Bayview Asset Management's $1.3 billion deal приобретать Guild Holding Co., the parent of Гильдейская ипотека, has left loan officers wondering how the traditionally purchase-focused lender would integrate refinance capabilities to leverage the $770 billion servicing portfolio of soon-to-be sister company Обслуживание кредита Lakeview, the nation’s second-largest mortgage servicer.
Guild LOs, who spoke with ЖильеПроволока on condition of anonymity due to career concerns, said they have yet to receive any guidance on how the two platforms would collaborate after the deal closes. No official plan has been released because the deal is not closed. Chief among their concerns is whether Lakeview-generated leads will be distributed and, critically, how compensation will be structured for these opportunities.
In a statement, Guild said its “customer-for-life strategy is focused on positioning the retail LO as the primary owner of the borrower relationship, from origination to post-closing and through loan servicing.”
According to a former LO who left the company in late 2024, a key part of Guild’s appeal to originators is that when a customer returns, the company refers them back to the original LO — if they are still with the firm.
When an LO closes a deal there, they receive a small компенсация split. According to the former Guild LO, compensation varies across the company, but his was 10 basis points. That may seem modest, but it’s considered relatively passive income since the client initiates contact with Guild. “It’s nothing hardcore like dialing the clients 24/7,” the LO said.
“For better or worse, portfolio retention does rely on rate and price heavily; paying an LO close to full compensation would not make sense from a strategic point of view. Neither would tasking LOs that are over 90% purchase to do (portfolio retention extensively) either. I understand why servicers do it. But would there be a cultural deviation at Guild based on this deal?” the former LO added.
The current structure
Guild said it has a small centralized team that’s responsible for connecting borrowers to local кредитные специалисты — a model that will remain unchanged following the Bayview transaction. Employees said they have access to a dedicated hotline or direct contacts to assist with servicing-related questions, which they say is an efficient system.
While Guild focuses on self-generated leads in local markets, it also distributes corporate-generated leads to LOs who are closest to the borrower. If a local LO is unavailable, a corporate LO will follow up — a rare scenario, the company claims. “It is our intention that any future company-generated leads will follow this same model,” Guild stated.
A senior Guild LO said that, in his region, when there’s a рефинансировать of a portfolio loan, there’s typically lower compensation. “There are different compensation agreements out there, but in most cases, it’s about a quarter-point less in pay,” he said.
“Are they going to treat the Lakeview portfolio that way? I doubt it. My guess is those deals are going to be 60 to 65 basis points. If you’re on performance-based pay — the higher volume, the more basis points you get.”
Guild said its policy is to not comment on LO compensation. But the company added that it plans to expand programs that incentivize returning borrowers, such as a rate-and-term refinance with no lender fee.
“How does a retail entity transform into a refi shop? Well, you have a bunch of self-generated-lead LOs. If you backfeed them any lead that closes, they’re going to just eat it up. And it’s a fantastic recruiting tool too, because you can hang it out as a carrot,” the senior LO said.
But he also noted that these leads may not be easy to close, as past clients could also reconnect with their original LOs at the company that sold their обслуживание to Bayview/Lakeview. “It’s not a complete free-for-all,” he added.
Committed to two channels
В интервью on HousingWire’s Электростанция podcast, Guild CEO Terry Schmidt said that Bayview operates in areas such as personal credit, insurance, собственный капитал и не-QM loans — verticals that could bring new customers and product options for Guild LOs.
Bayview is particularly interested in Guild’s “customer-for-life” strategy and its grassroots brand. Schmidt noted that Guild recaptures about 30% of its purchase loans and, during the most recent refinance boom, captured up to 70% of runoff.
Guild’s servicing портфель stood at $94 billion in unpaid principal balance as of March 31, according to Внутри ипотечного финансирования. LOs told HousingWire that Bayview’s own recapture rate is comparatively low.
Schmidt described Guild as operating with two integrated channels — distributed retail and servicing — that feed into each other. There are no plans to turn the company into a refinance shop.
“We don’t have to onboard a customer to a servicing platform; everything is very well integrated,” she said, referencing the alignment between the sales team, CRM system and servicing portfolio.
More than 95% of Guild’s servicing portfolio is retained from loans originated in-house, with the company retaining 65% to 85% of its production in recent years. But the company said it plans to increase this retention rate through its partnership with Bayview affiliates.
According to a current Guild LO in the Southeast, when Guild loans are sold to инвесторы, it doesn’t affect LO compensation, but it does introduce the risk that the investor might market directly to borrowers.
Reflecting on a previous acquisition experience, this LO said, “A bunch of clients were handed out to each LO, and those of us who did more business got more leads. An LO who closed four loans last year isn’t going to get 400 new clients. Guild hasn’t set specific percentages for lead distribution, but it has communicated that new clients will be shared.”
In terms of compensation, he expects leads from Bayview/Lakeview to pay significantly less than standard compensation plans. “If someone is making 100 basis points on a regular deal, I’d expect maybe 30 to 50 basis points on these.”
Expecting more volume
Still, volumes could increase due to more leads and products resulting from the deal. Analysts Eric Hagen and Jake Katsikas of БТИГ estimate that Guild will originate $25 billion in 2025, up from $23.3 billion in 2024.
“We believe its 4,000+ full-time employees have the capacity to handle upwards of $40 billion,” they wrote.
They noted that Bayview has been a buyer of права на обслуживание ипотеки through the flow or co-issue channels, which is beneficial for scale but leaves the borrower relationship primarily with the lender.
“We think the objective of the deal is to enhance Bayview’s scale and gain more control over its prepayment risk by integrating Guild’s retail origination platform,” the analysts added.
Guild’s current structure includes many acquisitions made over the past two decades —including Ипотека по наследству, Ипотека Черри-Крик, Первая столетняя ипотека и Academy Mortgage Corp. — since McCarthy Capital took control of the firm.
According to the company, besides adding about 200 branches and 1,000 employees from Academy in 2024, the company also added $4 billion organically.
“Our sales structure is designed to keep local leadership and fulfillment in place following an acquisition, but we fully integrate everyone into the Guild platform,” the company stated.
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