Who is Better.com CEO Vishal Garg?...

BETTER Mortgage CEO Vishal Garg is making headlines after firing 900 employees right before the Christmas holiday.

He founded the mortgage company eight years ago and it has become the fourth-largest loan originator for private student loans in the US.

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Vishal Garg became an entrepreneur at the young age of 21 when he co-founded MRU Holdings, a student loan company in 2000.

The company went public in 2005 but filed for bankruptcy in 2009. According to court documents obtained by Reuters, MRU Holdings had $11million in assets but had $45.7million in liabilities.

Around the time Garg co-founded MRU Holdings, he also became a founding partner for One Zero Capital in 1999 and Phoenix Holdings in 2011 – both of which lasted until 2014 when he founded Better Mortgage.

In 2012, Garg and his wife were looking to buy a home when they encountered a series of roadblocks that led him to pursue his own mortgage company.

According to the company’s website, he realized there were holes in lending that needed to be rectified, and he set out to do just that.

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As an entrepreneur, Garg utilized his tech and finance experience to pursue the new endeavor that would result in the $7billion company, Better Mortgage.

He turned his home-buying experience of pre-approval delays, “slow processes, predatory fees, and outdated technology” that he says, “made the experience painful and sluggish.”

Better Mortgage’s mission is to streamline the homebuying process, allowing buyers to get pre-approved for a mortgage online and find competitive rates.

Despite the proclaimed success of Better Mortgage, 900 employees, amounting to 15 percent of the company, were laid off in the weeks leading up to Christmas in a mass Zoom call.

Garg said the layoffs were a “challenging decision to make” and said it was due to market efficiency, productivity, and performance.

However, Garg reportedly later told his remaining employees, “You guys know that at least 250 of the people terminated were working an average of two hours a day while clocking eight hours+ a day in the payroll system?

"They were stealing from you and stealing from our customers who pay the bills that pay our bills. Get educated."

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Garg officially launched Better Mortgage in 2016 and grew by more than 400 percent in 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile.

His company received the number one ranking for LinkedIn’s top startups in 2020 and 2021, and Forbes ranked the company as the best online mortgage lender of 2021.

Better Mortgage was chosen for the quick pre-approval times, no commission or lender fees, homebuyers can apply and close from anywhere in the world, and it is available everywhere in the US, except Hawaii.