Amazon Sets Off To Become America's Biggest Mortgage Lender

First it monopolized the online retail space; then it made a dramatic appearance in the bricks and mortar grocer sector with its acquisition of Whole Foods, and lately it has been preparing to take on both the pharmaceutical & healthcare sector,  and even banking.

And it's only just starting, because as Housing Wire notes, Amazon is now looking to get into the mortgage lending business, and not just get into it but - in standard Bezos operating procedure - dominate it thoroughly while crushing, humiliating and bankrupting all competition. The company for which barriers to entry simply do not exist, was first reportedly planning on starting with offering checking programs first, then move into the debt product space after. And now, Housing Wire confirms that Amazon is currently looking to hire someone to lead their newly-formed mortgage lending division.

Here, a humorous aside from the report author, who refuses to provide the identity of the mortgage lender firm that Amazon has targeted:

Due to non-disclosure agreements, we probably shouldn’t reveal their identities. After all, with Amazon planning a move into mortgage lending, it’s best we work with them and not against them. Am I right?

... but gives the following hint:

We can say that if you look at the top 10 HMDA lenders and pick out the nonbanks, that’s where Amazon is recruiting their talent.

... and adds that "one person we spoke to turned down the job, but couldn’t say why."

We are confident, however, that the next person Jeff Bezos speaks about the role of starting up Amazon's mortgage lending division, will be delighted to accept.

The timing of Amazon's entrance into the highly competitive sector is hardly coincidental: last month we reported that America's formerly largest mortgage lender, Wells Fargo, just lost its title to Quicken:

Quicken revealed that it originated $25 billion in home loans during the quarter, compared with Wells Fargo's $23 billion in home mortgages. Wells is the country's leading bank in home mortgages; Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase & Co. reported $13 billion and $11 billion that quarter, respectively.

In other words, as of this moment, an "online" service is the most popular provider of mortgage loans in the US. It is this niche that Bezos has realized provides a major opportunity for Amazon, and he is not shy of making it clear that in just a few years, your mortgage lender will be none other than Jeff Bezos as Amazon continues on its unstoppable crusade of intergalatic domination.

 

Comments

Mr. Schnitzel Face Life of Illusion Fri, 03/09/2018 - 11:30 Permalink

Since the regulators and govt will not trust-bust, I say let Bezos do it!

One small caveat is that he is required to hold all paper till repaid and is not allowed to have loans sent to the financial engineering mill.

That way the problem of Amazon getting too big should take care of itself when these mortgages go tits up.

In reply to by Life of Illusion

Kurpak Stan522 Fri, 03/09/2018 - 11:57 Permalink

Exactly, this is total world conquest under the guise of "a better deal."

Antitrust laws need to be revisited to include provisions to break up entities like Amazon\Google.

The original intent of antitrust was to protect consumers, but what about protecting businesses and the economy as a whole?

Coring out the entire supply side of the market and consolidating power to these select mega corporations is the very definition

of economic tyranny.

 

In reply to by Stan522

Endgame Napoleon ZENDOG Fri, 03/09/2018 - 11:47 Permalink

They only held the nerdy-cubed Gates to the old-school standards. Bezos will escape due to his swaggering ways, but mostly due to the fact that Gates’s anti-trust controversy arose before the era of mass-scale mobile-tech hypnosis, brought to us by Jobs, who made tech soooooo much more accessible and convenient to the non-technical. When they went after Gates, it was more of a business-turf war, not a war against the insurgent consumer culture.

In reply to by ZENDOG

Endgame Napoleon spastic_colon Fri, 03/09/2018 - 12:14 Permalink

I am one of the masses of single, childless citizens who cannot afford rent that absorbs more than half of my earned-only, non-spousal-augmented, non-welfare-hoisted, non-child-tax-credit-boosted income.

I guess I should applaud this takeover of a real estate industry that does not serve many of the 28% of childless citizens over 40, much less many of the older single moms with grown children, the noncustodial single parents and the childless-for-now young-and-single citizens.

I.E., the real estate industry does not serve the many non-rich American citizens, living on earned-only income from one source in an ever-less-married country.

I should applaud it, especially if Amazon Real Estate includes a rental wing that helps underemployed Americans find affordable and decent-quality apartments in safe areas. 

Alexa, find me an acceptable apartment that does not soak up over half of my $— monthly income, taking into consideration that this temporary, part-time, high-turnover, low-wage or 1099 gig might not last 6 months. 

Sorry, I did not understand your request.

501 Gateway Error  

Abort mission ......

Return to the temp job portal .......

In reply to by spastic_colon

Utopia Planitia Fri, 03/09/2018 - 11:10 Permalink

Hmmm.  A company with no profits wants to go into the mortgage business.  So the capital is coming from where?  Well, with Bezos he will get it lined up - it will come right out of YOUR pocket (whether you like it or not)! Get ready for Bezos to be your landlord/master!

economessed Fri, 03/09/2018 - 11:10 Permalink

So let me get this straight - Amazon will hold the title to your house where you have all their cardboard boxes shipped, all your conversations monitored by their Alexian-snooping devices, watch everyone who comes and goes to the house through their web-enabled doorbell and track what food items you consume.

And we still pretend that the 4th Amendment to the Constitution exists?