The Association of Independent Mortgage Experts is facing criticism from members after the appointment of a leader whose own lending shop uses the trigger leads that the trade group advocates against.
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"The bulk of AIME's community is focused on local mortgage brokers who have built their business around relationships within their respective communities," said Breon Price, owner of UMC Capital. "A company like Haddad's that promotes and purchases trigger leads is a direct hindrance to those relationships."
AIME has been a vocal opponent to the use of
Close to 20% of Next Door Lending's business is brought in via trigger leads, according to a post from Haddad in Facebook group Brokers are Better, which is run by AIME leadership. In a recent video, Haddad claimed brokers who are not AIME members will have their customers targeted via trigger leads. An AIME spokesperson added that, "in the unlikely event of a trigger touching any AIME member's business, that client would then be turned over to them," by Next Door Lending.
AIME said Thursday it continues to "support trigger lead reform" and believes in the "advocacy work that the Broker Action Coalition is doing to push forward this reform."
"Should this reform pass into law, [Next Door Lending] will support any necessary changes to its business practices," AIME's spokeswoman said.
With 65,000 members, AIME was founded in 2018 as a group that, in part, introduces brokers to wholesalers and facilitates relationships between brokers and account executives. A tiered membership structure, including an unpaid option, allows brokers varying degrees of access to the organization's referral directories and events. The appointment of the new CEO has led some members to advocate for greater inclusivity and transparency in the organization.
"AIME did a great job of bringing us together because we were segmented as a community," said Ramon Walker, owner of brokerage Client Direct Mortgage and member of AIME.
"But what happened recently is that the mission and decision-making went off the rails," he added. "There's a lack of transparency, especially regarding the ownership and pay structure, and a lot of people are questioning what value they really get out of AIME."
Andrew Dort, owner of brokerage Pride Lending, recently left the organization in part due its alleged murky inner workings and the lack of representation of the LGBTQ+ community.
"AIME doesn't really disclose who is on the board and doesn't elect people to the board," he said. "For a trade organization that says they represent us, they do a pretty poor job of allowing us to represent ourselves within them."
A change in protocol has been planned. Per the organization's spokeswoman, an "open election for additional board seats [is] launching soon" and AIME is "hopeful that diverse members of our community will nominate themselves for the opportunity to be voted onto the board through a democratic election process by our members."
Some have also criticized the organization, saying it censors conversations on its Facebook group and puts a limit on what brokers can and cannot discuss.
"They've silenced a lot of people," said Dort, whose comments were echoed by other sources who spoke to NMN. "I've had multiple posts deleted without any sort of commentary. I've posted things in there that got deleted or wouldn't even make it to publication because they wouldn't approve it."
In response to those assertions, an AIME spokesperson said that the organization's goal is to "encourage members who have constructive feedback to help improve the organization, but we want to do so with respect at the forefront so all members of the community feel safe to engage."
"To that end, our organization can do a better job of making our community aware of these rules – and the process of how, when, and why we might ban a member," she added.
