AmeriTrust Mortgage Corp. has appointed Shea Pallante as chief revenue officer as the lender pursues a growth strategy that includes expanding into nondelegated correspondent channels and more than doubling its monthly origination volume.
A mortgage industry veteran, Pallante joins AmeriTrust from non-QM wholesale lender Brokers First Funding. He previously served as president of now-defunct non-QM lender Sprout Mortgage and held senior leadership roles at CIVIC Financial and Arc Home.
AmeriTrust, which positions itself as a one-stop shop offering agency and government loan products, has leaned heavily into non-QM lending — an area where Pallante brings deep expertise. The company aims to build national brand recognition and become a meaningful player in the non-QM space, with an emphasis on customer service.
“The strategy is going after the top salespeople in the industry and then ultimately building partnerships with all the different lenders and brokers out there,” Palante said in an interview with HousingWire. “But the goal is to grow not only from the sales perspective but have our operations and our credit teams help.”
AmeriTrust currently operates a wholesale channel and a business-purpose broker channel. It is set to launch a nondelegated correspondent channel in the coming week, allowing the company to purchase loans from non-QM lenders, Pallante said.
Pallante added that growth will primarily come by taking market share from competitors and, if market conditions improve, from an overall rebound in mortgage activity.
In a LinkedIn post, AmeriTrust President Chad Schoep said Pallante will focus on accelerating revenue growth while helping the company scale responsibly. “His leadership will support continued expansion across sales execution, partner relationships, product strategy and operational efficiency,” Schoep added.
AmeriTrust is currently originating about $175 million per month and is targeting $500 million in monthly volume, according to Pallante.
“I’ve built some of the largest non-QM companies in the space — I’ve done it in the past by focusing on the customer,” Pallante said. “When we work with a broker, I don’t look at it as a transaction. I do look at it as a partnership. That focus will help us take market share from our competitors.”
Pallante acknowledged intense competition in the non-QM market as lenders seek alternative products amid compressed margins and lower overall volume. Still, he emphasized that today’s non-QM loans bear little resemblance to the subprime products that fueled the financial crisis. The average loan-to-value ratio is about 71% and FICO scores are typically above 740, he said.
Addressing the wave of non-QM lender failures in 2022 — including Sprout Mortgage, where he served as president — Pallante said the issue was not about loan performance but rapidly rising interest rates.
“It had to do with interest rates skyrocketing; they got stuck with low interest rate loans on their books that were then underwater,” Pallante said. “They just weren’t worth any money because the interest rates are so low. The product, it’s always performed very well.”
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