New American Funding - Female Executive of the Year – Consumer Services
Company: New American Funding, Tustin, CA
Company Description: New American Funding (NMLS #6606) is a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae Direct Seller/Servicer, FHA Direct Endorsement, and VA Automatic mortgage lender that is licensed in 48 states with 205+ branch locations nationwide and 3,600+ employees that offer a variety of home loan options including Conventional, FHA, Cash-Out, Fixed-Rate and Adjustable- Rate Mortgages, VA, Jumbo, and Reverse
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Female Executive of the Year – Consumer Services –More Than 2,500 Employees
Nomination Title: Christy Bunce
As Chief Operations Officer, Christy Bunce leads the day-to-day operations of one of the nation’s fastest-growing mortgage lenders. Bunce is involved with every aspect of New American Funding's business and has helped the company expand into the successful organization it is today. Bunce came to the company nearly 12 years ago, initially serving as Operations Manager and overseeing 15 of the companies approximately 50 employees at the time.
Bunce oversees New American Funding’s entire mortgage lending pipeline, managing the lender’s underwriting, processing, and funding operations.
Under Bunce’s explicit supervision, New American Funding has increased its lending volume markedly over the last several years. Bunce maintains direct oversight of the company’s lending standards, ensuring the company’s guidelines are not “one size fits all.” Instead, Bunce works to ensure that the company does not have a rigid approach to guidelines and overlays. Bunce personally examines individual credit situations to ensure that New American Funding lends to all borrowers who are qualified, despite how their credit profiles may look to other lenders.
When Bunce began at New American Funding, the company had zero retail footprint and just dozens of employees. Now, the company has 181 nationwide locations and about 4,800 employees.
Bunce’s influence was never felt more than it was in the last two years, when the company broke its own lending records in consecutive years.
In 2019, the company originated $14.2 billion in mortgages, which placed it at #17 among all lenders. But that figure was dwarfed by what the company did in 2020. Last year, the company more than doubled its lending volume from 2019, originating more than $30.5 billion in mortgages.
That’s an increase of 114.8%, which earned New American Funding a spot in the top-15 mortgage lenders, ranking 13th overall.
Perhaps more impressive was that it was accomplished while the vast majority of the company’s thousands of employees were working remotely for most of the year.
In late February, while other companies were beginning to react to COVID-19, Bunce and New American Funding’s other senior executives were already enacting a fully formed plan. This allowed the company to provide information and engagement throughout the process, ensuring the safe and quick transition of approximately 3,300 employees to remote work in early March.
Leadership’s proactive direction proved to be a rousing success. Average loan production increased by nearly 80% in the months immediately after going remote, as loan officers and operations staff were able to successfully manage the surge in business.
During that same time, Bunce led New American Funding as it nearly doubled its workforce. In 2020, the company hired 2,776 new employees. That trend has continued in 2021, with the company adding 1,042 new employees this year.
The company’s growth in 2020 far exceeded many of its competitors, including several of the largest banks. New American Funding’s mortgage business increased by 114.8% in 2020, more than what was seen at 11 of the other top 15 lenders. Put another way, in 2020, New American Funding’s growth in 2020 was larger than seven of the top ten lenders.
During that same period, the company also experienced astronomical growth in its revenue. From 2019 to 2020, company revenue increased by 112.4%.
The company also saw substantial growth in its mortgage servicing portfolio. As 2019 ended, the company’s servicing portfolio included approximately 124,000 loans totaling $31 billion. Since then, the company has grown its servicing portfolio to approximately 197,000 loans totaling $51.4 billion, an increase of nearly 59% by loan count and an increase of nearly 66% in total loan value.
New American Funding also has one of the most diverse workforces in the financial services industry. Currently, women make up 60% of all employees; 45% of all employees are minorities; including 23% who are Hispanic; and 38% are Millennials. An increase of 3%, 10%, and 9% since July 2019 respectfully.
The company also focuses on lending to diverse populations, specifically focusing on increasing lending to the Hispanic and Black communities. New American Funding constantly surpasses all other large lenders in lending to minority borrowers. In 2020, 36% of New American Funding’s purchase loans were to minority borrowers compared to 25.5% for all institutions.
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Bunce has recently won multiple awards for her work and position in the industry. In April 2021, Bunce was honored as a 2021 Mortgage Star by Mortgage Women Magazine. The award recognizes the most talented, ambitious, innovative, and philanthropic women who are achieving excellence and making a difference in their industry.
Bunce was also named top leaders in the housing industry by HousingWire, a housing and real estate industry publication. Bunce was named one of the 2020 HW Vanguards, an award reserved for the true leaders and visionaries in the housing industry.
Also included in Bunce’s nomination is more information about New American Funding’s Latino Focus and New American Dream initiatives, which focus on increasing mortgage lending to Hispanic and Black communities, respectively.
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Awards received by Bunce:
- (2021) Mortgage Women Magazine Honors Christy Bunce as a Mortgage Star
- (2020) Christy Bunce Named Top Leader in Housing Industry
Videos featuring Bunce: