a method for prioritizing candidate wholesale loan lenders in response to a loan request by a mortgage broker for a client including establishing a lender database serving as a repository of electronic client files generated by said mortgage broker in connection with a client &# 39 ; s loan request , permitting subscribing wholesale lenders to access to said lender database via a network , allowing the lenders access said electronic client files from said lender database according to a permission associated with each electronic client file , forwarding via said lender database responses to said mortgage broker , and assigning a hierarchy of the selected subscribing wholesale lenders &# 39 ; responses to said loan request .