Despite Challenging Economic Environment, Churchill Mortgage Thrives in 2011 - Successful residential mortgage lender sets new company records in spite of recession

BRENTWOOD, Tenn., Dec. 12, 2011 – Churchill Mortgage, a leader in the mortgage industry providing conventional, FHA, VA and USDA residential mortgages across 23 states, announced significant corporate growth in 2011, setting new company lending records each financial quarter throughout the year.

Churchill Mortgage has expanded into several new markets, and in addition to new branches in Mt. Juliet, Tenn., Jackson, Tenn. and Murfreesboro, Tenn., the company now has branches in Houston, Texas and Franklin, Ky., and has added 29 new employees.

Several key partnerships were also established for Churchill Mortgage in 2011, including eCredable, an online service that provides Churchill Mortgage with access to alternative borrower credit information like rent, utilities and insurance bills, to gain a better understanding of consumers’ creditworthiness and better match borrowers to appropriate loan products. Churchill also partnered with Southern Land Company, a multi-faceted real estate development firm, to form a preferred lender partnership to serve its Tennessee communities.

The lender received approval from both the Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) to offer down payment and closing cost assistance to qualified first-time homebuyers, and the South Carolina State Housing Finance & Development Authority to offer down payment and closing cost assistance to eligible first-time homebuyers and certain non-first-time homebuyers, depending on county.

The Churchill Realtor Specialty Team was introduced this year in conjunction with the lender’s new, dedicated branch in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Led by industry veteran Tomi Beck, the new specialty team is designed to form partnerships with local Real Estate Agents around the business development system of Home Buyers Marketing, Inc. (HBM®). HBM helps facilitate the development of the Loan Officer and Real Estate Agent’s relationship with each buyer at any stage of their home buying process, through online communications systems and reporting of buyers’ online home search and selection activity.

Additionally, Churchill Mortgage’s founder and president, Mike Hardwick, was recognized as one of the Nashville Business Journal’s “Banking Power Leaders,” a prestigious listing of the top 40 leaders driving the banking and finance industry in Nashville and Middle Tennessee. Corporately, Churchill Mortgage was recognized as Nashville’s second fastest-growing company by Nashville Business Journal in their annual “25 Fastest-Growing Companies” list.

“2011 has been an exceptional year for Churchill Mortgage, in spite of the challenging conditions the mortgage industry is experiencing,” said Mike Hardwick, founder and president of Churchill Mortgage. “In fact, we anticipate originating nearly 5,000 mortgage loans in 2011 and continue to set new company records each quarter. We expanded into new markets and opened several new branches, grew our staff by 11 percent and established successful partnerships with industry leaders that will further benefit our customers. These achievements showcase our dedication to our customers, and the reason many of our customers continue to work with us.”