Guaranteed Rate Companies is a U.S.

residential mortgage A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family resid ...

company headquartered in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. Founded in 2000 by Victor Ciardelli, the company had $73 billion in funded volume in 2020. As of 2021, the company has more than 10,000 employees and more than 850 offices nationwide and is located in 50 states.

History

Guaranteed Rate was founded in Chicago in 2000 by Victor F Ciardelli III, a native of

Oak Brook, Illinois Oak Brook is a village mostly in DuPage County with a small portion in Cook County in Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 8,163. This suburb of Chicago has the headquarters of several companies and organizations including Ace Ha ...

who now resides in a $38 million Miami Beach mansion purchased in May 2021, serves as chairman and CEO. Through 2020, the company is the third largest retail mortgage lender in the US. Guaranteed Rate has been named to the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

s Top Workplaces list every year from 2012 through 2018. In 2013, Guaranteed Rate was listed by ''

Crain's Chicago Business ''Crain's Chicago Business'' is a weekly business newspaper in Chicago, IL. It is owned by Detroit-based Crain Communications, a privately held publishing company with more than 30 magazines, including ''Advertising Age'', ''Modern Healthcare'' ...

'' as one of the fastest growing companies in Chicago. The company was listed by '' U.S. News & World Report'' in 2018 as Top Lender for Online Service. Shant Banosian of Guaranteed Rate in Massachusetts ranked number 1 in the '' Scotsman Guide'' 2018 Top Originators rankings, and again in 2019 and 2020. In 2020, Banosian also became Guaranteed Rate's first loan officer to originate over $1 billion in total loan volume in a year, followed a few months later by Ben Cohen. Risha Kilaru of Guaranteed Rate in California ranked number 1 in the ''Scotsman Guide'' 2018 and 2019 Top Women Originators rankings. Guaranteed Rate Foundation was formed in 2012 to help those in need through difficult times. As of June 2021, the foundation has donated over $5 million in charitable grants. In 2013, Guaranteed Rate grew to more than $15.9 billion in residential home loans, an increase of $1.2 billion over 2012. This moved the company from the 12th-largest retail mortgage lender in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

to the 10th. In February 2014, Guaranteed Rate launched its first national ad campaign, featuring American television host

Ty Pennington Tygert Burton "Ty" Pennington (born Gary Tygert Burton) is an American television host, artist, carpenter, author, and former model and actor. His rise to prominence began with his role as carpenter on the TLC home improvement reality show ' ...

. The company budgeted up to $10 million for the campaign, growing to as much as $15 million in 2015. A 2016 Guaranteed Rate Super Bowl commercial featuring Pennington aired in regional markets. In 2015, Guaranteed Rate became the 8th largest retail mortgage lender with volume of more than $18 billion in home loans and was named Lender of the Year by Chicago Agent magazine. In March 2016, Guaranteed Rate and one of its loan officers were found guilty in California of diverting loans from Mount Olympus Mortgage, and ordered to pay $25 million in damages to the Irvine, California-based company. In May, Guaranteed Rate bought the URL Rate.com for $725,000. In August, the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

announced a 13-year agreement with Guaranteed Rate to rename their stadium to Guaranteed Rate Field beginning November 1, 2016. At the time, the

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

wrote, "There can't be a worse name than Guaranteed Rate Field. Can't be." In 2017 the team and Guaranteed Rate teamed up to create the Guaranteed Impact program, which honors kids who make a positive difference in their community. Also in 2017, Guaranteed Rate entered into a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

with Realogy Holdings Corp to form Guaranteed Rate Affinity. Guaranteed Rate will provide marketing services to Realogy's subsidiaries, including NRT and Cartus, and will take over some assets of its former joint venture partner, PHH Mortgage out of New Jersey. In December, Guaranteed Rate announced plans to sell a minority stake of the company to an affiliate of Boston-based

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

firm

Thomas H. Lee Partners Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. is an American private equity firm based in Boston investing in middle market growth companies across financial technology and services, healthcare and technology & business solutions. History Founded in 1974 by ...

. The partial sale was finalized in June 2018. Also in December, a former loan officer sued Guaranteed Rate claiming that he was owed $2 million and that executives at the company were manipulating and misreporting financial information for their own benefit. In January 2018, Guaranteed Rate announced that its employees' and customers' personal information was in hackers' hands as the result of an email

phishing Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (e.g., spoofed, fake, or otherwise deceptive) message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious softwa ...

attack. In October, Guaranteed Rate is one of the seven-largest retail mortgage provider in the US. In January 2019, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' revealed Guaranteed Rate's and other firms' efforts to boost their ''

Glassdoor Glassdoor is an American website where current and former employees anonymously review companies. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, it has additional offices in Chicago, Dublin, London, and São Paulo. Glassdoor also allows its users to ...

'' ratings. According to the article, the company "pressured employees to write positive reviews in order to raise poor ratings, according to interviews with current and former employees." Prior to these efforts, the company's rating on Glassdoor averaged 2.6 out of 5. As of August 3, 2022, the company is rated 2.9 out of 5 on

Glassdoor.com Glassdoor is an American website where current and former employees anonymously review companies. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, it has additional offices in Chicago, Dublin, London, and São Paulo. Glassdoor also allows its users to ...

, continuing its steady decline from 2019. In October, Guaranteed Rate partnered with online notary company Notarize to launch a product allowing homebuyers to complete the entire closing process online. The company also announced a partnership with

Marcus by Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

to help customers consolidate debt and fund home improvement projects. In 2019, Guaranteed Rate launched a market research platform for potential home buyers to research neighborhood property trends, home prices, demographics, income levels, and school districts. In April 2020, Guaranteed Rate was required to pay the federal government a $15 million fine to settle a lawsuit brought by a former employee

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

who alleged the company pushed its underwriters into endorsing ineligible loans for FHA and VA loan programs and making false statements to “induce the government” to extend insurance coverage. According to the ''

'', as part of the settlement, Guaranteed Rate admitted that it failed to adhere to self-reporting requirements and certified loans for government insurance that were not eligible. It also admitted to giving FHA underwriters commissions and gifts in violation of the rules. In July, Guaranteed Rate and @Properties launched the joint venture Proper Rate, a Chicago-based independent retail mortgage lender that will serve as an in-house lender for @Properties. In August 2020, the company signed a 12-race sponsorship deal with

Roush Fenway Racing Roush is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Politics *Glenn Roush (1934–2020), American politician in Montana * J. Edward Roush (1920–2004), United States Representative for Indiana, namesake of: ** J. Edward Roush Lake, a re ...

, to fund Ryan Newman's car through the remainder of the 2020

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

season. They also sponsored Spanish racing driver

Álex Palou Álex Palou Montalbo (; born 1 April 1997) is a Spanish racing driver who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series, where he won the 2021 series championship. He is the first Spanish racing driver to win a National Championship in ...

. In October, the company became the title sponsor of a college football

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

played at

Chase Field Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, is a retractable roof stadium in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It is the home of Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. It opened in 1998, the year the Diamondbacks debuted as an expansion team. Ch ...

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

. The bowl has used several names since 2015, being branded as the Cactus Bowl and then the Cheez-It Bowl before being rebranded as the

Guaranteed Rate Bowl The Guaranteed Rate Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played in the state of Arizona since 1989. Played as the Copper Bowl from inception through 1996, it was known as the Insight.com Bowl from 1997 through 2001, then ...

. Along with most other third-tier bowl games, the 2020 game was canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The Guaranteed Rate Bowl will return after a year off on December 28, 2021, pairing teams from the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...

and

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. Also in 2020, the company partnered with the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

US Figure Skating U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee "USOPC" under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act an ...

, and

World TeamTennis World TeamTennis (WTT) is a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973. The league's season normally takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA take a ...

as their official mortgage partner. They also sponsored US Figure Skating's National Get Up Day on February 1, 2021. During 2020, Guaranteed Rate originated over 135,000 mortgages with a value of over $47,000,000,000. On January 22, 2021, the company was announced as the title sponsor of the 2021

Professional Bowlers Association The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the PBA membership consists of over 3,000 members worldwide. Member ...

Tour. Guaranteed Rate ran a 60-second spot during the Super Bowl LV broadcast on February 7, 2021, featuring mixed martial artist

Dustin Poirier Dustin Poirier (born January 19, 1989) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He is a former Interim UFC Lightweight Champion. As of May 9, 2022, he is #2 in the UFC lightweight rankings and as of October 24, 2022, he is #11 in the U ...

, stock car racing driver Ryan Newman, and Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind man to climb to the top of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...

Acquisitions and layoffs

In 2012, Guaranteed Rate acquired Manhattan Mortgage, a residential mortgage brokerage in the

New York Metropolitan Area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...

. Founded in 1985 by Melissa L. Cohn, the company employed more than 100 home loan professionals and originated loans in New York,

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

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Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Cohn later sued Guaranteed Rate and CEO Victor Ciardelli for breach of contract and fraud among other complaints but was unsuccessful. Also in 2012, Guaranteed Rate acquired Massachusetts-based Superior Mortgage. In 2014, Guaranteed Rate acquired Sun State Home Loans, Nationwide Direct, and Arbor Mortgage in one deal. It also acquired lender FirsTrust Mortgage in Overland Park, Kansas. In November 2018, Guaranteed Rate announced that it would acquire some assets of Honolulu HomeLoans and its affiliate Hawaii Lending Alliance, in order to expand further into the state. In January 2021, Guaranteed Rate acquired Stearns Holdings, to help the company expand its joint ventures. In February 2021, the company acquired assets of Owning Corporation, a direct-to-consumer mortgage lender. In March 2021, after acquiring AI Foundry of

Kodak Alaris Kodak Alaris is a British manufacturer and marketer of traditional photographic supplies (including film, paper, and processing chemicals), hardware and software for digital imaging and information management, and retail printing kiosks. The com ...

, the company launched the mortgage tech company Gateless, which utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. In January 2022, Guaranteed Rate closed Stearns Lending after owning it for one year, laying off 348 employees.

Awards and accolades

*Guaranteed Rate recognized as one of the most successful private companies in the U.S. for a fifth consecutive year by '' Inc. Magazine'' *Guaranteed Rate named a top private U.S. job creator by ''Inc. Magazine'' *Guaranteed Rate ranked as a top workplace by the ''

'' in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 *Guaranteed Rate was named Top Lender by ''Chicago Agent Magazine'' from 2016-2020 *Founder and CEO, Victor Ciardelli, III was named an

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewat ...

Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner in 2012 *American Business Award for digital mortgage technology in 2016 * Top Lender for Online Service, ''U.S. News & World Report'', 2018

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.rate.com Mortgage lenders of the United States Companies based in Chicago Financial services companies established in 2000 2000 establishments in Illinois