Quicken Loans
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Finance and Mortgage |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Founder(s) | Dan Gilbert |
| Headquarters | The Compuware Building, The Qube |
| Products | Mortgage Loans, Home Loans, 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgages, 15-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage, FHA Loans, VA Loans, ARM Loans, Jumbo Loans |
| Employees | 4,750 |
| Website | www.quickenloans.com |
Quicken Loans Inc., headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, is the 5th largest retail mortgage lender overall in the United States and the largest online. The company consists of the QuickenLoans.com online lending site, the Rock Financial brand in southeast Michigan, One Reverse Mortgage,[1] based in San Diego, California, and Title Source, a mortgage settlement service provider. In 2010, Quicken Loans processed approximately $29 billion in residential mortgage loans.
The company employs about 4,750 people and is listed as one of the Top 30 Best Places to Work in America by Fortune magazine, a notable mention it has held for several years.[2][3]
The recently launched Quicken Loans Zing Blog was rated as one of the top five corporate blogs by Sprout Social Insights in 2011. [4].
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[edit] History
Quicken Loans, originally Rock Financial Corporation, was founded in 1985 by Dan Gilbert along with his younger brother, film producer Gary Gilbert, their childhood friend Lindsay Gross, and Ron Berman. Rock Financial soon became one of the largest independent mortgage companies in the country. In May 1998, Gilbert took Rock Financial public, launching a successful IPO underwritten by Bear Stearns and Prudential Securities.
In December 1999, Intuit Inc. (makers of QuickBooks, TurboTax, and Quicken) purchased Rock Financial for a sum of $532M. The company was renamed Quicken Loans. In June 2002, Gilbert led a small group of private investors in purchasing the Quicken Loans subsidiary back from Intuit for just $64M.[5]
[edit] Corporate governance
On November 12, 2007, Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert announced a development agreement with the city to move the company headquarters to downtown Detroit, consolidating suburban offices.[6] The construction sites reserved for development by the agreement included the location of the former Statler on Grand Circus Park and the former Hudson's location.[6]
Since 2009, Quicken has leased office space in the Comuware building facing Campus Martius Park in Detroit, while it completes its move to Downtown Detroit.[7] The Qube in Detroit serves as the Quicken Loans operations center.
[edit] Recent news
In the Spring of 2008 Rock Holdings entered the Reverse Mortgage market with the acquisition of One Reverse Mortgage in Southern California.
Quicken Loans has not experienced the massive layoffs of other financial companies during recessions. The company saw a small drop in employment levels following the 2008 finanical crisis.[8][9]
In August 2007 the entire mortgage industry faced a crisis in obtaining new credit from banking institutions and hedge funds. In response to that Quicken Loans stopped doing all:[10]
- Second mortgages
- Home equity lines of credit (HELOC)
- Alt-A products
- Deferred interest loans
In 2004, Quicken Loans Inc. became a defendant in a class action lawsuit. This was filed against the company on behalf of employees who worked as loan consultants for any Quicken office within the past three years. The claimants alleged that Quicken violated the Fair Labor Act for failing to pay the plaintiffs overtime for working beyond a 40-hour work week. Quicken Loans denied these claims, and said it is not aware of any such violations of the Fair Labor Act. On March 17, 2011, a federal jury in downtown Detroit found in favor of Quicken Loans, ending the seven-year old lawsuit. The decision means that Quicken Loans is not responsible for overtime payments to the plaintiffs.[11]
[edit] References
- ^ "Quicken Loans Enters Reverse Mortgage Business". Reverse Mortgage Daily. 2008-01-23. http://reversemortgagedaily.com/2008/01/23/quicken-enters-reverse-mortgage-business/. Retrieved 2008-01-23.
- ^ "100 Best Companies to Work for". Fortune Magazine. 2009-01-20. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2009/snapshots/29.html. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
- ^ Real Estate Rama
- ^ http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2011/08/5-great-examples-of-company-blogs/
- ^ "The 400 richest Americans". Forbes Magazine. 2007-08-24. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/54/biz_06rich400_Daniel-Gilbert_LIVH.html. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
- ^ a b Howes, Daniel (November 12, 2007).Quicken moving to downtown Detroit.The Detroit News. Retrieved on November 12, 2007.
- ^ Aguilar, Louis (July 13, 2009).[1].The Detroit News. Retrieved on July 13, 2009.
- ^ "Gilbert: Housing slump hits Quicken". The Detroit News. 2007-10-15. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/BIZ/710150366/1001. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
- ^ "Quicken lays off 250 in Mich., Ariz., Ohio". The Detroit News. 2008-06-20. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080620/BIZ/806200406. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
- ^ "Gilbert: Mortgage squeeze could be blessing for Quicken". The Detroit Free Press. 2007-08-16. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20070927020018/http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070816/COL06/70816033&imw=Y. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
- ^ Duggan, Daniel (March 17, 2011). "Dan Gilbert: Quicken's triumph in overtime trial ‘a victory for right over wrong'". Crains Detroit Business. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110317/FREE/110319930%7C.
[edit] External links
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- "The DIFF Blog -- Searching the World for the DIFFerence". WOMMA. 2007-08-30. http://www.womma.org/casestudy/examples/create-a-blog/the-diff-blog-searching-the-wo/. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
