Assurity Financial Services, LLC began as small mortgage brokerage startup company in 2002, eventually growing to over 640 employees and funding over $2.6 billion in residential mortgage loans across a 30- state geographic footprint through 2010 as a full-fledged mortgage banking entity. Assurity had both retail and wholesale channels of production, and a sophisticated capital markets operation for hedging the company’s loan pipeline and delivering to the company’s investors through the most advanced forms of secondary market execution.

From inception, Assurity’s owners were dedicated to consumer education and to offering only the most suitable mortgage loan products to its customers. Assurity’s owners attended and completed the Mortgage Bankers Association’s School of Mortgage Banking, earning the well respected AMP (Accredited Mortgage Professional) designation. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Assurity was also actively involved with the CMLA (Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association), and one of Assurity’s owners served on the CMLA Board of Directors.

Avoiding risky “sub-prime” and “Alt-A” loan types, Assurity’s owners chose to focus primarily on government-backed FHA (Federal Housing Administration) and VA (Veteran’s Administration) loan products, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conforming loan products, instead. In fact, FHA loans were about 70% of the company’s loan production during a time when the rest of the industry virtually abandoned these safe loan types. For example, in 2006, FHA loans made up less than 3% of all consumer mortgage loans industry-wide.

Assurity’s owners believed that conducting a highly ethical business that fostered consumer education and that embraced the concept of loan product suitability was necessary for success. The company’s retail direct-to-consumer channel engaged in marketing campaigns designed to educate consumers about the inner workings of their mortgage loans. Some of these educational campaigns included educational information on how consumers could either obtain refundable monies from their FHA MIP (Mortgage Insurance Premium) accounts and / or apply unearned monies in their MIP accounts to future FHA loans to obtain a tangible net benefit for the borrower.

Assurity’s owners also supported other ethical mortgage brokerage and mortgage banking operations through the company’s wholesale lending channel. Started in 2007, Assurity Wholesale funded loans for hundreds of other mortgage companies across the United States until the company’s closure in 2010.

To learn more about residential mortgage lending, mortgage banking, mortgage banking education, mortgage banking ethics, mortgage loan products, and mortgage loan product suitability, please visit the Mortgage Bankers Association website at www.mbaa.org.