Quicken Loans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Quicken Loans Inc. | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | Private |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Headquarters | Livonia, MI (Detroit by 2011) |
| Key people | Dan Gilbert, Founder and Chairman William Emerson, CEO Patrick McInnis, President |
| Industry | Finance and Mortgage |
| Products | Mortgage |
| Employees | 4,000 |
| Website | www.quickenloans.com, |
Quicken Loans Corporation is a retail home mortgage lending firm in the U.S. Quicken Loans Inc. is comprised of the Quicken Loans, Rock Financial, and Title Source, a settlement service provider. Quicken Loans closed $18 billion in residential mortgage loans in 2006.
The company employs about 4,000 workers and is currently headquartered in Livonia, Michigan.
Contents |
[edit] History
Quicken Loans, originally Rock Financial Corporation, was founded in 1985 by Dan Gilbert and Ron Berman and soon became one of the largest independent mortgage companies in the country. In May 1998, Gilbert took Rock Financial public, launching a successful IPO underwritten by Bear Stearns and Prudential Securities.
In December 1999, Intuit Inc. (makers of QuickBooks, TurboTax, and Quicken) purchased Rock Financial for a sum of $532M. The company was renamed Quicken Loans. In June 2002, Gilbert led a small group of private investors in purchasing the Quicken Loans subsidiary back from Intuit for just $64M.[1]
[edit] Relocation
On November 12, 2007, Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert announced a development agreement with the city to move the company headquarters to downtown Detroit, consolidating suburban offices.[2] The construction sites reserved for development by the agreement include the location of the former Statler on Grand Circus Park and the former Hudson's location.[3]
[edit] Locations
[edit] Reverse mortgage
In the Spring of 2008 Rock Holdings entered the Reverse Mortgage market with the acquisition of One Reverse Mortgage in Southern California. Executives promised minimal changes to the sales staff at One Reverse Mortgage including a promise not to change the compensation plan to match the Quicken Loans model.
[edit] Employment levels
While Quicken Loans has not had the massive layoffs of other companies in the industry, the company has seen a drop in employment levels due to attrition. Quicken Loans states that they have lost about 160 people over the past few months. According to the The Detroit News, Quicken Loans did not hire new staff in September or October of 2007 for their Michigan offices, but continue to hire for its Cleveland and Scottsdale, Ariz., offices. [4]
[edit] 2007 credit crunch
In August of 2007 the entire mortgage industry faced a crisis in obtaining new credit from banking institutions and hedge funds. In response to that Quicken Loans stopped doing all:[5]
- Second mortgages
- Home equity lines of credit (HELOC)
- Alt-A products
- Deferred interest loans
Gilbert is quoted as saying that Quicken is active in closing "plain vanilla loans".
[edit] Class action lawsuit
Quicken Loans Inc. is currently the defendant in a class action lawsuit. This was filed against the company on behalf of employees who worked as loan consultants for any Quicken office within the past three years. The suit alleges that Quicken is in violation of the Fair Labor Act for failing to pay the plaintiffs overtime for working beyond a 40-hour work week. The officers of Quicken Loans have denied these claims, and say they are not aware of any such violations of the Fair Labor Act.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ "The 400 richest Americans", Forbes Magazine, 2007-8-24. Retrieved on 2007-8-24.
- ^ Howes, Daniel (November 12, 2007).Quicken moving to downtown Detroit.The Detroit News. Retrieved on November 12, 2007.
- ^ Loc. cit.
- ^ "Gilbert: Housing slump hits Quicken", The Detroit News, 2007-10-15. Retrieved on 2007-10-15.
- ^ "Gilbert: Mortgage squeeze could be blessing for Quicken", The Detroit Free Press, 2007-8-16. Retrieved on 2007-8-16.
- ^ Dybis, Karen (February 10), “Former Quicken Loans workers file suit”, The Detroit News, <http://www.detnews.com/2005/business/0502/10/C01-85672.htm>
