Best-in-breed solutions or an all-in-one LOS? Automation, configurability, scalability and performance – how do you prioritize your technology needs so as to get the best bang for your buck? Mortgage technology solutions can provide the performance edge originators need to thrive in today’s hyper-competitive market, but it can also be confusing with so many options – and claims. Learn more about Black Knight and how the innovative solutions they provide are transforming the industry at www.blackknightinc.com.
Best-in-breed solutions or an all-in-one LOS? Automation, configurability, scalability and performance – how do you prioritize your technology needs so as to get the best bang for your buck? Mortgage technology solutions can provide the performance edge originators need to thrive in today’s hyper-competitive market, but it can also be confusing with so many options – and claims. Learn more about Black Knight and how the innovative solutions they provide are transforming the industry at www.blackknightinc.com.
Technology and digitalization move forward. I read somewhere that soon they’ll have digital numbers. Amazing! Who can keep up? (On a side note, did you know that no number from 1 to 999 contains the letter “a” in its word form?) Don’t think technology controls you? How about this news that Apple’s weather app will never show a temperature of 69 degrees? Good mortgage loan originators use the technology available to them to best help their customers. Brokers use Mortgage Elements to look for wholesalers offering products. Meanwhile, many consumers are doing the same. Have you heard of BestLendersFor.com? It has launched into the United States, “providing free real time rankings for consumers, and mortgage rates to consumers nationwide… Through its own diligent research, extensive conversations with each lender, a review of each lenders consumer reviews and plugging into each lenders daily offered rates in real time, it will give consumers a one stop place to save time, money, and headaches when it comes to trying to search and decide which of the hundreds of lenders to go with for their mortgage, purchase, or refinance needs.” (Today’s podcast is available here. This week’s podcast is sponsored by Black Knight, providing innovative technology, comprehensive data, agile analytics, and features Part Three of an interview with Mike Brown focused on lender inefficiency and productivity.)
Employment & transitions
“If 2020 was the year of Loan Originations, 2021 is the year for Loan Servicing. Not to worry Mortgage Servicers, Agility 360 knows how to meet the need for qualified Servicing personnel to deal with the tsunami of new loan volume. We’re a specialized mortgage recruiting and project staffing firm based in Dallas, Texas, with a proven record of matching qualified candidates with employers for long-term and short-term contract needs. With the incredible ’20-‘21 origination volume being onboarded and the looming potential for increased regulatory oversight and enforcement, Agility 360 is rapidly fulfilling the demand for servicing staff. Whether it’s Loss Mit, Escrow Analyst, Customer Service, QA/QC, Audit, Collections, or File Review personnel, our nationwide network of qualified and vetted experienced mortgage professionals is available to help servicers respond and prepare for any situation. If you’d like to learn how we can help, please contact Raj Sharma at 469-208-6337 or Cesar Hernandez.”
Finally, there’s a better business model that provides LOs with ultimate control, unmatched pricing & a proprietary LOS that promotes faster closings! See how top producing loan officers are leveraging digital storefronts to expand market reach and increase volume. Canopy Mortgage is hiring top producing Loan Officers and Branch Managers. Build your business the way you want, Join Canopy to stand out in the following markets: CA, CO, FL, GA, HI, IL, NC, SC, TN, TX, and WA. Reach out to Josh Neumarker at Canopy Mortgage for more information 801-330-5016.
“Mr. Cooper is excited to announce the Correspondent team continues to grow! We’re hiring and looking for additional seasoned Correspondent Sales professionals to join our expanding team, including a leader for our West Division. If you’re looking to join an impressive team and culture, we’d like to talk to you! www.mrcooper.com/correspondent. Mr. Cooper recently announced additional enhancements to its Government credit box! The following are now available for Delegated and Non-Delegated: VA Cash Out (FICOs 660) and VA IRRRLs (FICOs 640). For VA IRRRLs, AVMs are no longer required. Additionally, Non-Delegated enhancements included FHA Specialty FICOs down to 600 as well as the rollout of HomeReady and Home Possible products. Refer to product guidelines for further details and loan underwriting requirements. Our Non-Delegated turn times are averaging less than 2 days on Initial Submissions and less than 1 day on Resubmissions. Contact your Regional Sales Team to discuss our robust offering across Mandatory, Best Efforts, Delegated/Non-Delegated, Co-Issue and Bulk MSR!”
Nationally recognized sales and marketing expert Steve Richman has recently joined VanDyk Mortgage Corporation as its new National Director of Strategic Growth and Branding to work with the team at VanDyk on overall branding, strategy, and employee recruiting. With years under his belt Steve’s a Master Certified Sales Negotiation Trainer and Certified Trainer in DiSC Behavioral Profiling, as well as a mortgage professional, litigation attorney, trainer, and consultant. Steve will be featured in many upcoming VanDyk speaking events throughout the country and will continue to be available for outside speaking events and bookings.
Selene Holdings, a leading residential mortgage servicer and real estate services platform, has expanded its leadership team with Katie Brewer (Chief Operating Officer) and John Vella (Chief Revenue Officer). Selene is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pretium, a specialized investment management firm focused on real estate, mortgage finance and corporate credit with more than $20 billion in assets under management.
Anchor Loans, a provider of financing to fix-and-flip entrepreneurs, announced that Matt Miles has joined the company as Chief Capital Markets Officer.
Broker & lender services and tools
U.S. Supreme Court rulings sometimes impact our day-to-day lives and sometimes they don’t. The recent Collins vs. Yellen decision cleared the way for President Biden to replace the director of Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). This is on the heels of the new administration replacing the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). How will this impact the mortgage industry? Read more here. This is brought to you by Triserv, a 50-state AMC that has client-specific, dedicated teams on both coasts offering high-touch, personalized service. To find out more, contact Triserv Appraisal Management Solutions.
If your applicants’ credit scores are missing the mark, know that it’s still possible to put their dream of homeownership within reach. Lending Hand from Credit Plus is a service that works for most credit risk levels, and it goes far beyond the help offered by traditional scoring tools. With Lending Hand, loan officers receive an in-depth analysis of your borrower’s credit situation that is prepared by Credit Plus’ experienced credit experts. You’ll also be given recommendations that you can share with your borrower to help them achieve the highest probability for a successful rescore. In addition, you’ll receive a planned set of actions for you to give your borrower so they can be better positioned for a healthier financial future. Reach out to Credit Plus to learn more.
“PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending, a subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH), understands the importance of efficiency when it comes to meeting our customers’ funding requests. “Express Funding” is how we help our customers reduce the time needed to get their loans funded. Express Funding allows our customers to submit multiple loans for funding in one simple data upload, whether it is one loan or 100 loans. A growing list of 2,000+ closing agents with No Doc funding requirements and funding turn times averaging under 30 minutes. We believe in consistently providing service to exceed our customers’ expectations. Please contact Deric Barnett, EVP National Warehouse Lending.”
As mortgage banking technology evolves, most of it continues to remain focused either on the borrower front-end or the loan originator. Middle-office operations, however, are where technology can make the biggest impact! Historically any technology in this space has been specialized and disjointed. Indecomm’s DecisionGenius™ introduces all decision-making components into one place, comparing application data to sourced data to investor guidelines. Get a clear recommendation on a file’s ability to close BEFORE it goes to underwriting! See Indecomm’s DecisionGenius™ at work in its free webinar today at 1PM ET, 10AM PT.
Improve the borrower experience with faster VOE/VOI. There are a lot of new providers out there in verification land but not all are created equal. Truework is a full-service platform for VOE/VOI that is fully compliant with Fannie Mae 1005. Everybody wants faster data and Truework is making that happen. It’s instant database now has over 40 million employee records and more than 70% of all requests are complete within 72 hours. Truework is the exclusive verification provider for over 7 million U.S. employees. When loan processing teams use Truework they unlock bulk pricing discounts and automated billing. Start income verifications with Truework today and close loans faster.
Broker & lender loan products
Stop referring your home equity loans away for free! Spring EQ Wholesale, the wholesale industry’s leading home equity lender, is the only second mortgage lender who allows originators to earn up to 2% of the loan amount in compensation. Offering both fixed rate and adjustable rate HELOCs for piggybacks and stand-alone 2nds, Spring EQ recently expanded their product offering by lowering FICO scores on HELOCs to 640 and offering higher CLTV’s to a max of 97.5%. In addition, 1st Lien HELOCs are available in most states. Upload the appraisal on a recently closed transaction and add a stand-alone 2nd mortgage, or “break-up” your purchase & refinance business to avoid Jumbo and high balance pricing. Cash-out to 97.5% to avoid MI and LLPAs. This breadth of product makes Spring EQ the industry’s “one-stop home equity shop.” Become a partner now or contact your Account Executive to learn more.
Northpointe Bank Correspondent Lending announces significant enhancements to its Expanded Portfolio (Non-QM) programs. Guideline expansions include loan-to-value ratios up to 90% for alternative doc loans, including bank statements, and up to 80% loan-to-value on investment properties utilizing borrower income or property cash flow for qualification. Reach more borrowers with solutions from Northpointe’s Expanded Portfolio programs. Prime Non-Agency focuses on higher credit borrowers looking to take advantage of Non-QM features such as interest-only options, 40-year terms, alternative doc options like bank statements and asset depletion, or financing for non-warrantable condos including condotels. Expanded Access and New Start help borrowers with seasoned or recent credit events, and Investor Cash Flow offers financing for investment properties utilizing the debt service coverage ratio. With programs available in all 50 states, Northpointe Bank provides tailored solutions to maximize your profitably and help your business grow. View program details for more information or email us at correspondentsales@northpointe.com.
“Brokers can compete in Jumbo! Stearns Wholesale has a variety of jumbo products that are as competitive as bank products. And the rates on their six jumbo products are currently the best in the nation. Not only is Stearns #1 in jumbo pricing, but they are also amplifying their virtual resources with five upcoming training sessions throughout July covering all things Jumbo. If you would like to register for one of these Stearns Jumbo Product Trainings, click here. Don’t lose your jumbo loans to the banks, give your buyers confidence with Stearns today! If you’d like to partner with Stearns or learn more, click here to be contacted.
Verus Mortgage Capital recently improved pricing on all its loan programs, which include options for the self-employed, higher-balanced loan amounts, foreign nationals, investors, Prime Jumbo, Investor AUS, credit challenged borrowers and more. It even offers greater flexibility with Prime Jumbo loans up to $3 million. Verus is the largest purchaser of non-QM loans and the continued leader in pricing and non-agency programs offered. It’s time to help borrowers who don’t fit into the traditional credit box and need the kind of flexibility only offered by Verus. For more information about adding non-QM products to your menu, contact Jeff Schaefer, EVP – Correspondent Sales, (202-534-1821).
Agency shifts
Fannie Mae answered questions in a Uniform Instruments fact sheet regarding last week’s announcement on the update of its uniform legal instruments (security instruments, notes, riders and addenda, and special-purpose documents) used for loans delivered to Fannie. These new instruments can be found here.
Freddie Mac published Guide Bulletin 2021-25 announcing critical updates related to multiple topics including Affordable Lending, QC, and Uniform Instruments.
Freddie Mac’s June Loan Product Advisor® (LPASM) releases provide information on changes to documentation on funds to close needed on refinance transactions, 2021 Area Media Income (AMI) estimates, Credit reporting company and technical affiliate biannual updates, and improvements when documenting housing expense types.
Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide update, SEL-2021-06, includes these changes: reduces asset documentation requirements for refinanced transactions, clarifies when an appraisal update or new appraisal is needed, updates the MBS trade confirmation process, and provides other miscellaneous updates. The announcement also describes updates made to all uniform legal instruments to enhance clarity and usability.
Find answers to Fannie Mae customers’ most frequently asked underwriting and eligibility questions on the top trending FAQs page. FAQs are grouped by theme, asset assessment, eligibility, income assessment, liability assessment, and loan application: View the top trending FAQs page.
Based on feedback from customers, Fannie Mae enhanced the servicer toolkit to include resources that support liquidation discussions with borrowers. Review the script and access the resources to help borrowers avoid foreclosure and share homeowner-facing materials to support borrowers when the foreclosure moratorium ends.
Fannie Mae authorized a one-time excess legal fee of $275 for additional legal work required to resume pending foreclosures in certain jurisdictions when it is necessary to do so upon the lifting of applicable federal and state moratoria. The fee is not recoverable from the borrower. View Foreclosure Resumption Excess Fee.
The MBA asked the FHFA for clarity on GSE short-term rental policies due to apparent confusion regarding the existing Enterprise policies for such properties, which leads to differing approaches taken by various lenders based on differing interpretations of the language in the Enterprises’ selling guidelines.
Capital markets
Aside from a rockin’ inflation data point yesterday, and another this morning, this week has been pretty quiet for news. It is good to look at things in context, and glancing back at last week, economic data points to the normalization of the U.S. economy following a breakout spring which was buoyed by two rounds of fiscal stimulus. The ISM Services Index declined in May as real estate and agriculture contracted. Most of the comments were around tight supply chains, rising prices, a challenging labor market coupled with still strong demand. Initial claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly increased to 373,000 although continuing claims fell to 3.3 million, well below the 16.8 million from a year ago. Meanwhile, job openings in May were at a record 9.2 million with 5.9 million positions being filled. While 26 states have terminated the enhanced federal unemployment benefits in a bid to lure more people back to work, the programs will end nationwide on September 6.
Yes, inflation readings were strong enough yesterday to push mortgage rates a little higher. Total CPI and core CPI both increased 0.9 percent month-over-month, the largest one-month increase since June 2008, and well above expectations. On a year-over basis, total CPI was up 5.4 percent and core CPI was up 4.5 percent, the largest inflation increases since 1991. The broad-based price increases in June should put the Fed's "transitory inflation" narrative to the test, particularly with total CPI running at an annualized rate of 7.2 percent since the start of the year. We saw some MBS price volatility on the day, as many traders still remain convinced that inflation is merely transitory. Weak demand for the monthly 30-year bond auction caused some yield curve steepening after Monday's strong $38 billion 10-year T-Note reopening.
With that consumer price index data emboldening traders to bet that the Federal Reserve will tighten policy sooner (read: likely still 2023 but maybe late 2022) than expected, attention now turns to Chair Powell’s virtual testimony in front of Congress today. He will do his best to convince politicians that inflation isn't a concern, arguing that much of June's surge in prices came from sectors aided by reopening.
Before Powell’s remarks, there are several economic releases to digest. Mortgage applications increased 16.0 percent from one week earlier, including an adjustment for the July 4 holiday, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association for the week ending July 9. Applications were driven heavily by increased refinancing as rates have trended lower over the past month. We’ve also received June Producer Price Index figures (both headline and ex-food & energy +1.0 percent, strong!). In addition to Chair Powell’s remarks, we will also hear from Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari ahead of the latest Beige Book due out this afternoon. Wednesday starts with Agency MBS prices better/up .125 and the 10-year yielding 1.37 after closing yesterday at 1.42 percent despite the strong PPI figures.
Received from a gal in Illinois: “Every time I describe what I’m looking for in a relationship, it always turns out to be a dog.”