In a new episode of 10 Minute Talks, HousingWire President Diego Sanchez sits down to interview Rob Pieklo, president and CEO of American Financial Services (AFR).
During the 10-minute interview, Pieklo explores his new focus on developing AFR’s wholesale lending strategy, the competitive landscape of the mortgage market, and the company’s unique way to differentiate itself from other big names in the retail space.
This interview is edited for length and clarity. To kick off the conversation, Pieklo explores his recent departure from AFR and his return to the company.
Pieklo: I actually started my career at AFR, ended up as one of the junior partners and sold AFR back in 2017. I took a five and a half year break from AFR, and had the opportunity to work with the fund. coming back to buy it in February. They asked me to take over the administration and eventually become the president.
Sanchez: Is there a focus on the new AFR on the main channel?
Pieklo: There is, yes. Our more niche channel has more buyers, so they are known as a niche player. They didn’t really get into “vanilla loans.” We knew it was an opportunity.
Since we already have so many authorized buyers, it has not been a challenge to get more customers. It was about getting share of wallet from those customers who weren’t getting a ton of business from approved customers. Therefore, we have seen this opportunity, and the migration of many store founders who choose to be entrepreneurs and enter the merchant channel.
Sanchez: You have two real juggernauts in the sold channel you already mentioned — United Wholesale Mortgage (WM) and Rocket TPO. Are you competing with those two wholesale juggernauts to take market share?
Pieklo: We have to fight tooth and nail for every single loan. We’re fighting amazing companies, and these guys are amazing, including their technology stacks. We are looking for areas where we can provide a different level of service and expertise.
When you couple that with the things we can do in the financial markets, we’ve been able to make a very small dent in it – like a stocking error. But for us, it’s a lot of business. Many people left the main station. That’s why we love the channel so much. Consumers need options and we want to be one of those options. It can’t just be two players.
To close the discussion, Pieklo examines three competitive strategies for AFR to succeed in the supermarket market.
Pieklo: We are focused on bringing money markets into the hands of consumers. That’s something most lenders don’t do. We are incredibly transparent. We look at secondary markets first. What are people asking for? Are certain loan balances? How do we find the prices that those incentives go through in the merchant channel?
We take that information – the prices, the incentives and those payments – we pass that on to the dealer channel, and they like it. We have our own portal and are creating experiences while continuing to update it daily.
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