Benchmark Mortgage, Plano Texas Benchmark Mortgage-WORST PRINCIPLES ON THE PLANET Plano Texas

I was a Branch Manager for Benchmark Mortgage from 2001 until 2005.  I left to obtain a branch with a bank that was able to do business in all fifty states.  I came to personally know Bryan Harlan, CEO and Founding Partner along with Stewart Hunter, COO and Bryan's partner.  I can assure you that these two individuals operate their organization with the utmost of integrity and high ethics. 
 
 As common at most mortgage operations, you are not paid on loans that are funded/in closing when you quit or are terminated from the company.  The loans may be originated by a Branch Manager or Loan Officer, but they are the property of the mortgage organization that they are being originated under.  This is common in the industry.  When someone becomes a loan officer/employee of any lender they are very well aware of this.  Most employment documentation that we all sign when becoming an employee clearly states this.  No one seems to have an issue with it until they quit or are terminated. 
 
 After reading the above comments, it is clearly apparent that there is no mention of why the branch was closed and the agreement terminated.  Benchmark does not simple close a branch just for the trivial reasons and they certainly do not do so without valid attempts to resolve the issues within the branch or unless serious issues with fraud exist.  In issues of fraud or misrepresentation they have to act swiftly to insure the protection of all of the other branches and their employees.  This is a business in the financial arena and, as we have witnessed with the recent meltdown of the industry, has to self regulated itself with strict compliance to insure it is around to continue the operation. 
 
This company is still around after the meltdown:  they were debt free.  So, in regards to their "supposed" high rolling lifestyle, well, that is a fantasy.  The principals cared enough to put the profits of the company right back into the organization to insure the longevity of it.  They did so without borrowing a dime.  This company has closed thousands of mortgage loans over the last ten years and yet we have only this one isolated complaint from a disgruntled employee and one client who probably did not understand the process well enough to begin with from a branch manager or his employee. 
 
Anyone with any sense can come to the conclusion that in this day and age, if you are actually in business and handle a large volume of clients, you are going to have someone that complains or is unhappy with the resolution.  Just run a report for Wal-Mart (986 Reports), Bank of America (2149 Reports) or Quicken Loans (269 Reports).  Benchmark has two, one from a disgruntled employee.  Who would you do business with?  Any person with a little sense would see the obvious choice.

This was a fantastic company to work for.  I would highly recommend it to not only my family, but to anyone that was in the market for a mortgage or considering them as an employer.

Sincerely,

Shane D. Boldin
Former Branch Partner
(817) 713-6014

I just ran into this report and noticed the tirade posted above. As a former Benchmark branch partner/manager it leaves me with several questions....

I find it curious that the poster doesn't mention why he was terminated??? If you have several loan officers, are making yourself and the branching company alot of money (according to his assertion that he had several loans in the pipeline), why in the world would the branching agency terminate the branch and give up future profits.... unless of course... it involved fraud on part of the terminated branch??? In the case of fraud, it would cost the branching company alot more than than the future loan production they'd be giving up!!

Also, if you're not familiar with the mortgage industry, you may have overlooked the comments about the main office making thousands on FHA loans... funny thing is that the individual branches set their own fees and points, and if the main office was getting $10,000 on an FHA loan, then the loan officer/branch manager must have been making about $30,000??? I suppose it's possible, but why would you bring up the fact that Benchmark is making so much on an FHA loan if you know that you're making at least 3 times that and setting your own fees and rebates??? Hmmmm. Sounds suspect to me.

Anyway, I bothered to write because I actually found the folks at Benchmark to be pretty decent. My branch wasn't producing very well and we did lose some money on one of their marketing attempts (a poorly planned and executed race truck marketing venture) and being required to pay to attend a yearly meeting in Dallas, but besides that, they treated my branch and employees very well, even though we were one of the little guys. The processors and underwriters were very professional, and yes, although I sometimes had to re-send the same piece of info more than once (anyone working in the industry understands this is a real nuisance and apparently par for the course) they were much better than most lending teams I'd experienced in the past.

My 2 cents!

Ms A.

I just ran into this report and noticed the tirade posted above. As a former Benchmark branch partner/manager it leaves me with several questions....

I find it curious that the poster doesn't mention why he was terminated??? If you have several loan officers, are making yourself and the branching company alot of money (according to his assertion that he had several loans in the pipeline), why in the world would the branching agency terminate the branch and give up future profits.... unless of course... it involved fraud on part of the terminated branch??? In the case of fraud, it would cost the branching company alot more than than the future loan production they'd be giving up!!

Also, if you're not familiar with the mortgage industry, you may have overlooked the comments about the main office making thousands on FHA loans... funny thing is that the individual branches set their own fees and points, and if the main office was getting $10,000 on an FHA loan, then the loan officer/branch manager must have been making about $30,000??? I suppose it's possible, but why would you bring up the fact that Benchmark is making so much on an FHA loan if you know that you're making at least 3 times that and setting your own fees and rebates??? Hmmmm. Sounds suspect to me.

Anyway, I bothered to write because I actually found the folks at Benchmark to be pretty decent. My branch wasn't producing very well and we did lose some money on one of their marketing attempts (a poorly planned and executed race truck marketing venture) and being required to pay to attend a yearly meeting in Dallas, but besides that, they treated my branch and employees very well, even though we were one of the little guys. The processors and underwriters were very professional, and yes, although I sometimes had to re-send the same piece of info more than once (anyone working in the industry understands this is a real nuisance and apparently par for the course) they were much better than most lending teams I'd experienced in the past.

My 2 cents!

Ms A.

I agree with the comments that Chris C posted above 110%. This company does not care about its employees OR customers for that matter. I worked for a loan officer there that would lie and cheat his way just to make more money on the loan, I felt so sorry for the people he worked with. He would never call them back, treat them like they were lower than him, and then make $7,000-$10,000 on an FHA loan. I tell all of my friends DONT EVER do business with them- they will rip you off!!! Just beware of this company.

As the founding partner and CEO of Benchmark Mortgage, I feel compelled to correct the record on this website. First of all, Chris Collins did not post this report. Further, this same report was posted verbatim on the Better Business Bureau and the Mortgage Grapevine, which can be found on www.brokeruniverse.com/grapevine. Our investigation thus far has led us to believe that this posting was done by a disgruntled former employee. We are exploring our legal options at this time since these allegations are false. I would think that our current branch partners could attest that Benchmark does not operate based on this posting nor would we able to survive for our 10th year of business. Our employees have contracts that govern their relationship, responsibilities to Benchmark and it seems to have worked very well the past 9 years for those that choose to abide by its terms. I will never hide behind any name other than my own so please feel free to contact me at bryan@benchmark.us if you need to discuss this posting.

Best Regards,
Bryan Harlan
CEO/Founding Partner
Benchmark Mortgage