Bemortgage, currently a division of Chicago's Bridgeview Bank formed last November by a former Guaranteed Rate executive, will become a part of CrossCountry Mortgage.
No terms regarding the switch, including when it will occur, were released. Bemortgage will be branded as a division of Brecksville, Ohio-based CrossCountry and use that company's Nationwide Multistate Licensing System & Registry number.
When Bemortgage opened for business, it and Bridgeview's previously existing mortgage subsidiary, BBMC, shared an NMLS number under the bank's name.
Bemortgage's co-founder and CEO is Robert Sampson, the former chief operating officer at Guaranteed Rate until he left in 2015. He was joined by several other former Guaranteed Rate executives, including Clayton Hutchinson, Bemortgage's general counsel, and Adam Kamarat, its executive vice president, national production.
In addition, Joe Caltabiano, who finished 2017 with over $180 million in volume, ranking him 17th on the 2018
Caltabiano's shift to Bemortgage resulted in a lawsuit filed in November in Cook County Circuit Court by Guaranteed Rate and a countersuit by Caltabiano the following month.
A Bemortgage spokeswoman would not comment on the status of those cases but a search of the electronic court docket indicated they were both active. The spokeswoman also would not confirm if Caltabiano was still with the company. But according to his LinkedIn profile, he is a senior vice president at Bemortgage and a search of the NMLS database listed Caltabiano as an employee of Bridgeview Bank Group.
Bemortgage currently has over 70 employees including 21 loan officers. Its originators have a historical average of $28.5 million in annual production, the press release announcing the deal said. The company had 122% volume growth over the last two quarters and an annualized production volume of over $900 million.
