A warehouse line of credit is a credit line used by mortgage bankers. It is a short-term revolving credit facility extended by a financial institution to a mortgage loan originator for the funding of mortgage loans.
The cycle starts with the mortgage banker taking a loan application from the property buyer. Then the loan originator secures an investor (often a large institutional bank) to whom the loan will be sold, whether directly or through a securitization. This decision is generally based on an institutional investor's published rates for various types of mortgage loans, while the selection of a warehouse lender for a particular loan may vary based on the types of loan products allowed by the warehouse provider or investors in the loan approved by the warehouse lender to be on the line of credit.
After an investor has been selected, the mortgage banker draws on the warehouse line of credit to fund a mortgage and sends the loan documentation to the warehouse credit-providing institution to act as a collateral for the line of credit. The warehouse lender, at this stage, perfects a security interest in the mortgage note to serve as collateral. When the loan is finally sold to a permanent investor, the line of credit is paid off by wired funds from this permanent investor to the warehouse facility and the cycle starts all over again for the next loan.
Typical durations that loans are held on the warehouse line, called dwell time, range based on the speed at which investors review mortgage loans for purchase after their submission by mortgage banks. In practice, this length of time is generally between 10-20 days. Warehouse facilities typically limit the amount of dwell time a loan can be on the warehouse line. For loans going over dwell, mortgage bankers are often forced to buy these notes off the line with their own cash in anticipation of a potential problem with the note.
The International Finance Corporation has set up warehouse lines of credit around the world and has developed a guide on how they work.
Warehouse lines of credit play an important role in making mortgage loan market more accessible to property buyers since many mortgage bankers would not be able to attract sufficient amount of deposits that are necessary to fund mortgage loans by themselves. Therefore, warehouse funding allows the loan originators to provide mortgages at more competitive rates. Unlike in other types of lending, loan originators earn more profit from origination fees rather than interest rate spread since the closed mortgage loan is sold quickly to an investor.
The warehouse funding providing institution accepts various types of mortgage collateral, including subprime and equity loans, residential or commercial, including specialty property types. The warehouse lenders in most cases provide the loan for a period of fifteen to sixty days. Warehouse lines of credit are usually priced off 1-month LIBOR plus a spread. Also warehouse lenders typically apply a 'haircut' to credit line advances meaning that only 98% - 99% of the face amount of loans are being funded by them; the originating lenders have to provide with the remainder from their own capital.
Read more about Warehouse Line Of Credit: Purpose, Other Information
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