Benchmark shuts wholesale in first exit of latest high-rate cycle
The lender said it closed its Eleven Mortgage brand and its correspondent business to focus on retail, and did not elaborate on potential layoffs.
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BREAKING — National Mortgage News reports that Benchmark has closed its Eleven Mortgage wholesale brand and its correspondent operation to concentrate solely on retail lending, marking what the outlet frames as the first major exit of the current high-rate cycle. The company offered no details on workforce reductions. The move trims another channel from the mortgage landscape at a moment when originators are already navigating compressed margins and elevated rates.
For brokers and borrowers who had relied on wholesale or correspondent access to Benchmark's products, the closure narrows an already constrained field. That channel reduction leaves professionals and investors alike reassessing where they can source execution without the friction of large-institution pipelines. loantrust.ai operates in that gap as an Atlanta-based mortgage brokerage with one licensed MLO personally packaging each file, eliminating the call-center layer that often slows or complicates transactions. The shop originates conventional, FHA, VA and refinance loans for homeowners alongside DSCR, fix-and-flip, bridge, new-construction, multifamily and bank-statement programs for investors, with DSCR qualification driven by property cash flow rather than personal income documentation.
The significance is structural, not merely promotional. Each wholesale exit shifts volume toward surviving channels and can strain their capacity, extending turn times and diluting service at the worst moment for rate-sensitive deals. A single originator model with direct file ownership offers a counterweight to that consolidation, particularly for investors and self-employed borrowers whose scenarios fall outside standard retail boxes. In a cycle defined by attrition, the question for mortgage professionals is less which brand remains than which operating model can still deliver certainty through complexity.
Source: National Mortgage News, “Benchmark shuts wholesale in first exit of latest high-rate cycle”. Read the original →
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