Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp., a top 20 U.S. mortgage lender, announced a deal on Wednesday to acquire Hallmark Home Mortgage in an asset sale. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Indiana-based Hallmark will become a new division of Wisconsin-based Fairway. It will operate under the “Powered by Fairway” brand and will be led by Hallmark founder and CEO Deborah Sturges. Fairway CEO Steve Jacobson will remain at the helm of the combined company.
Jacobson and Sturges worked together at Waterfield Mortgage “decades ago and have remained industry acquaintances ever since,” Jacobson said in a statement.
The acquisition brings a smaller but regionally focused team into Fairway’s fold. Hallmark had 45 sponsored loan officers and 19 active branches as of Wednesday, per Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) data. Fairway, by comparison, had 2,474 LOs and 604 branches nationwide.
“This strategic decision brings Fairway’s expanded product portfolio, enhanced technology, and deep support resources into Hallmark’s orbit,” Sturges said in a statement.
Fairway originated $4.6 billion in mortgages in the first quarter of 2025, ranking 19th nationally, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. That volume was down 22.7% from the previous quarter and 9.3% year over year.
Meanwhile, Hallmark originated $574 million in 2024, with 75.5% of its loans being purchase transactions. Its business was largely concentrated in Indiana and Texas, according to mortgage tech platform Modex.
The move comes after Fairway exited the wholesale channel in February 2024, shifting fully to retail lending.
While wholesale made up a small share of Fairway’s business, United Wholesale Mortgage’s “All-in” ultimatum — which prohibited brokers from doing business with Fairway and Rocket Mortgage while working with UWM — likely dampened Fairway’s growth in that channel.
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