Local mortgage lender closes after bum bank deal

More than 80 people are unemployed after a Wilmington-based mortgage company abruptly shut down. AAXA Mortgage closed its doors this week after a deal with an Illinois bank went bad. In a very candid interview, the CEO of AAXA explained how it happened and what happens next.

“We were positioned to blow this company open with this national bank deal to go from 100 employees, to six, seven hundred or I dare say 1,000 more jobs over the coming five years,” AAXA CEO Greg Gianoplus said. “Now, the carpet has been pulled out from underneath of us as of last Thursday.”

Instead of growing, the doors have been closed on AAXA Mortgage on Eastwood Road. Its 60 Wilmington employees are out of a job. One of those is Mary Horrell. She and her husband both worked at AAXA. Although technically unemployed, and not getting paid, Horrell is still at work tying up loose ends.

“This has been my home since 2002,” Mary Horrell said. “We’re a very close knit group of people, and we have a job to do. We have loans to close. We have customers that are counting on us.”

About a year and a half ago, a deal was set in to motion that would partner AAXA with an Illinois bank. As part of the deal, the bank acquired 51 percent of the company, and AAXA would do business under the bank’s national charter. About four months ago, the bank’s regulator said it could not accept AAXA as a subsidiary. The debate went on until last week.

“The bank blames the regulator, the regulator blames the bank and our company is the political pawn in this process, and nearly 90 families that serve this company are going to suffer,” Gianoplus said.

The government agency that oversees banks refused to approve the deal. Without the ability to operate under the bank’s license, AAXA could not do business. AAXA’s CEO says he’s not taking this lying down.

“I don’t know what’s ahead. I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Gianoplus said, “but I will never give up. I will be persistent that the best possible outcome of this situation is achieved.”

Gianoplus says he intends to sue the bank for control of his company while he looks for a new bank partner. He’s hoping to close existing loans that are already in the works.