Reverse Mortgage Loan Blog

It took bushels of brainstorming, tons of talks with state regulators, swarms of surveys and oodles of employee opinions, but after four months, the company formerly known as Vertical Lend finally settled on the sobriquet that would encompass its ever-expanding line of reverse mortgage products: World Alliance Financial Corp.

The Melville-based company had completed the process of culling suggestions and selecting a new name last spring but was forced to delay the name change until it had completed its acquisition by the Belgium-based KBC Bank NV.

The anything-but-generic name World Alliance Financial Corp. “stood out well above any other name that we had” come up with, says chief executive David Peskin.

But what about Vertical Lend, and its retail brand Mortgage Warehouse - famously hawked on late-night television ads by the once-famous actor Robert Wagner?

“Having two names gets a little confusing for the retail business,” Peskin says. “We wanted a name that would further represent us for diversification as we add products in the future. It’s also the name that will allow us to go global should we decide in the near future to go outside of the United States.”

Since being acquired in August, the company has introduced a product called Simple60, which allows people as young as 60 to begin drawing down the equity on their homes. Traditional, government-regulated reverse mortgages are available only to borrowers 62 and older.

Peskin says more changes are in store, though he is loath to discuss his strategic approach to what he says is a tremendous, untapped market: aging consumers who wish to live off the equity they’ve spent years building in their homes.

“One thing that has not changed is our commitment to the reverse mortgage industry, and we look forward to continuing our customer relationships as we build our business,” he says.

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