Inland mortgage company shuts down

An Ontario-based mortgage company that has been in business for 40 years is shutting down.

First Mortgage Corp. is in process of selling or liquidating its loan and servicing portfolios and its loan originating offices, according to a statement released Monday.

The company, which stopped issuing loans in July, has pared its workforce down to about 15 employees, said Clem Ziroli Jr., company president.

Ziroli blamed the closure on a combination of “regulatory pressures” and his father no longer  being able to keep the business going. He declined to elaborate.

First Mortgage, which was founded in 1975, has been based in Ontario for five years. It specializes in arranging home loans for first-time buyers, people with lower credit ratings, the working poor or anyone unable to get a loan from a larger financial institution.

During its four decades in business, First Mortgage maintained a low delinquency rate on the 30,000 -plus loans in its portfolio, according to the statement.

“It’s a real shame, not just for us but the entire community,” Ziroli said. “Seventy percent of our business was what we call the underserved market, people who couldn’t get mortgage loans anywhere else.

“The larger banks usually stay away from those people, but we’ve found them to be reliable customers who pay back their loans.”

At its peak, First Mortgage operated approximately 50  branch offices throughout the western United State.  It expects to be shut down completely by the end of the year, Ziroli said.