Hello, LOs!
Thuan Nguyen, the head of LoanFactory and the nation's top mortgage broker, was looking forward to spending this past weekend in Miami with hundreds of other brokers. It would be a good opportunity for him to network with other brokers and learn more about what the group throwing the event, the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts, was up to.
Several members of AIME had invited Nguyen, a former member, to attend the broker group's February conference, called AIME Hall of Fame. In a Dec. 14 email reviewed by HousingWire, Brendan McKay, the president of broker advocacy, told Nguyen that AIME is "a very different place than what you left. We are also in a different place. When you left, AIME was still shouting for the attention of the industry. Now we have it. Our focus is organizing and action."
Nguyen was intrigued. And so he booked flights from Northern California to Miami, paid over $1,000 for a ticket to the event and got a room for two nights at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In the subsequent weeks, McKay and others touted Nguyen's attendance in email pitches to sell tickets.
But just a few days before the event was scheduled to kick off, Nguyen was disinvited by AIME's leadership. Nguyen claims he was disinvited because he no longer does business with United Wholesale Mortgage, the event's title sponsor.
Nguyen is angry. He said that he doesn't believe AIME represents mortgage brokers or the betterment of the channel, but that they are merely UWM's "puppet." UWM didn't want him there, so AIME disinvited him, Nguyen told HousingWire. He said he was considering filing a lawsuit against UWM related to their business dealings, but declined to elaborate further.
Leadership at AIME has a very different take on Nguyen's disinvitation. They claim it has nothing to do with Nguyen not working with UWM and instead working with the wholesaler's primary rival in the broker channel, Rocket Mortgage.
Katie Sweeney, the CEO of AIME, told HousingWire that only members of AIME and those specifically invited by partnering lenders were permitted to attend.
"We had tried to re engage with him over the last year. We were able to have a conversation with him in December and had said, 'We'd love to see you out here. We want to get you back involved with AIME,'" she said. "This event is for members. Unfortunately during that time, he did not become a member of AIME; he has not reengaged with our community. And this event is specific to members, award winners and brokers that were invited by a handful of our partners. We were incredibly apologetic and mean it sincerely. I would love to see Thuan engage with us in the future. I think he brings a lot to the channel but we're limited on space. There's only about 600 people that are going to be here this weekend in Miami."
Sweeney said there were miscommunications in canceling Nguyen's invitation but strongly denies his disinvitation was influenced by UWM or anyone else. Others were also disinvited because they were not members and had not been invited by partners, she said.
Asked to comment on Nguyen's allegations that the lender was behind the disinvitation, a UWM spokesperson said, "It is our understanding Thuan is not a member of AIME, and this event is for members who have committed to being part of the AIME community. We support AIME's decision to uphold the integrity of the association and the Hall of AIME event."
Nguyen said AIME sent thousands of emails inviting everyone – even retail originators – to come, regardless of AIME membership. "There is nowhere on their website or invitation showing that you must be a member to attend," he said.
There's of course a lot more to this story, and I'm working on a piece for HW+. But I would like to hear from LOs – specifically brokers – out there. What do you make of Nguyen's disinvitation? And what are your thoughts on AIME? Email me anonymously at jkleimann@housingwire.com.
James Kleimann
Managing Editor, HousingWire
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