Citigroup to lend $2B to mortgage groups

Citigroup is poised to dole out up to $2 billion in loans to independent mortgage groups, according to Bloomberg. The bank is using funds received in the bailout, a third of which it has allocated toward attempting to revive the crippled mortgage market. This so-called warehouse lending is aimed at helping mortgage banks make loans. Four years ago, 115 warehouse loan providers existed — in 2009, that number shrunk to 30. “It’s a real positive,” Christine Clifford, vice president of Access Research & Consulting, said. “We’ve had a real problem because of the lack of warehouse lending. I have clients that were not originating loans because they did not have the capital to do so in the first quarter.”