Okay... just to be anal retentive and to clarify what a direct lender is, and what a broker with a warehouse line is...
A broker like QLF has a warehouse line from Bear Stearns, then Bear Stearns buys their mortgages. Bear Stearns then throws in the QLF loans along with loans from Home Loan Center, Greenpoint, etc. into a MBS pool and sells it off to [strike]China[/strike] investors. QLF is the broker, because Bear Stearns never directly dealt with the borrowers.
If you could call Bear Stearns (I know, hard to do today, but say back in 05) and get a loan from them directly, then they would be a direct lender.
Also, you can find Bear Stearns MBS pools, but not QLF MBS pools. I can find MBS pools with QLF loans in them, and they are indeed performing like crap, but they don't have enough loans for a separate pool.
All QLF was, was a broker with a warehouse/credit line to fund mortgages, then sell them to the likes of Bear Stearns, ML, and New Century. Just like a broker, however the broker doesn't fund the loan, but the Bear Stearns/ML/NC does and they warehouse/credit line it until they have enough mortgages they can package and sell it off. Being able to fund a loan yourself does not make you a direct lender, unless you are packaging the loans up into a MBS pool yourself and selling it to investors directly. Selling a bunch of loans to ML when they package them into several pools, and they sell it to the investors means you are not a direct lender.
On side note, I agree, brokers do get a bad rep. But... my point, and why it is important to know the real difference between a broker and a direct lender, is that brokers like QLF give them a horrible rep, and their numbers skew the good brokers numbers due to sheer volume. Unfortunately, QLF spawned many other broker shops, like Optima Funding that started off as a broker, then got warehouse lines and called themselves a direct lender. And, there was a study done on the performance of broker loans/warehouse line loans, and it was indeed worse than direct lending.
I know Daniel Sadek, and several of the people that worked there, including the guys who started Optima Funding. If you, or someone you know worked for QLF between 03 and 05, it is highly possible I met you or who you know that worked there.