Goldome Firm Buys Bankers’ Funding Corp.

Bankers’ Funding Corp. of Newport Beach, a wholesale mortgage banking company, has been acquired by Goldome Realty Credit Corp. for more than $10 million cash.

The acquisition marks expansion-minded Goldome’s debut on the West Coast. It will give the company, owned by Goldome Bank for Savings of Buffalo, N.Y., new assets including a residential mortgage portfolio of $525 million and a $3-million portfolio of outstanding residential construction loans. Officials of Goldome could not be reached for comment.

As a result of the sale, about 12 of Bankers’ 37 employees will lose their jobs, according to John Frey, Bankers’ Funding vice president and western regional manager. The other 25 will stay on with Goldome, he said.

Larger Loan Capability

Becoming an arm of a savings bank, Fry said, will enable the mortgage banking company to make larger loans and to offer lower loan rates and a larger variety of loans.

He said the company, which will take on Goldome’s name, will be able to loan up to $1 million on a single-family house, compared to Bankers’ maximum loan of $250,000.

Bankers’ Funding, a subsidiary of Central Pacific Corp., originates loans throughout 13 states in the West and Midwest. The company was started 13 years ago as American National Mortgage, with headquarters in Bakersfield. The name was changed to Bankers’ Funding Corp. in 1981, when the company moved to Newport Beach.