LenderLive to Acquire PHH's Private-Label Mortgage Operations

PHH Corp. has struck a deal with LenderLive to sell its private-label mortgage operations in Jacksonville, Fla., to the Denver-based mortgage services provider.

The deal has received approval from the boards of directors at both PHH and LenderLive and is expected to close at the end of the first quarter. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

PHH announced back in November that it planned to exit the private-label mortgage origination business by the first quarter of 2018. The decision to do so came after the Mount Laurel, N.J.-based company lost Merrill Lynch as a client.

When the deal closes, the Jacksonville facility will be rebranded as LenderLive. Additionally, LenderLive agreed to hire 250 to 300 of PHH's employees to work out of the facility after the deal closes.

As part of the deal, PHH will outsource loan processing, underwriting and closing to LenderLive for remaining customers until those contracts are completed.

For LenderLive, the acquisition has an added bonus: The Jacksonville facility has the capacity to support up to 700 employees. As a result, LenderLive will be able to expand its operations.

"The arrangement accelerates our long-stated imperative of driving scale and operating leverage in our private-label mortgage solutions business," LenderLive CEO Rick Seehausen said in a news release. "We look forward to welcoming our new associates and demonstrating the benefits of our platform and business model to PHH clients. This is a win-win for everyone involved."

PHH said in October that it would close its Williamsville, N.Y., facility in the second half of 2017, after losing HSBC Bank as a client and with it nearly a third of its subservicing portfolio. PHH reported that the New York closure would involve the layoff of 80 employees. Prior to that, the company said in September that it was laying off 91 employees.