CU National Shuts Door on Originations

PINE BROOK, N.J. — CU National Mortgage is still servicing loans, but the company is no longer originating new mortgages.A Feb. 6 e-mail to clients read, “We regretfully inform you that issues have arisen at CU National that are preventing us from effectively processing loans that are currently active in your pipeline. Our warehouse lines of credit that we have previously had used to fund loans that you have slated for sale to the secondary market have been reduced to the point that we cannot guarantee their availability at the time of loan closing. We have also lost access to Fannie Mae as a delivery channel on the secondary market, and along with that, have lost our ability to submit loan information to Desktop Underwriter.”Bill O’Brien, president/CEO of the $760 million Suffolk Federal Credit Union said CU National Mortgage currently services $100 million of his mortgage portfolio, and said, “We got a notice last week that they essentially were unable to continue processing because they were no longer able to use Fannie Mae Desktop Underwriter and warehouse line was lowered greatly.”O’Brien said the announcement didn’t cause his credit union any hardship; the Medford, N.Y.-based credit union had a second mortgage vendor, the Albany, N.Y.-based CUC Mortgage Corp., and “hasn’t missed a beat” handling incoming mortgage applications.However, questions still remain regarding why Fannie Mae abruptly ended its relationship with CU National Mortgage and parent company U.S. Mortgage Corp. Andrew L. Liput, general counsel to CU National Mortgage, declined comment at press time but said he may issue a statement in the near future. He said at this time, he’s “trying to gather information” and is “dealing with a lot of regulatory authorities, including the NCUA.”Liput did confirm that CU National Mortgage is still servicing mortgages. However, Tort told the Credit Union Times on Feb. 11 that he’s no longer employed by the company.The online Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter Web site, ml-implode.com, reported the incident on Feb. 6, citing the e-mail to clients.–[email protected]