Buyout imminent, Heartland lenders walk

One bank’s loss is another’s gain.

In this instance, St. Louis-based Heartland Bank effectively loses its entire Springfield mortgage operations, while the local office for USA Mortgage is the cat that ate the canary.

Four loan originators and four support personnel left Heartland in January to start work at the Springfield office of USA Mortgage. Leading the move to USA Mortgage, a St. Louis-based subsidiary of DAS Acquisition Co., is Kent Kelso, Heartland’s former head of home loan operations in Springfield, Joplin and Branson.

Kelso was named branch manager of USA Mortgage-Springfield, joining Steve Kitrel, who opened the company’s local office, 1525 E. Republic Road, in fall 2011.

Kelso said the move was prompted by the looming buyout of Heartland Bank. In September, Effingham, Ill.-based Midland States Bancorp Inc. announced it would acquire Heartland Bank and its subsidiaries from parent company St. Louis-based Love Savings Holding Co. Heartland, which operates 15 locations, including one office each in Springfield, Branson and Joplin, plans to adopt the Midland States name after the deal closes Feb. 14, according to Kelso.

The deal creates 48 Midland States Bank sites across Illinois, Missouri, Colorado and Wisconsin, according to Heartland-Bank.com.

The transition effectively empties Heartland’s mortgage operations in Springfield – other than one loan originator who stayed behind, and Kelso said that individual also was leaving for another institution Jan. 29.

“The office there is going to be vacant,” Kelso said.

Heartland Mortgage Division President Mark Sandau and bank Chairman Laurence Schiffer in St. Louis did not return Springfield Business Journal’s phone calls by press time, and a call Jan. 30 to the Heartland office at 3322 S. Campbell Ave. went unanswered. A request to speak with Douglas Tucker, senior vice president and corporate counsel for Midland States Bank, also was not returned by press time.

Facing an uncertain future, Kelso said his familiarity with Kitrel and others in the local USA Mortgage office prompted his interest in joining a competitor after six years working for Heartland under Sandau.

“My feeling about the direction of the bank was that (Sandau) wasn’t going to be there long-term and that there were changes in the midst. I wasn’t sure what those changes were going to be, and I wasn’t sure I was comfortable with them,” Kelso said. “That made it more amicable for me to listen to someone else who wanted to talk about another opportunity.”

Kelso brings with him nearly 24 years of lending experience, along with a team of mortgage originators comprising Matt Soutee, Liz Crutcher and Kerry Norman, as well as four support personnel.

The move boosts USA Mortgage’s Springfield office staff to 26.

In 2013, USA Mortgage-Springfield closed 530 loans valued at $66.3 million. With the addition of the new loan officers, Kitrel expects the branch to top $100 million in loans this year. The office originated $50 million in loans during its first year in Springfield.

“We wanted the entire group, and the group was very loyal to each other,” Kitrel said. “It certainly is going to be a positive move for revenue and it certainly is going to give us a boost in recruitment having these people who are experienced in the local community and have great reputations.”

According to Springfield Business Journal list research, Great Southern Bank’s mortgage volume tops the market, with $295 million closed in 2012. OakStar Bank is No. 2, at nearly $200 million in 2012 loans closed within a 50-mile radius of Springfield, and five institutions are bunched together in excess of $100 million in mortgage volume.

Veteran mortgage banker Aaron Jernigan joined OakStar in late 2009, and his team members trickled over from BancorpSouth Mortgage in the weeks following. At the same time, several OakStar Bank mortgage division staff members moved to Metropolitan National Bank.

Kelso said he received recruitment calls within hours of the Heartland sale announcement last fall.

“I always watch what my competitors do – what are they doing well, what are they doing not well, what can I learn from them – and I noticed USA was doing some great things and really growing,” Kelso said. “No regrets, but obviously, I have emotions.

“I opened that office. It was my baby,” he added. “But at the end of the day, I didn’t really leave them. They kind of left me.”[[In-content Ad]]