Five Questions: Jeff Widmeyer

Jeff Widmeyer’s path to starting at Springfield First Community Bank on Jan. 31 was no easy road. With 16 years of experience in mortgage lending, Widmeyer spent the past five years at Heartland Bank’s Springfield loan production office when he learned in the fall the St. Louis parent company was selling to Effingham, Ill.-based Midland States Bancorp Inc. While competitors started calling to recruit qualified lenders, eight of his Heartland co-workers joined USA Mortgage. Widmeyer said he had the opportunity to rebuild the Heartland office or follow his peers, but he chose his own path.

Building the Loans
“The primary duties are to originate purchase and refinance loans, so I will work with clients and Realtors – anyone who wants to inquire about purchasing a home, refinancing an existing home or maybe buying a second home. What we call ‘residential’ is anything that has one to four units. My job is to make home loans for those people. Springfield First is a strong commercial loan bank already with good lenders, and we want to build the residential side.”

Leaving the Heartland
“(Midland States Bank) is a large, almost $2 billion, asset-heavy bank, but it didn’t have much on the mortgage side. It wanted a good mortgage bank (like) Heartland. You kind of get a little worried – ‘Who’s the new boss? What’s the new employer going to do, and how will that affect us?’ At Heartland, our (loan officers) had a lot of experience locally, and we started getting calls from other mortgage companies saying, ‘Hey, we know you are going through a merger. That’s not always good. We would like to talk to you.’ I really wasn’t looking. Heartland has been great. But at this point in my life – I am turning 50 this year – I always wanted to finish my career with a local, community bank. I’m a local person, and I’ve wanted the tools a local bank can offer. Even if they want a car loan, I want my customers to be able to call me with all of their lending needs, and then I can walk them down the hallway. As good as Heartland was, I didn’t have that.”

Final Offer
“Up until the day I came over here, they really offered a lot of opportunities for me to keep it open, manage it and rebuild it. … Heartland has had a lot of success in the last five-and-a-half years, and they wanted to keep it open. But I did not feel now was the right time to try and rebuild that office with experienced loan originators when the company itself is going through an acquisition. Come May or June, that may have been different, but this was just January and February, and you still have to make the money and pay the bills. I know they want to keep it open, but I don’t know how you can rebuild an office when [you have to tell people], ‘Hey, Heartland Bank wants to hire you, but in 60 days it will be Midland States, and we don’t quite know what it is bringing to the table.’ That’s too many unknowns for anyone with experience in this industry to jump ship.”

Looking at USA Mortgage
“I definitely was offered the opportunity. We were all like family and we still are. The eight people who went over there – we are still close beyond the work environment. I did not feel USA Mortgage was the right fit for me. Springfield First had called a little bit before. To give [Manager] Kent [Kelso] his credit, he was looking to take care of the whole office – nine people. Springfield First wasn’t looking for nine people; it’s not ready for that. Not too many people are looking for nine people. USA Mortgage was. But I wasn’t looking for a USA Mortgage. I was looking for a Springfield First. And as soon as I came in and met with the President Brian [Straughan] and Rob Fulp, it just felt right from the first interview.”

Beyond Numbers
“I will have been doing this 17 years come May, so I’ve been in this business a long time in this town. Yes, I always have personal goals. The better I do, the more opportunity I have to give back to the family, the community, the church. I don’t have dollar goals. My goals are to help as much as I can.”