Top Lenders

Flat illustration with business people standing on mountain peak top holding flag on blue clouded sky background. Victory, achievement, reaching aim, partnership, motivation, leader - metaphor.CT’s Top Lenders Grabbed Market Share in Tough Year

Focus on Service, Relationships Powered Winners

By Diane McLaughlin
Commercial Record Staff

As mortgage rates drove down refinance activity last year, some of the state’s top lenders saw their long-term strategies bear fruit as they competed for a limited number of homebuyers still in the market.

“In this business, you have to be eternally optimistic and that’s the outlook of this organization,” said Bill Schettler, chief production officer at Total Mortgage Services. “We’re trying to provide a quality service to the public that is sustainable, and that’s what we’re about from are very core.”

Every year, The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record, compiles the top 10 mortgage lenders among Connecticut’s credit unions, banks and mortgage companies, ranked by number of loans and loan volume in several origination categories. All loans were originated in 2022.

Even with borrowers turning to home equity loans and lines of credit in 2022, nonpurchase mortgages fell year-over-year by 46 percent. Lenders had about 54,000 residential nonpurchase mortgages in 2022 compared to more than 100,000 in 2021. Volumes declined by 54 percent in 2022 to $12.88 billion from about $28.27 billion in 2021. 

Purchase mortgages also fell in 2022. Lenders had about 26,900 single-family purchase mortgages in Connecticut in 2022, a 21 percent decline from 2021. The volume of single-family mortgages declined 18 percent year-over-year, from $11 billion in 2021 to $13.5 billion in 2022. Condominium purchase mortgages fell year-over-year by 21 percent to about 6,000 loans in 2022. The volume of condominium mortgages fell by 16 percent to about $1.4 billion.

Opportunity in Purchase Market

Milford-based Total Mortgage Services originated 1,266 single-family purchase mortgages for $428.73 million in volume, the most in-state. The company also had 726 condominium purchase mortgages, the most among lenders in the state last year. Rocket Mortgage had the highest condominium volume in Connecticut last year with about $60.5 million.

Navy Federal Credit Union led credit unions with $73.2 million in single-family purchase mortgages and 203 loans. Navy Federal Credit Union also had 38 condominium loans for $7.69 million, the most among credit unions.

U.S. Bank had the most single-family purchase activity among bank lenders with about 1,700 in loans and $1.1 billion in volume. Leader Bank had the most condominium loans among banks, with about 1,040 loans, while First Republic Bank had the highest volume with $628.5 million in volume.

The top Connecticut-based bank lender for single-family purchase mortgages in 2022 was Middletown-based Liberty Bank with 354 loans for $168.1 million. Liberty Bank topped all bank lenders with 52 small multifamily loans.

Liberty Bank’s long-time focus on purchase mortgages, even while managing activity during the 2020 and 2021 refinance boom, gave the bank an advantage in 2022, said Kurt Johnson, the bank’s retail lending sales manager.

While 2022 started out similar to the previous two years, Johnson said, the rapid rise in mortgage interest rates meant lenders had to adjust to the changing economic conditions.

“When things shifted somewhat dramatically across the board, some of the refinancing went away,” Johnson said. “But we had always been focused on the purchase market, and we just continued to do what we had always been doing.”

Relationships Key to Success

Maintaining referral sources and delivering on commitments have helped the mortgage team build relationships throughout its footprint, Johnson said. As the industry shifted in 2022, Johnson said, the bank continued to use these relationships to bring in new business. Last year also saw more opportunities for in-person meetings and events compared to the first two years of the pandemic, Johnson said, helping loan officers to reinforce those relationships.

Johnson added that having a range of residential lending products aimed at various segments of the market – including loans for first-time homebuyers, jumbo mortgages, multifamily products and constructions loans – let the bank meet borrowers’ need throughout the different areas of the $6.9 billion-asset-bank’s footprint.  

While the mortgage sales team and loan officers are busy right now, low housing inventory and borrowers’ concerns about rates have meant that the activity does not always lead to loans, Johnson said. But he expects the work the team is doing now will position the bank well should inventory increase and rates stabilize later in the year.

“Being a local bank – one that has been here for a few hundred years – people trust us, and I think that also gets us a foot in the door perhaps in a few places where others might not,” Johnson said. “It puts us in a great spot here in the local market.”

Integral in Community

Despite growing nationally as an online lender after launching in 1997, Total Mortgage Services also focuses on community relationships to bring in business. The mortgage company started to build its branch network in Connecticut about eight years ago, hiring veteran mortgage professionals and developing its own loan officers, said Schettler, the chief production officer who has been with Total Mortgage Services since 2001.

“One of the keys to our success is having people that we hire and that we grow buy into our philosophy – and that really is community based,” Schettler said. “We want our loan officers to be an integral part of the communities in which they reside.”

Having community-based branches has let loan officers become involved with all aspects of their local real estate markets, Schettler said, and the network of referral partners they have built helps bring in business during challenging market environments.

While the industry faced new and unforeseen challenges in 2022, Schettler said Total Mortgage Services continued to focus on service and commitments to distinguish itself in the market.

“The market is certainly beyond our control, and we have to we have to figure out a way to fight that fight, regardless of rate environment,” Schettler said. “Largely, we’ve done that through maintaining our service level.”

Every loan gets the same amount of attention, Schettler said, adding that borrowers’ experiences with Total Mortgage Services have led to a significant amount of repeat business.

Schettler also pointed to staff throughout the organization and their ideas for improving the company as keys to Total Mortgage’s success.

“If they see something that we could be doing different, we almost require that you raise your hand, and there’s real power in that from a management perspective,” Schettler said. “Certainly you’re empowering your employees, and people like to work here for that


2022 Top Lenders

For more than 150 years, The Warren Group has been the most trusted and reliable source in New England for real estate property data. The company maintains the most comprehensive property database today due to its long-standing relationships with town assessors, clerks and county registries as well as its extensive daily collection of transaction records in the field. Transactional data is collected daily, verified, matched to the appropriate property record and posted weekly; it includes sales transfers, mortgages and refinances. 

The data in this report represents purchase and non-purchase loans made by banks, credit unions and mortgage companies in Connecticut in 2022. Category breakdowns include purchase mortgages for single-family, multifamily (two-family and three-family combined), condominium and commercial properties, as well as non-purchase residential loans (includes refinances and HELOCs). Residential and commercial data are not combined in any reports. The commercial data in these reports caps all loans at $1 billion. Each category ranks the top 10 lenders by both dollar volume and number of loans. 

For more information, please contact The Warren Group’s customer service department at customerservice@thewarrengroup.com or 617-896-5367. 

Single-Family Mortgages

Banks


Volume of Loans

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 US Bank NA $411,554,602
2 JP Morgan Chase Bank $349,044,863
3 Wells Fargo Bank NA $311,307,290
4 Bank of America NA $310,535,784
5 Citizens Financial Group $300,126,855
6 Citicorp Mortgage Inc $255,292,207
7 First Republic Bank $249,127,403
8 Liberty Bank $168,138,849
9 Newtown Savings Bank $113,655,374
10 Key Bank N.A. $89,772,004

Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Citizens Financial Group 580
2 JP Morgan Chase Bank 489
3 US Bank NA 472
4 Bank of America NA 449
5 Wells Fargo Bank NA 404
6 Liberty Bank 354
7 Newtown Savings Bank 284
8 Webster Bank 186
9 Key Bank N.A. 183
10 Citicorp Mortgage Inc 174

Credit Unions


Number of Loans 

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Navy Federal Credit Union 203
2 American Eagle Financial Credit Union 149
3 Charter Oak Federal Credit Union 103
4 Sikorsky Financial Credit Union Inc 90
5 Mutual Security Credit Union 40
6 USA Alliance Federal Credit Union 22
7 Pentagon Federal Credit Union 21
8 Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union 17
9 Bethpage Federal Credit Union 16
10 Coreplus FCU 14

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 Navy Federal Credit Union $73,212,073
2 American Eagle Financial Credit Union $48,421,834
3 Sikorsky Financial Credit Union Inc $32,706,651
4 Charter Oak Federal Credit Union $31,272,002
5 USA Alliance Federal Credit Union $19,409,125
6 Bethpage Federal Credit Union $14,779,825
7 Mutual Security Credit Union $13,460,100
8 Pentagon Federal Credit Union $8,647,745
9 Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union $6,987,560
10 Digital Federal Credit Union $4,562,950

Mortgage Companies


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Total Mortgage Services 1,266
2 United Wholesale Mortgage 1,128
3 Rocket Mortgage 997
4 First World Mortgage 882
5 Fairway Independent Mortgage 863
6 Guaranteed Rate Inc 847
7 Guaranteed Rate Affinity LLC 701
8 LoanDepot.Com LLC 675
9 Cross Country Mortgage Inc 653
10 Movement Mortgage LLC 631

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 Total Mortgage Services $428,733,475
2 United Wholesale Mortgage $352,607,168
3 Rocket Mortgage $350,451,291
4 Guaranteed Rate Inc $307,058,552
5 Fairway Independent Mortgage $296,654,191
6 Cross Country Mortgage Inc $278,574,112
7 Guaranteed Rate Affinity LLC $277,098,362
8 LoanDepot.Com LLC $257,875,344
9 First World Mortgage $234,107,135
10 William Raveis Mortgage Co $209,887,497
Condominium Mortgages

Banks


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Citizens Financial Group 136
2 Bank of America NA 122
3 JP Morgan Chase Bank 110
4 Newtown Savings Bank 105
5 Liberty Bank 103
6 Wells Fargo Bank NA 96
7 US Bank NA 92
8T Savings Bank of Danbury 69
8T Chelsea Groton Bank 69
10 Webster Bank 63

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 Citizens Financial Group $36,027,605
2 Bank of America NA $32,871,199
3 JP Morgan Chase Bank $30,892,409
4 US Bank NA $27,220,705
5 Wells Fargo Bank NA $26,183,144
6 Newtown Savings Bank $23,702,775
7 Liberty Bank $21,713,340
8 Savings Bank of Danbury $18,747,830
9 Customers Bank $16,350,000
10 Chelsea Groton Bank $15,730,150

Credit Unions


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Navy Federal Credit Union 38
2 Charter Oak Federal Credit Union 31
3 American Eagle Financial Credit Union 29
4 Sikorsky Financial Credit Union Inc 23
5 Digital Federal Credit Union 18
6 Mutual Security Credit Union 14
7 Bethpage Federal Credit Union 9
8T Pentagon Federal Credit Union 6
8T Coreplus FCU 6
10T Suma Yonkers FCU 5
10T Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union 5

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 Navy Federal Credit Union $7,690,024
2 Charter Oak Federal Credit Union $6,794,793
3 American Eagle Financial Credit Union $5,871,400
4 Bethpage Federal Credit Union $5,638,410
5 Sikorsky Financial Credit Union Inc $5,023,020
6 Digital Federal Credit Union $4,164,639
7 Mutual Security Credit Union $3,310,900
8 USA Alliance Federal Credit Union $1,600,000
9 Suma Yonkers FCU $1,554,900
10 Pentagon Federal Credit Union $1,345,875

Mortgage Companies


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Total Mortgage Services 276
2 Rocket Mortgage 271
3 United Wholesale Mortgage 262
4 Guaranteed Rate Inc 206
5 Guaranteed Rate Affinity LLC 196
6 Fairway Independent Mortgage 182
7 Cross Country Mortgage Inc 180
8 LoanDepot.Com LLC 167
9 First World Mortgage 157
10 Prosperity Home Mortgage LLC 148

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 Rocket Mortgage $60,497,933
2 Total Mortgage Services $57,548,556
3 United Wholesale Mortgage $51,841,885
4 Cross Country Mortgage Inc $48,819,209
5 Guaranteed Rate Inc $45,433,442
6 LoanDepot.Com LLC $43,920,223
7 Guaranteed Rate Affinity LLC $43,770,375
8 Fairway Independent Mortgage $37,035,866
9 Prosperity Home Mortgage LLC $32,291,662
10 Movement Mortgage LLC $27,120,499
Residential Nonpurchase Loans

Banks


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Citizens Financial Group 3,383
2 Webster Bank 3,189
3 Bank of America NA 2,008
4 Liberty Bank 1,878
5 Peoples United Bank 1,345
6 Wells Fargo Bank NA 1,176
7 TD Bank NA 1,032
8 Key Bank N.A. 1,010
9 M&T Bank NA 801
10 JP Morgan Chase Bank 766

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 Bank of America NA $817,225,121
2 Citizens Financial Group $725,646,745
3 JP Morgan Chase Bank $635,263,516
4 Webster Bank $586,646,957
5 Wells Fargo Bank NA $578,634,819
6 Liberty Bank $363,399,509
7 Peoples United Bank $330,955,077
8 First Republic Bank $328,219,089
9 US Bank NA $313,842,920
10 TD Bank NA $260,090,828

Credit Unions


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 American Eagle Financial Credit Union 1,555
2 Charter Oak Federal Credit Union 1,088
3 Sikorsky Financial Credit Union Inc 1,054
4 Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union 605
5 Connex Credit Union 455
6 Waterbury Teachers Federal Credit Union 453
7 Navy Federal Credit Union 433
8 Connecticut State Employees Federal Credit Union 373
9 Dutch Point Credit Union 303
10 Coreplus FCU 234

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 American Eagle Financial Credit Union $170,277,518
2 Charter Oak Federal Credit Union $139,194,759
3 Sikorsky Financial Credit Union Inc $132,569,703
4 Navy Federal Credit Union $81,839,655
5 Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union $64,198,352
6 Connecticut State Employees Federal Credit Union $51,174,213
7 Waterbury Teachers Federal Credit Union $44,069,323
8 Connex Credit Union $36,102,554
9 USA Alliance Federal Credit Union $32,272,432
10 Pentagon Federal Credit Union $26,849,616

Mortgage Companies


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 Rocket Mortgage $877,211,544
2 LoanDepot.Com LLC $350,190,456
3 Corevest American Finance $284,565,250
4 Morgan Stanley $239,013,970
5 United Shore Financial Services LLC $221,459,835
6 Total Mortgage Services $161,262,685
7 Nationstar Mortgage $149,832,956
8 Fairway Independent Mortgage $134,723,411
9 Guaranteed Rate Inc $132,961,771
10 Freedom Mortgage Corp $125,039,450

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Rocket Mortgage 3,510
2 LoanDepot.Com LLC 1,245
3 United Shore Financial Services LLC 847
4 Nationstar Mortgage 665
5 Total Mortgage Services 561
6 Newrez LLC 539
7 Freedom Mortgage Corp 533
8 Amerisave Mortgage Corporation 470
9 Guaranteed Rate Inc 467
10 Fairway Independent Mortgage 435
Commercial Purchase Mortgages

Banks


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Webster Bank 60
2 Liberty Bank 30
3 Thomaston Savings Bank 25
4T First County Bank 22
4T Dime Bank 22
6 Fairfield County Bank Corp 21
7 M&T Bank NA 20
8 Northwest Community Bank 19
9 Savings Bank of Danbury 18
10 Chelsea Groton Bank 17

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 Deutsche Bank $135,400,000
2 Cadence Bank NA $120,000,000
3 Huntington National Bank $70,498,000
4 BayCoast Bank $66,355,736
5 Webster Bank $43,538,567
6 Associated Bank NA $41,782,000
7 Bankwell Bank $37,485,037
8 Washington Trust Co $31,986,750
9 Fairfield County Bank Corp $23,517,345
10 The Bancorp Bank $21,615,125

Credit Unions


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union 16
2 Charter Oak Federal Credit Union 7
3 Sikorsky Financial Credit Union Inc 5
4 Polish National Credit Union 4
5T Workers Credit Union 2
5T American Eagle Financial Credit Union 2
5T Navy Federal Credit Union 2

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union $13,382,551
2 Charter Oak Federal Credit Union $4,704,002
3 Workers Credit Union $4,612,500
4 United Nations Federal Credit Union $2,730,000
5 Sikorsky Financial Credit Union Inc $2,072,000
6 Suma Yonkers FCU $1,800,000
7 Polish National Credit Union $1,318,750
8 American Eagle Financial Credit Union $1,132,800
9 Webster First Federal Credit Union $960,000
10 Credit Union One $845,000

Mortgage Companies


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Loan Funder LLC 42
2 Velocity Commercial Capital LLC 17
3 Sachem Capital Corp 16
4 United Wholesale Mortgage 15
5 Finance America LLC 14
6 First World Mortgage 11
7 Caliber Home Loans 10
8 Fairway Independent Mortgage 10
9 Total Mortgage Services 9
10T LoanDepot.Com LLC 8
10T Rocket Mortgage 8
10T RCN Capital LLC 8

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 Loan Funder LLC $39,950,596
2 Walker & Dunlop LLC $23,880,000
3 Sachem Capital Corp $20,958,000
4 Corevest American Finance $19,792,800
5 Greystone Servicing Corp $18,383,000
6 UBS BANK USA $15,750,000
7 Finance America LLC $5,649,404
8 Caliber Home Loans $4,256,622
9 Newtek Small Business Finance Inc $4,212,500
10 United Shore Financial Services LLC $4,119,294
Multifamily Purchase Mortgages

Banks


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Liberty Bank 52
2 Citizens Financial Group 48
3 Bank of America NA 29
4 Thomaston Savings Bank 27
5 Flagstar Bank FSB 26
6 JP Morgan Chase Bank 26
7 Wells Fargo Bank NA 23
8 First National Bank 17
9 Chelsea Groton Bank 16
10 First County Bank 15

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Citizens Financial Group $17,635,996
2 Liberty Bank $14,511,414
3 Wells Fargo Bank NA $12,210,897
4 JP Morgan Chase Bank $11,767,149
5 Bank of America NA $9,856,788
6 First County Bank $8,952,625
7 Dime Bank $7,322,910
8 Flagstar Bank FSB $6,310,631
9 Chelsea Groton Bank $5,830,242
10 Thomaston Savings Bank $5,763,900

Credit Unions


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 Charter Oak Federal Credit Union 12
2T American Eagle Financial Credit Union 7
2T Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union 7
4 Navy Federal Credit Union 5
5 Mutual Security Credit Union 4
6T Connecticut State Employees Federal Credit Union 2
6T Sikorsky Financial Credit Union Inc 2

Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 Charter Oak Federal Credit Union $2,468,092
2 Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union $2,279,750
3 American Eagle Financial Credit Union $1,885,750
4 Mutual Security Credit Union $1,664,000
5 Navy Federal Credit Union $1,655,355
6 Sikorsky Financial Credit Union Inc $1,108,000
7 General Electric Credit Union $647,200
8 Suma Yonkers FCU $600,000
9 Mayo Employees Federal Credit Union $589,500
10 Baxter Credit Union $349,000

Mortgage Companies


Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name Number
1 United Wholesale Mortgage 146
2 First World Mortgage 144
3 Total Mortgage Services 139
4 Fairway Independent Mortgage 131
5 LoanDepot.Com LLC 96
6 Caliber Home Loans 94
7T Cross Country Mortgage Inc 93
7T Rocket Mortgage 93
9 Movement Mortgage LLC 82
10 Guaranteed Rate Inc 80


Loan Volume

Rank Lender Name Volume
1 United Wholesale Mortgage $42,019,684
2 Total Mortgage Services $39,714,497
3 First World Mortgage $38,360,940
4 Fairway Independent Mortgage $36,570,495
5 LoanDepot.Com LLC $31,729,628
6 Caliber Home Loans $31,612,580
7 Cross Country Mortgage Inc $30,701,308
8 Loan Funder LLC $29,984,079
9 Greystone Servicing Corp $25,449,000
10 Guaranteed Rate Inc $24,866,066