UWM, loanDepot update financing arrangements

Two mega lenders announced changes to their financing arrangements Wednesday, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed.

LoanDepot offloaded its master repurchase agreement from recently embattled Credit Suisse to Atlas Securitized Products, which in 2022 bought a significant portion of Credit Suisse's securitized product group. The move mirrors similar measures taken by PennyMac one week prior.

Meanwhile, United Wholesale Mortgage set up a $500 million warehouse facility line with Goldman Sachs to finance the origination, acquisition or holding of certain mortgage servicing rights, a filing said. The uncommitted facility is collateralized by Ginnie Mae MSRs.

Financial turmoil that has rocked a number of mid-tier banks, such as Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, has raised concerns about a credit crunch in the market, highlighting lenders' reliance on financing facilities.

As such, a flurry of disclosures have been published by publicly traded nonbanks outlining their financial arrangements with bank partners.

Lenders such as Rocket Cos., United Wholesale, Guild Mortgage and PennyMac have said they have no ties to SVB and Signature Bank and expressed confidence in other depository institutions providing their financing.

LoanDepot, which did have ties with Signature Bank, announced that it transferred $225 million of corporate cash balances out of it to an unnamed large financial institution.

LoanDepot's most recent disclosure, shows that as of March 16, the Foothill Ranch, California-based lender moved its master repurchasing agreement from Credit Suisse to Atlas and Nexera Holding. The embattled Swiss banking giant has been purchased by local rival UBS for $3.2 billion in the midst of financial regulators in the U.S. and abroad moving to contain the fallout of recent bank failures.

The original master repurchase agreement was put in place with Credit Suisse and Credit Suisse First Boston in 2017.

PennyMac also transferred some of its funding vehicles from Credit Suisse to Atlas and Nexera Holding. Two of PennyMac's MSR facilities have amounts totaling $500 million and $1 billion, a spokesperson said this week.