In a company-wide address, Majerus bemoaned "unscrupulous" recruiters who have recently conjured up "outrageous" claims in an effort to recruit away Synergy's top talent.

"The claims about financial instability or margin calls and challenges… are not only false and completely fabricated," said Majerus in a recorded video Tuesday. "They're laughable if they weren't so serious."

The firm's CEO said he welcomes healthy competition, but that the rumors being spread go beyond the pale. 

"It reflects poorly on the companies, the individuals, and our industry, and it's just something that we don't want to be a part of, nor should anyone be subject to it," he added.

Majerus thinks the rumors are a reaction to his company's achievements, noting his firm "has executed so well that this feels like the rest of the industry is threatened by our success." 

The retail lender, based in San Diego, has expanded both headcount and its operations in the past two years. It absorbed 11 former Draper and Kramer Mortgage branches and acquired Mann Mortgage in 2024. As of Thursday, the firm has 456 sponsored loan originators, the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System shows.

Additionally, the shop created a homebuilder division and rolled out single-family construction loans. The added value proposition will aid in the company's overall growth initiative, Synergy's CEO said in a previous interview.

The firm originated more than $2 billion worth of loans in 2024, up from $1.7 billion the year prior. 

In the video recording Tuesday, the Synergy CEO reassured his staff that none of the chatter related to the firm struggling financially is true and that action will be taken against those spreading lies if they do not stop.

The culture of toxic recruiting strategies

Toxic recruiting has been a persistent source of frustration in the mortgage industry, with some in the field saying recruiters' tactics have grown more aggressive as the market has declined in recent years.

"Some recruiters will tell recruits 10 bad things about their company that they work at currently, or 10 bad things about any company that they are thinking about making a change to," said Bill Cosgrove, CEO of Union Home Mortgage, in a previous interview.

The recruiter "noise" is a byproduct of a lack of business to go around, UHM's CEO said.

Recent examples of recruiters aggressively targeting potential candidates includes when Guild Mortgage announced it was finalizing a deal to go private via a $1.3 billion acquisition by Bayview Asset Management.

"I can confirm the phone is ringing off the hook with recruiters," Geoff Black, originator at Guild, wrote in a LinkedIn post discussing the matter. "The news broke and it was like a trigger lead. A little off-putting to be honest."

Another Guild branch manager also noted that "calls have ramped up," which he called "annoying," but "a part of the business."