A Northern California bank has opened a mortgage lending office in Aliso Viejo.
Fremont Bank plans to go after borrowers across Southern California from Aliso Viejo, where 20 people work at an office that opened earlier this month.
“This is a natural expansion into Southern California,” said Brad Seibel, Fremont’s director of specialty lending and sales. “It’s a great central location (and) the labor pool here is hard to beat.”
Fremont, which had $2.4 billion in assets as of Sept. 30, considers itself as a community bank with individual and business customers.
The bank offers similar services as several based in Orange County, including construction, real estate and business loans and savings and checking accounts.
Fremont has no relation to Fremont Investment & Loan, the former banking arm of Brea-based Fremont General Corp., which went out of business in 2008. Fremont Investment’s branches now are part of Maryland’s CapitalSource Inc.
Fremont plans work with smaller banks that don’t offer mortgages, Seibel said. It’s also working with some mortgage brokers to make loans.
The bank hopes to turn some of its borrowers into banking customers with checking and other accounts, Seibel said.
Some of Fremont’s hires in Aliso Viejo have come from larger rivals such as San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. and Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America Corp.
Others have been picked up from among those left unemployed after the mortgage market crashed in 2008 and the larger economic downturn that started then.
Seibel has been in OC for more than 10 years. Before, he worked for Bethesda, Md.-based Chevy Chase Bank’s lending unit in Aliso Viejo until it was shut down after the bank was sold to McLean, Va.-based Capital One Financial Corp.
Fremont avoided the mortgage meltdown by not making riskier subprime and Alt-A loans that offered low teaser rates before resetting to higher, unaffordable levels.
The Aliso Viejo office plans to lend to borrowers looking to live in the homes they’re buying, as opposed to investors, according to Seibel.
Fremont expects to finance homes that sell for about $500,000 with loans that meet guidelines set by federally backed mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fremont also is approved to make loans through the Federal Housing Authority.
“There’s a decent amount of business for people who want to live in a house and not treat it like a 401(k),” Seibel said.
This year, Fremont has made $3.5 billion in home loans, with the majority sold to institutional investors.
Fremont had nearly $1.8 billion in loans on its books as of Sept. 30, up from nearly $1.7 billion a year earlier.
Deposits were $1.8 billion, up from about $1.6 billion a year earlier.
For the third quarter, Fremont earned $4.3 million, which was up about 10% from a year earlier.
About 1.7% of Fremont’s loans aren’t being paid on as of Sept. 30, up from less than 1% a year earlier, according to government data.
Fremont has a core capital ratio—a measure of financial strength for banks—of 8.19%, above the 7% regulators like to see.
The bank was founded in 1964 and is owned by founder Morris Hyman and his family. It has 23 branches in the Bay Area.
No bank branches are planned for Southern California.
