ROI in less than three months, and avoid up to $75,000 in potential compliance costs. Ellie Mae now processes almost a quarter of U.S. mortgage applications, and is continually recognized as an innovator in the field. The company has been recognized by Forbes as one of
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GenevaFI.com How the company started: In 2006, the company Aaron VanTrojen began his mortgage career with was sold to a large mortgage banking platform. He refused to work for a large bureaucratic, corporate, mortgage bank. In 2007, VanTrojen formed Geneva Financial LLC as a multi-state licensed mortgage banker. In 2008, Geneva began closing loans. Due to the Great Recession, and no “seed” money, Geneva Financial LLC primarily brokered loans during its infancy. After a couple of challenging years, Geneva Financial LLC obtained warehouse lines, and began banking loans through correspondent channels. Geneva Financial is now licensed in 26 states and growing, and employs approximately 250 people. Geneva now sells to a dozen-plus correspondents through mandatory delivery. Geneva Financial is hiring professional loan originators and branch managers nationwide who are looking for an entrepreneurial opportunity. How the company has changed the mortgage industry: Geneva Financial was created to be a mortgage company for the employees first with a vision to treat the loan originator as the client. When the financial crisis was in full swing in 2008, mortgage brokers who traditionally paid the most with the greatest loan product selection, closed their doors in record numbers, and many of those left standing fled to mortgage banking platforms. The mortgage bankers that had survived the near collapse of the entire industry capitalized on this shift from brokering to banking. Some driven by necessity, and others by greed, many mortgage banking platforms increased margins and lowered compensation to those that generated the originations. Geneva Financial formed during this time of industry makeover. With
no legacy issues, and very little overhead, Geneva Financial leveraged the only commodity it had: Originators. Pay the originator the maximum legal compensation, while delivering a competitive price to the homeowner. Geneva Financial focuses on originating and closing “good” loans. We are exceptional at the originating, processing, underwriting and the funding of “good” loans. Quality loans for quality borrowers: Agency, government, jumbo, and even non-QM. Geneva’s focus is not on loan type, but the quality of loan originated; and also the person originating the loan. Geneva Financial stills pays nearly twice the industry average to its loan originators, while delivering a more competitive price than the competition. It does this by efficiently closing quality loans that don’t go bad. And there is the all-important intangible … there are a thousand mortgage companies to work for. While Geneva pays more, is competitive and fast, those that choose to work with us are treated as our most valuable asset … as they are. The industry could use more heart. That is something Geneva offers as well.