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YOUR GUIDE TO READING YOUR ESOP STATEMENT
Your percentage is based on the ESOP plan’s vesting schedule.
Year 1 = 0%
Year 2 = 20%
Year 3 = 40%
Year 4 = 60%
Year 5 = 80%
Fully vested in year 6.
This is the value from your 2018 statement.
Shares contributed by the company for 2019.
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Market value increase on last year's shares.
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Allocated shares forfeited by former employees.
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It pays to be employee owned
-
(literally)
Find out the benefits of working for an employee-owned company
Learn More
What is an ESOP, and why should I care?
It's basically a fancy way of saying we're employee-owned.
Employee
Stock
Ownership
Plan
Learn More
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This means that every year, employees receive shares in USA Mortgage. The longer you work for USA, the more shares you will receive. Once you retire, or leave the company, USA will buy back the shares in exchange for their current value. The better the share price, the more money you get!
What does that mean exactly?
Answer
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We’re glad you asked!
Scroll down for more info!
That sounds nice. Are there other advantages to working for an employee-owned company?
Answer
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Learn More
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More retirement savings
Employee-owners have more than twice the average total retirement balance of Americans nationally.
$170,326
Employee Owners
$80,334
Standard Employees
Source
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Better job security
In 2010, adults working at employee-owned companies were laid off less than those working in the private sector overall.
12.1%
Private sector lay-offs
2.3%
Employee-owned layoffs
Learn More
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Better work culture
15% of Americans working for employee-owned companies said their company had a more personal and employee-friendly environment.
15%
Source
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Better job compensation
26% of Americans working for employee-owned companies listed better compensation as a top perk.
26%
Source
Learn More
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More net worth
Median household net worth is 92% higher for employee-owners than non-employee-owners.
Source
Learn More
People that work for employee-owned
companies experience:
People that work for employee-owned
companies experience:
More retirement savings
More net worth
Better job security
Better job compensation
Better work culture
Results from a nationally-representative survey run by Certified Employee-Owned in June 2018 using Google Consumer Surveys. Total number of respondents = 1,500. Answers were filtered for coherence and relevance before being grouped with similar responses. In total 770 quality answers were used in this analysis. Results shown do not use weights provided by Google Consumer Surveys to adjust for sampling variance. Including weights does not meaningfully change results.
Results from a nationally-representative survey run by Certified Employee-Owned in June 2018 using Google Consumer Surveys. Total number of respondents = 1,500. Answers were filtered for coherence and relevance before being grouped with similar responses. In total 770 quality answers were used in this analysis. Results shown do not use weights provided by Google Consumer Surveys to adjust for sampling variance. Including weights does not meaningfully change results.
Results from a nationally-representative survey run by Certified Employee-Owned in June 2018 using Google Consumer Surveys. Total number of respondents = 1,500. Answers were filtered for coherence and relevance before being grouped with similar responses. In total 770 quality answers were used in this analysis. Results shown do not use weights provided by Google Consumer Surveys to adjust for sampling variance. Including weights does not meaningfully change results.
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NCEO
(May, 2017)
Employee
Ownership and
Economic
Well-Being
Source:
Wiefek, Nancy,
Nicholson, Nathan (December 2018),
ESOPS and
Retirement
Security.
Learn More
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I found another opportunity.
Aw -- we’d rather you keep working with us, but we’re happy for you. If you’re under 65, you’ll receive dividends five years after you leave -- the full sum will be paid out in installments over five years.
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Congrats! Now that you’ve hit this major milestone, you’re fully vested.
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For each year you work 1,000 hours, a portion of your shares will vest. This means they are yours to keep -- though you won’t be able to cash them out until you leave the company or retire. From now on, a portion of shares will vest annually.
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Retiring? How exciting! You can now cash out your vested shares, which is a nice extra nest egg (especially when paired with your 401K). If you’re over 65, you’ll receive 100% of your balance the year after you retire.
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Welcome to USA Mortgage! As a division of DAS, a 100% employee-owned company, all employees who work over 160 hours in a year are eligible to receive shares as long as you are employed at December 31 of the same year.
How does it work?
The ESOP Timeline
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First month
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1,000 hours worked
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6-year vesting mark
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New opportunity
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Retirement
Learn More
REtirement: employee-owned vs. traditional company
At an employee-owned company, yearly contributions of company shares can make a huge impact on your life. Here’s a short example of what it could mean for you.
(These numbers are purely for example purposes.)
Year 2:
January 2020
Bill and Natalie both get a 3% company contribution in their 401k. As an employee-owner, Natalie also receives a percentage of her salary in company shares (at no cost to her).
Company shares
Company shares
$5,000
$0
4 years later
401K
401K
$3,000
$3,000
Hired
2 yrs
6 yrs
25 yrs
Hired:
January 2019
Bill and Natalie start on the same day, work 40 hours a week, and make $18/hour.
Company shares
Company shares
$0
$0
2 years later
401K
401K
$0
$0
Hired
2 yrs
6 yrs
25 yrs
Year 6:
January 2024
Natalie continues to receive shares each year. As the company grows, Natalie’s shares also become more valuable. After 6 years, Natalie has over half a year’s salary in shares.
Company shares
Company shares
$18,000
$0
19 years later
401K
401K
$12,000
$12,000
Hired
2 yrs
6 yrs
25 yrs
Year 25:
January 2044
Over the course of a career, Natalie built substantial wealth as an employee-owner. Company shares help her retire early. As an employee-owner, she has created a substantial nest egg.
Company shares
Company shares
$203,282
$0
401K
401K
$135,521
$135,521
Hired
2 yrs
6 yrs
25 yrs
Meet Natalie
Meet Bill
Employee-owned company
Non-employee-owned company
Questions about your ESOP Statement?
Learn More
How can I affect share price?
At an employee-owned company, everyone has a stake in the company’s success. Moreover, everything you do can ultimately impact the share price — and ultimately your distribution payments. Here are some small ways to make a big difference.
RSVP accurately to company events (so money isn’t wasted on headcount)
Have free time? Volunteer to help a colleague
For loan officers and branches, reduce pricing exceptions
Negotiate costs on vendor contracts
Reduce printing and paper use
Bring in a reusable cup
Learn More
ESOP FAQ!
Go
Find out more about ESOPS!
Q3
Does an ESOP cost anything?
Nope! It does not cost
anything!
Q2
How many employee-owned companies are there in America?
There are 6,000+ employee-owned companies in America with between 1.5-2 million employees. Here at USA Mortgage 100% of our stock is held by employees and that sets us apart (only about 1 out of 200 businesses in America can say that).
Q1
What does it mean to be
employee-owned?
Everyone who works at the company is an owner! Ownership ensures that everyone builds wealth when the company succeeds.
Q5
When will the employee get the money?
Distribution of the benefit in the ESOP account begins after the employee leaves the company or retires.
Q6
What is a share
price?
The monetary value of one share of the company’s stock. The value is determined
once-a-year by an independent appraiser.
Q4
What is vesting?
The percentage of the employee's ESOP Account that is theirs and cannot be taken back.
Don’t just join us,
own us
Patriotic Employer Award, Pro Partia Award, Above and Beyond Award
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR)
4.5
4.9
2014-2022
and 2024
2022
2023
Patriotic Employer Award, Pro Partia Award,
Above and Beyond Award
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR)
2018-2022
Best Mortgage
Companies to Work For
National Mortgage News
America's Greatest
Workplaces
Newsweek
Top Workplaces
The St. Louis
Post Dispatch
Best Places to work
St. Louis
Business Journal
USA Mortgage is
100% employee-owned
(and employee-loved!)
Glassdoor rating
Experience rating
Get in touch
Our culture
Through several rewards-initiatives, top performing employee-owners can win cash prizes, all-expense paid getaways, and more.
What makes USA Mortgage different?
Work Hard
Work Hard
USA Mortgage is a 100% employee-owned ESOP
Our Growth
Diamond & platinum club
Technology
competition
$1B
$2B
+
Play Hard
Play Hard
2018
2018
That makes working here very unique. At USA Mortgage, you don’t have co-workers, you have co-owners, and they have a vested interest in your success and work tirelessly to support your efforts. ESOPs are similar to a profit sharing plan, except it is designed to invest primarily in company stock.
DAS Gives is an employee-driven program that supports charities near and dear to our employees’ hearts. Since the program’s inception in 2018, our employees have volunteered hundreds of hours and helped to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for dozens of local charities through fundraising and donations.
Our top-performing loan officers qualify for our exclusive Circle of Excellence. The best of the best are rewarded with a getaway to a surprise luxury resort location for you and a guest!
Each month, 10 loan officers will get their marketing and technology fees paid for.
Share Hard
2023
Share Hard
2023
Give Hard
Give Hard
What’s life without a little fun? Whether it’s a social outing, team-building event, USA Mortgage athletics, or a giveaway, we try our hardest to show our co-owners how much we value them.
We don’t hire employees, we hire owners. What does that mean? It means we strive to make sure every voice, every idea is heard and cultivated to create a dynamic, ever-evolving culture. Our workforce is empowered to bring their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to the table. It also means that when we’re financially successful, our employee-owners profit. We’re also committed to hiring the best -- as evidenced by our rapid growth.
Reward Hard
Reward Hard
270K
Sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna.
Learn More
Get in touch!
Our benefits
At USA Mortgage, we want our employee-owners to be happy, healthy and debt-free! Our unique benefits help our workforce achieve mental and financial health.
Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP)
Student Loan Reimbursement
Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP)
Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP)
Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP)
Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP)
Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP)
Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP)
Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP)
Flexible
Spending Account
Student Loan
Reimbursement
Short Term
Disability
Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP)
Health
Insurance
401(K)
Retirement Plan
Life Insurance, Supplemental Life Insurance and AD&D
You can enroll in the 401(K) plan and have a percentage of your payroll automatically deducted. USA Mortgage matches part of your contribution. Our company match is available to all employees, including sales!
A comprehensive package which includes full medical (with two options to choose from), dental and vision.
Employees may elect to payroll deduct on a pretax basis up to $1,500.00 annually for out of pocket medical expenses and $5,000.00 for Dependent care.
ESOPs are qualified retirement plans regulated by the Federal Government. As part owners, our employees get a portion of USA Mortgage profits based on their income. Unlike other ESOPs, USA Mortgage provides both employee stock ownership as well as traditional 401(K) plans. You invest nothing, and still reap the financial benefits!
All USA Mortgage employees are provided with a life insurance policy. In addition to the policy that is provided, employees may elect to supplement their life insurance with a supplemental policy.
USA Mortgage believes in the power of education. That’s why we offer the Student Loan Reimbursement Program, which offers up to $10,000 in student loan reimbursements once you are with the company 5 years.
USA Mortgage through CHUBB offers the ability to choose valuable supplement benefits that meet your needs. The convenience of premium payments through payroll deduction and the ability to take most coverage’s with you is available if you change jobs or retire.
401(K)
Retirement Plan
Life Insurance, Supplemental Life Insurance and AD&D
Want to learn more about the advantages of working for an employee-owned company?
Health
Insurance
Flexible
Spending Account
Short-Term
Disability
Get in touch!
Sales Team Support
Discover some of the rockstars that make USA Mortgage special
Marketing
Our award-winning marketing team is not your average marketing team. We love developing top-notch marketing materials, and we’re pretty good at it, too.
Meet the team!
What makes us special
The bottom line is… you’ve never seen a marketing department like this before! It’s huge, and armed with cutting-edge technology to make your job easier. From a full-time print room attendant that prints and cuts to order (and ships your materials directly to you), to a team of talented graphic designers and marketing coordinators who delight in creating unique, one-of-a-kind pieces from scratch, just for you.
Department Highlights
500,000 marketing pieces printed per month
100+ custom marketing pieces created each month
900+ social media posts published per month
60+ videos scripted, shot and edited per month
Meet Sasquatch and Big Foot
Our printers, Big Foot and Little Foot are the very same type of printers you'd find in a production print house -- and we often have higher printer volume than many of them! Together, they can print off books, brochures, trifolds, flyers, postcards, door hangers -- you name it!
Creative
Brandi Mackenberg, our Creative Team Lead, creates nearly all of our marketing templates and custom designs
Brand Development Strategy
Emily Miller, Team Lead of Brand Strategy, has done your research for you. Ready to use social media to take your business to the next level? The Facebook Fairy is here for you.
Let's Get Digital
Mitzi Hoffman, Digital Team Lead, manages all things digital. From web and email based marketing to animations and presentations, the digital team can help with many of your technical marketing questions.
The Video Team
Doug Hoffmann, Video Team Lead, creates amazing, personalized videos that allow you to stand out and share what makes you unique. Our fully functioning video studio offers professional lighting, cameras, audio, green screen, and much more. They’ll even make an animated video for the camera-shy.
Would you like to speak to the manager?
Chelsea Vonder Haar, SVP of Marketing and Alec Picinich, Marketing Manager, are here to answer the big questions. They might not be able to answer the big existential ruminations, but they can definitely help you with marketing!
Encompass
One tool that combines loan origination, business management, and customer relationship management.
Meet Tim Spencer!
Tim is our Senior Vice President of Mortgage Technology. He knows that nothing is more frustrating than outdated technology impeding a sale. At USA Mortgage, we invest in and utilize the best sales tech on the market to make sure our loan officers have the best customer-facing technology, and can focus on the parts of their job they love most.
BombBomb
Rehumanize your communication by getting face to face through video within the tools you already use. BombBomb makes it easy to record, send, and track videos, allowing you to be “in-person” with those who matter most to your business at any given time.
Experience
This tool allows us to solicit customer feedback in a way that boosts survey response rates, and responds to customer concerns before they reach social media.
MBS Highway
The communication tool designed to improve your batting average and turn more conversations into applications. Receive a daily coaching video from Barry Habib and beat the competition.
Mortgage Coach
Mortgage Coach provides clearly illustrated mortgage options with detailed financials, charts, video narration, and live updates on any device ensuring an informed home loan choice. Why quote rates off a fee sheet when you can create a stunning digital presentation for your borrower (and agent) to review?
Sales Boomerang
Sales Boomerang is an intelligent system for mortgage professionals that alerts you the moment an unqualified lead becomes qualified.
nCino
(formerly Simple Nexus)
Get a competitive advantage with nCino, which allows you to start the loan origination process from anywhere. Engage borrowers on the spot and answer customer questions from anywhere, with no callbacks.
Motivity
Motivity transforms data into actionable insights and provides near real-time access to key data that enables clients to proactively and automatically deliver the right information, at the right time, to the right people and in the right way.
DAS Data
Using PowerBI, our DAS Data Department delivers insights to enable fast, informed decisions, using interactive, real-time data. We also use our technologies for monthly reporting and communication of production levels.
Team culture
As a sales-centric company, our infrastructure is built to keep our loan officers in the field producing, not caught up in the office with paperwork. That’s why we’ve built out a robust resource center staffed by experts to ensure the sales process moves along seamlessly.
Discover our helpdesks
Underwriting
help desk
This desk is managed by a team of veteran underwriters. This team will run scenarios, calculate self-employed income, verify the loan is within guidelines and help ensure timely delivery of the loan.
Encompass help desk
This help desk uses an ever-changing cloud-based system to create efficiencies within the loan process, and allows more time for training and originating.
IT helpdesk
Our team of IT professionals is constantly upgrading our technologies to maintain an efficient, well-maintained machine.
Condo helpdesk
The condo help desk assists with review and approvals, waivers, underwriter escalation, guideline updates and training and more.
Underwriting Helpdesk
Encompass Helpdesk
IT Helpdesk
Condo Helpdesk
Onboarding department
We have an onboarding department that facilitates our robust new hire training program, as well as continuing education for sales and operations.
Your Marketing Team
Your Technology
More Support Tools
Get in touch!
Have questions? Our employee-owners have answers!
What
sets us apart?
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How does corporate support you?
“I pinch myself every day...how lucky we are here to be able to have the kind of support we have from corporate.”
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What made you choose us?
“It's not just products and pricing, it was also the unmatched marketing capabilities and top level technologies.”
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Why do recruits choose us?
“Our recruits really, really, really love our marketing and technology and how we are constantly improving it.”
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“[It] really has to do with the culture because many businesses can say that it’s their culture, but DAS really lives it.”
How does corporate support you?
Why do
your
recruits choose
us?
What made you choose us?
CO NMLS 227262. DAS Acquisition Company, LLC is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor.
The Creative Team
Brandi Mackenberg, our Creative Team Lead, creates nearly all of our marketing templates and custom designs, along with Evelyn Smith our junior designer.