Talk:Better.com

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Clearly notable, but a substub...

Not sure what to do but tag for expansion. – SJ + 20:05, 7 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Propose expanding article

Hello, my name is Kristin and I work at Better. I would like to propose expanding the current article, and to that end I've created a draft in my userspace here: User:Kristin at Better/Better (company). My draft retains almost all of the content now found in the article (including the parts that may reflect poorly on the company), but I've added an infobox and other new, sourced content.

In addition to adding more content, the draft makes clear the distinction between Better and Better Mortgage. Better, the family of companies whose website is better.com, is most aptly referred to as a "homeownership company" (as the company refers to itself and how the Washington Post refers to it here) because it is made up of multiple homeownership-related subsidiaries not limited to mortgage lending. Better Mortgage is the Better subsidiary that is responsible for mortgage loans, Better Real Estate is Better's real estate brokerage, etc. Some news articles refer to Better/Better.com as a "mortgage lender," but this is imprecise and inaccurate.

I am pinging Fuzheado, who wrote most of the content that is on the page now, and Thriley, who created the original draft. Thank you. Kristin at Better (talk) 14:29, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Please post your edit requests in small portions here. Please post before and after sentences. So you need to post several different requests to make it easy for editors to approve or deny each individual edit. Raffistar (talk) 16:46, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I took a look through that draft, and I see a number of changes that I feel would improve the article, but I also agree with Raffistar that you should make smaller edit requests to make it easier to review each one. Aismallard (talk) 00:45, 12 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Aismallard. I put the content in a draft because I didn't want to clutter the Talk page with so much text, but if it makes the proposed changes simpler to process, I'm happy to put it here as well. I've also organized my proposal as smaller sub-requests to make reviewing easier.

Lead

  1. Expand the lead sentence to display the company's full legal name per
    WP:NCCORP
    and to clarify that the company is a homeownership company with a subsidiary that does mortgage origination, rather than "an online mortgage originator company."
    Replace: Better.com is an online mortgage originator company headed by the chief executive officer Vishal Garg.[1][2]
    With: Better Holdco, Inc. (Better or Better.com) is an American homeownership company with the stated mission of making homeownership "simpler, faster" and "more accessible."[3][4][5] Founded in 2014 by chief executive officer Vishal Garg,[6][7] the company launched its online mortgage origination business Better Mortgage in 2016[8][9] and later added subsidiaries dedicated to real estate, title and homeowners' insurance services.
  2. Move the sentence on where the company is headquartered to its own paragraph at the end of the lead, as the sentence's current placement makes the paragraph feel disjointed.
  3. Move the sentences on the firing of 900 employees and the fallout from that incident to the History section per
    MOS:LEAD
    , as these are not "basic facts" about the company.

History:

Create a new History section with the following content:

In 2014 Vishal Garg incorporated Better as "Better Holdco, Inc.," after Garg and his wife had a negative experience obtaining a mortgage to buy their own first home.[3][9][10]
In 2016 the company launched Better Mortgage[5] and secured $30 million in Series A funding.[11][12] The company was approved the same year to be a Fannie Mae seller/servicer.[13]
Better raised
Series B funding in the amount of $15 million in 2017 with Kleiner Perkins, Goldman Sachs, and Pine Brook Partners.[14]
In 2018 the company launched two additional subsidiaries, Better Real Estate and Better Settlement Services.[15][16]
In 2019 the company launched a fourth subsidiary, Better Cover, and raised $160 million in
Series C funding led by Activant Capital.[8][5]
The company raised
Series D funding of $200 million, led by L Catterton, in 2020.[9][17][18]
In April 2021, the company raised an additional $500 million from Japanese investment conglomerate
SoftBank, resulting in a $6 billion valuation.[19][9]
In May 2021, Better announced that it planned to go public via a SPAC merger with Aurora Acquisition Corp.[20]
In July 2021, Better acquired Trussle, a UK digital mortgage broker, and in September 2021 it acquired Property Partner, a London-based crowdfunding platform.[21][22]
On December 6, 2021, a video of Garg laying off 900 employees by
videoconference and locking out their devices became widely disseminated. [23] After much criticism, Garg decided to take time off from the company, [24] but returned in January 2022. [25]

Subsidiaries:

Create a new Subsidiaries section with the following content:

Better is made up of four main companies offering mortgage, real estate, title and homeowners' insurance services.[22][26]
  • Better Mortgage, launched in 2016, is the company's mortgage lending business.[27]
  • Better Real Estate, launched in 2018, is the company's brokerage services business.[28][29]
  • Better Settlement Services, launched in 2018, is the company's title and settlement services business.[30]
  • Better Cover, launched in 2019, is the company's homeowners' insurance business. [31]

External links:

Create a new External links section with a link to Better's official website, https://better.com.

References

  1. ^ Business, Ramishah Maruf, CNN. "Better.com CEO fires 900 employees over Zoom". CNN. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Vishal Garg: US boss fires 900 employees over Zoom". BBC News. December 7, 2021.
  3. ^
    ISSN 0099-9660
    .
  4. ISSN 0190-8286
    .
  5. ^ a b c "About Us". Better.com.
  6. ^ Maruf, Ramishah. "Better.com CEO fires 900 employees over Zoom". CNN.
  7. ^ "Vishal Garg: US boss fires 900 employees over Zoom". BBC News. 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  8. ^ a b Brier, Elisabeth (2019-08-19). "Better.com, A Digital Mortgage Disruptor, Raises $160 Million In Latest Funding Round". Forbes.
  9. ^ a b c d Azevedo, Mary Ann (2021-04-09). "Mortgage is suddenly sexy as SoftBank pumps $500M in Better.com at a $6B valuation". TechCrunch.
  10. ^ Howley, Kathleen (2019-08-19). "Digital mortgage company Better.com closes $160 million in funding". HousingWire.
  11. ^ Javed, Zulfiqar Ali (2016-06-13). "Better Mortgage closes $30M in funding". S&P Global Market Intelligence.
  12. ^ Teare, Gené; Glasner, Joanna (2016-07-20). "CrunchBase sees some slowing for early-stage venture in the second quarter". TechCrunch.
  13. ^ Aryan, Aashish; Mukul, Pranav (2021-12-07). "Explained: Better.com, the mortgage company that fired over 900 employees over Zoom call". The Indian Express.
  14. ^ Lane, Ben (2017-02-14). "Better Mortgage raises $15 million to fund expansion". HousingWire.
  15. ^ "Better Real Estate, LLC". opengovus.com.
  16. ^ "Better Settlement Services, LLC". opengovus.com.
  17. ^ Kirsch, Noah. "Better.com, An Online Lending Startup, Completes Series D At $4 Billion Valuation". Forbes.
  18. ^ Solomont, E.B. (2020-11-17). "InstaClosing Startup Offers Digital Closings". The Real Deal New York.
  19. ^ Rudegeair, Peter; Farrell, Maureen (2021-04-08). "SoftBank to Invest $500 Million in Mortgage Startup Better". Wall Street Journal.
  20. ^ de León, Riley (2021-05-11). "SoftBank-backed mortgage lender Better going public via $7.7 billion SPAC". CNBC.
  21. ^ de León, Riley (2021-07-12). "Digital mortgage lender Better acquiring Goldman Sachs-backed fintech ahead of public listing". CNBC.
  22. ^ a b Lawler, Ryan. "Better.com acquires UK-based Property Partner ahead of SPAC close". TechCrunch.
  23. ^ Graziosi, Graig (2021-12-06). "Who is Vishal Garg, the CEO that fired 900 employees over Zoom call?". The Independent. Retrieved 2021-12-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/business/economy/better-ceo-zoom-firing.html
  25. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/business/better-ceo-vishal-garg.html
  26. ^ "15. Better.com". CNBC. 2020-06-16.
  27. ^ Carter, Matt (2021-12-29). "The biggest mortgage, lending and finance stories of 2021". Inman.
  28. ^ Carter, Matt (2021-07-21). "Better takes aim at the brokerage biz". Inman.
  29. ISSN 0362-4331
    .
  30. ^ Jensen, Katie (2021-07-20). "Better's One-Click Checkout Now Offers Title Insurance For Refi's". National Mortgage Professional Magazine.
  31. ^ "Better Cover". Better.com.

I hope this helps! Pinging P37307 and Fuzheado as well, in case either of you wants to chime in. Thanks, Kristin at Better (talk) 14:36, 14 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

 Done I've made edits to the article based on your suggestions:
  • External Links: No issues.
  • Subsidiaries: Looks fine, but I didn't feel that using a self-source for Better Cover was substantial enough. However I found Better Cover mentioned in a different source, so was able to use that.
  • Lead: I agree that the corporation name should be included per
    WP:NCCORP
    , but the company's motto did not seem appropriate. I looked at several other articles for online banks and they largely have a basic description of the entity's legal existence and business. I edited the opening sentence to instead borrow from the WSJ source.
  • History: Overall was fine, I made some minor edits to the sourcing and changed the opening line to reflect
    WP:NPOV
    .
I looked over your article draft and it seems like all the major changes you wanted to include have been added.

-- aismallard (talk) 07:06, 16 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Aismallard: Thank you - I really appreciate the effort you've put into this! Kristin at Better (talk) 14:06, 17 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Ally Financial

Aismallard I am confused by your edit. The citation linked states Ally Financial reentered into mortgages 'in earnest in 2016' with the launch of their direct-to-consumer product Ally Home. The 2019 Better.com/Ally Financial joint venture seems different than your edit implies. I read it as they are building a platform together to further facilitate their Ally Home product. In other words, Ally Home will be powered, or is by now, powered by the Better.com mortgage infrastructure. I see value in the premise of the edit, just not sure it reflects what actually occurred. --P37307 (talk) 01:36, 12 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

(Note: I moved your comment to its own section since it's not related to Kristin at Better's edit request)
P37307 You're correct that Ally already had a mortgage business before Better was involved, the relevant difference being that it wasn't digital. I misread that portion of the source there when making the original addition. I removed the bit about "re-entering" which hopefully should address your concerns here. Thanks. Aismallard (talk) 01:47, 12 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Another round of mass layoffs

@Aismallard: It appears there may be a mass layoff again soon. I wonder if Kristen came to beef up the page as it would be looked at by a lot of people again if these occur. News story here: [1] Thriley (talk) 22:52, 22 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't hear about this, but it's not too surprising if Better is going to have more layoffs, a quick glance at recent news articles suggests that it's been struggling.
Regarding the edit request, if I had to speculate, I think that after the big news articles about that mass layoff on videoconference hit, the company paid a PR firm to go and do some positive things for them, and that this is one of those changes.
(For those interested in why I edited the page based on this ER, I posted about it here: Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest/Noticeboard#Better.com)
aismallard (talk) 03:03, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
@Thriley: I'm responding here because my name was mentioned. The reason I proposed expanding the article is that the article was previously a short stub with no infobox, almost no content about the company's history prior to 2021 and an inaccurate portrayal of the company's internal structure. The layoffs were certainly part of the context - the story of the layoffs previously took up literally half the article and I felt that was a case of undue weight. But I stressed that my proposal would not remove the parts that may reflect poorly on the company, but would only move them out of the lead and into a new History section.
@Aismallard: I still appreciate your effort here and I'm sorry your actions or motives are being questioned. For the sake of additional transparency, I will clarify that I don't work for a PR firm - I am a Better employee and Kristin is my real name (as I wrote on my userpage). I've never edited Wikipedia before, but I am being advised by an agency that is helping me navigate Wikipedia's disclosed paid editing process. Thanks, Kristin at Better (talk) 21:06, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Kristin at Better: Do you have a paragraph or two about the recent firing of 3,000 employees? Thriley (talk) 06:36, 11 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@
WP:RECENTISM
than by due weight, but I will not press the matter now.)
I would also like to emphasize that I understand the principles of
WP:NPOV as well as the guidelines for disclosed paid editors and I intend to continue abiding by those rules scrupulously. I hope to continue building good faith and working constructively with editors like you and Yngvadottir and ensure that this article reflects all relevant, noteworthy and encyclopedic information about Better, both positive and negative. Thanks, Kristin at Better (talk) 13:04, 14 March 2022 (UTC)[reply
]
@Kristin at Better:I actually added the mass layoff piece to the page. Briefly, I feel it does stand the test of time. A company as large as Better.com laying off 1/3rd of its staff is not reacting to a news cycle and stands the test of time. It's putting noteworthy, valuable info in the page about its business structure & operation, and it will offer readers a decade from now a clear understanding of the growth or failure of the company, imo. I look forward to further expanding my position if a recentism challenge is pressed at a later date.P37307 (talk) 14:32, 14 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
From my perspective (and having done some edits on the page before and since the addition of the section in question) the current stage of the page does not seem to fall into any
WP:RECENTISM traps. There was indeed a little danger of that earlier, but I don't believe that is currently the case. KeeYou Flib (talk) 21:56, 14 March 2022 (UTC)[reply
]
@P37307 and Qflib: I respect both your opinions and appreciate your thoughtful approach. I would contend that one sentence on the most recent layoffs is a more appropriate amount of weight than two sentences, but like I said, that isn't a point I care to argue about at the moment. Thanks, Kristin at Better (talk) 14:51, 15 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

New York Times article

Hi everyone. I'd like to suggest the addition of a few bits of information derived from this 2020 New York Times article.

  1. Add to the History section: The number of people from traditionally underrepresented groups buying homes through Better's mortgage lending platform increased significantly in 2019, a development that the New York Times suggested was linked to the company's digital processes and minimal reliance on human brokers.[1]
  2. Create a new section called "Operations" (or choose a different name - that was the best I could come up with).
    • Add a subsection called "Mortgage lending" with the following content: Better sells mortgages to about 30 secondary mortgage investors, including Fannie Mae and Wells Fargo. The company obtains leads from personal finance companies such as Credit Karma and NerdWallet in order to attract customers and market to them.[1]
    • Add a subsection called "Loan officers" with the following content: In 2020, the New York Times compared Better's
      loan officers with employees of other companies in the industry. It noted that half of the company's employees were female, 54 percent were people of color and most loan officers were in their 20s, whereas the industry average age for loan officers was 54. In addition, Better's loan officers do not work on commission, in contrast to loan officers at many other companies.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Miller, Jennifer (18 September 2020). "Is an Algorithm Less Racist Than a Loan Officer?". The New York Times.

Pinging Yngvadottir and Qflib. Thanks, Kristin at Better (talk) 12:51, 24 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

 Partly done: 1. Done, 2.1 done. I am not sure what the rationale behind including the employee's racial and gender makeup is. This can obviously be reopened if a reason is added for someone to review. Best, 15 (talk) 16:42, 24 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I can't speak on the employees rationale, but what I took from the proposed changes personally were the makeup of their staff, lack of commission and their digital operations was preventing Redlining#Mortgages. --P37307 (talk) 16:58, 24 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
That's right, but whether it actually has this intended effect may or may not actually be the case. KeeYou Flib (talk) 18:55, 25 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
No need to ping me with edit requests, there are plenty of others as you can see. KeeYou Flib (talk) 19:03, 25 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
@15: Thanks for reviewing my request! Regarding the proposed loan officers section, the Times article presents this information as noteworthy ways in which Better's employees, and loan officers in particular with respect to age and not working on commission, are different from their industry counterparts. In context, it is suggested that these differences contribute to a reduction in bias and discrimination, or at least are part of the effort to achieve such a reduction. This feels to me like encyclopedic information that should be included, but of course I'll respect your judgment here.
@P37307: Your point about redlining is on the money, though the Times article doesn't use that specific term, so I'm not sure it's appropriate to include it here in Wikipedia's voice. Kristin at Better (talk) 12:17, 28 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Better.com Misled Investors Ahead of Stalled SPAC Deal, Former Executive Alleges

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal: [2]. Thriley (talk) 00:40, 8 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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