Digital
multichannel
lender


Lower
has
hired
industry
veteran
Craig
Montgomery,
previously
the
chief
production
officer
at

CrossCountry
Mortgage
(CCM),
as
its
chief
strategy
officer. 

Montgomery
“will
oversee
retail
strategy
and
expand
the
company’s
tech-driven
platform,
which
provides
origination
teams
the
resources
they
need
to
achieve
their
goals,”
the
company
said
in
a
statement.  

Montgomery
spent
the
past
11
years
at
CCM,
where
he
started
as
director
of
branch
operations
in
2013
and
became
the
chief
production
officer
in
2017.
During
this
period,
CCM
became
the
10th-largest

mortgage
lender
in
the
U.S.,
with
$6.6
billion
in
origination
in
the
first
quarter
of
2024,
up
14%
year
over
year,
according
to

Inside
Mortgage
Finance.
Before
that,
Montgomery
was
a
branch
operations
manager
at

Nations
Lending
Corp. 

“Getting
someone
with
his
experience
and
proven
track
record
is
a
big
win
for
the
company,”
Lower
founder
and
CEO
Dan
Snyder
said
in
a
prepared
statement. 

​​A
spokesperson
at
CCM
declined
to
comment
on
Montgomery’s
new
appointment. 

Montgomery’s
comments
about
the
new
job
position
highlighted
Lower’s
entrepreneurial
spirit
and
the
support
of
institutional
investors
such
as

Accel,

Veritex
Holdings
and

SoFi. 

Montgomery
is
arriving
at
a
company
that
has
invested
in
organic
growth
—
as
well
as
via
mergers
and
acquisitions
—
to
become
a
top-five
national
lender. 

In
November
2023,
Lower
announced
the
acquisition
of
Colorado-based


Universal
Lending
Home
Loans.
A
month
later,
Lower
added
Texas-based


Thrive
Mortgage.
The
financials
of
the
deals
were
not
disclosed.

In
an
interview
with

HousingWire
in
April,

Snyder
said
that
more
deals
may
come
since
he
plans
to
acquire
another
business
this
year.
According
to
Snyder,
if
he
finds
a
good
company,
he’s
willing
to
pay
a
premium
to
the
owners.

Lower
announced
in
June
2021
that
it
had
raised

$100
million
in
a
Series
A
funding
round
led
by
venture
capital
firm
Accel.
Another
minority
stakeholder
at
Lower
is
Veritex
Holdings,
the
parent
company
of

Veritex
Community
Bank. 

According
to
the

Nationwide
Multistate
Licensing
System
(NMLS),
Lower
had
613
sponsored
loan
officers
and
109
active
branches
as
of
Monday.
Lower
claims
that
the
Thrive
acquisition
made
it
the
country’s
25th-largest
mortgage
lender.

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