Tag: Mortgage

NATIONAL NEWS (EL PASO, Texas) -- FirstLight Federal Credit Union (FirstLight) has partnered with LenderLogix to launch LiteSpeed, a modern mortgage point-of-sale platform designed to make the home loan process easier for members and more efficient for FirstLight's lending team.

NATIONAL NEWS (DENVER, Colo.) -- ACES Quality Management® (ACES), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, announced today that the overall critical defect rate fell to 1.64% in the second quarter (Q2) of 2026, according to its quarterly ACES Mortgage QC Industry Trends Report. The 4.1% drop from Q1 marked the first decline between the first and second quarters since 2023, though the rate remained 8.6% higher than a year earlier.

NATIONAL NEWS (PLANO, Texas) -- Optimal Blue today released its October 2026 Market Advantage mortgage data report, which found that adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share reached a new high even as rate-lock volume declined across every major loan category. Total rate-lock volume fell 19% month over month (MoM) and 38% year over year (YoY). Purchase volume declined 18% MoM and 17% YoY but still accounted for 84% of October locks, while refinance share fell to 16% of total production.

NATIONAL NEWS (CHARLOTTE, N.C. and VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.) -- Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group LLC (Atlantic Bay) today announced it has been recognized as a 2026 Top Workplace by The Charlotte Observer, marking its 11th consecutive year receiving the regional honor. The distinction places Atlantic Bay among just 47 Charlotte-area organizations with more than 500 employees recognized in 2026, extending a record of workplace recognition built on feedback from the people who work there.

NATIONAL NEWS (ATLANTA, Ga.) -- Down Payment Resource (DPR), the housing industry's leading affordability intelligence platform, today announced that Angel Romero, housing finance agency relationship manager at DPR, has been named vice chair of the Technology Impact and Enablement (TIE) Community of Practice at the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO®). The community brings together stakeholders from across the mortgage industry to identify, evaluate and advance technology innovations and to assess how emerging technologies affect mortgage processes, data standards and interoperability.

NATIONAL NEWS (LAKE ZURICH, Ill.) -- Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc. (DMI), the nation's leading independent mortgage subservicing company, today announced a partnership with HAPO Community Credit Union (HAPO), which holds $3 billion in assets and supports 215,000 members in 25 branches across Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Under the agreement, DMI will subservice HAPO's portfolio loans and provide foundational infrastructure for future strategic growth.

NATIONAL NEWS (JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) -- Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter), an innovative leader in home lending technology, today announced it has acquired the AI agent platform and related intellectual property of House Numbers, a venture-backed agentic AI company that builds AI agents for home lending workflows. Alongside the technology, Dark Matter has brought on the team that built it, led by House Numbers co-founder and CEO Jeff Levinsohn, who joins Dark Matter as chief AI officer.

NATIONAL NEWS (JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) -- Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter), an innovative leader in home lending technology, today announced it has acquired the AI agent platform and related intellectual property of House Numbers, a venture-backed agentic AI company that builds AI agents for home lending workflows. Alongside the technology, Dark Matter has brought on the team that built it, led by House Numbers co-founder and CEO Jeff Levinsohn, who joins Dark Matter as chief AI officer.

NATIONAL NEWS (NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.) -- Argyle, the leading consumer-permissioned verification platform, today announced the launch of Direct VOIE+, a step-up to its direct-source verification of income and employment (VOIE) for mortgage lenders. Direct VOIE+ delivers calculated monthly income from Freddie Mac's AIM Check API alongside direct-source payroll data, helping lenders understand eligible income earlier in the origination process.

NATIONAL NEWS (SEATTLE, Wash.) -- Friday Harbor, an AI pre-underwriting platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, today announced that it has expanded its AI appraisal review capability to support Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) 3.6 reports. The expansion enables lenders to apply Friday Harbor's automated appraisal review to the redesigned reporting format, with more than 350 checks that culminate in a concise summary of what has been validated and what requires attention.

NATIONAL NEWS (DAYTON, Ohio, and VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.) -- Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group LLC (Atlantic Bay) today announced its entry into Ohio, continuing a period of retail expansion that includes the recent opening of its first Louisiana branch. The move extends Atlantic Bay's multistate footprint and brings its lending platform and support resources to Mortgage Bankers and homebuyers across Ohio.

NATIONAL NEWS (ATLANTA, Ga.) -- Down Payment Resource (DPR), the housing industry's leading affordability intelligence platform, today released its Q3 2026 Homeownership Program Index (HPI) report, identifying 2,833 programs nationwide. The total is up 87 programs, or 3.2%, from 2,746 in Q2 2026, marking a new survey high.

NATIONAL NEWS (ATLANTA, Ga.) -- Down Payment Resource (DPR), the housing industry's leading affordability intelligence platform, today announced a partnership with ARMLS® (Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service). Founded in 1982 and based in Tempe, Arizona, ARMLS has grown into one of the largest MLSs in the country, serving more than 38,000 subscribers.

NATIONAL NEWS (BOULDER, Colo.) -- Floify, the mortgage industry's leading point-of-sale (POS) solution, today announced the launch of Verification of Assets (VOA) within Floify Verify, its native verification service powered by Argyle. Lenders using Floify have been able to verify income and employment directly through Floify Verify for some time.

NATIONAL NEWS (ANNAPOLIS, Md.) -- Bay Capital Mortgage Corporation has partnered with LenderLogix to launch LiteSpeed, a modern mortgage point-of-sale platform designed to make the loan process easier for borrowers and more efficient for loan officers.

NATIONAL NEWS (JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) -- Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter), an innovative leader in home lending technology, today announced the promotions of Don Oliver to chief technology officer, Chris Medvidofsky to chief financial officer and Blaine Prober to general counsel. All three have been with Dark Matter since it launched in 2023. The timing reflects how the company has built its leadership team: supporting people's growth within the organization when they demonstrate experience, leadership and a customer-first mindset.

NATIONAL NEWS (PLANO, Texas) -- Optimal Blue today released its September 2026 Market Advantage mortgage data report, which found non-qualified mortgage (non-QM) lending continued to expand even as rising rates weighed on broader mortgage activity. Total rate-lock volume declined 2% month over month (MoM), 21% over the past three months and 26% year over year (YoY). Non-QM lock volume bucked the broader decline, rising 8% MoM as non-QM loans accounted for 12% of September production.

NATIONAL NEWS (CHICAGO, Ill.) -- Friday Harbor, an AI pre-underwriting platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, today announced Safe Harbor QC, a new pre-closing quality control solution that combines a comprehensive loan review with a warranty backed by a global insurer rated A+ (Superior) by AM Best with the agency's highest financial size category (XV).

NATIONAL NEWS (PLANO, Texas) -- Optimal Blue today announced it has acquired Usherpa, a marketing automation and borrower relationship engagement platform purpose-built for mortgage professionals. The acquisition expands Optimal Blue's ability to help lenders win more business by bringing borrower engagement capabilities closer to the product, pricing and eligibility solutions that over 200,000 originators use to identify and convert loan opportunities.

NATIONAL NEWS (PLANO, Texas) -- Optimal Blue today announced that its direct lock functionality now integrates with Fannie Mae's Pricing & Execution - Whole Loan® (PE - Whole Loan) platform. The integration allows lenders using Optimal Blue's product, pricing and eligibility (PPE) engine to execute best efforts locks with Fannie Mae through real-time, system-to-system connectivity without leaving Optimal Blue.

NATIONAL NEWS (BUFFALO, N.Y.) -- LenderLogix and Jerry today announced an integration that helps mortgage borrowers proactively secure homeowners insurance once they've submitted their mortgage application. Within LenderLogix's LiteSpeed point-of-sale platform, borrowers can seamlessly shop for homeowners insurance directly from their borrower dashboard.

NATIONAL NEWS (AUSTIN, Texas) -- FirstClose™, a leading fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for home equity and mortgage lenders nationwide, today announced a strategic alliance with Cotality™, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider that supports 80% of real estate transactions in North America.

NATIONAL NEWS (AUSTIN, Texas) -- FirstClose™, a leading fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for home equity and mortgage lenders nationwide, today released the results of an independent study by MarketWise Advisors, LLC, examining the value of improvements in operational readiness and execution for home equity lenders. Participating lenders reported an average financial and operational impact of $753.04 per loan, a 7.99x return, across the core and extended capabilities MarketWise modeled.

NATIONAL NEWS (ATLANTA, Ga.) -- Down Payment Resource (DPR), the housing industry's leading affordability intelligence platform, today announced three additions to its team: Melissa Roy as a partner solutions engineer, April Espinosa as a down payment assistance programs specialist and Jeff Smith as a housing finance agency (HFA) relationship manager.

NATIONAL NEWS (DES MOINES, Iowa) -- New analysis from iEmergent, a forecasting and advisory services firm for the financial services, mortgage and real estate industries, finds that mortgage access gaps for low-income households are substantially wider than neighborhood-level data suggests. The analysis draws on the last five years of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data.

NATIONAL NEWS (HAMMONTON, N.J.) -- Service First Information Solutions LLC (Service 1st), a leading provider of credit reporting and verification solutions for the mortgage and other industries, is celebrating 100 years in business. Over the past century, Service 1st has expanded well beyond its roots in mortgage credit reporting.

NATIONAL NEWS (BUFFALO, N.Y.) -- LenderLogix, a provider of mortgage point-of-sale and automation software, today announced that FocusOne, a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO), has implemented its LiteSpeed point-of-sale platform as part of its continued investment in technology designed to help credit union partners deliver a modern, streamlined mortgage experience to their members.

NATIONAL NEWS (NEW YORK, N.Y.) -- June Point Lending Inc. (June Point Lending), a tech-forward wholesale non-QM lender, announced today it is offering debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) loans in California, its 19th state for DSCR lending and one of the country's largest broker markets.

NATIONAL NEWS (BOULDER, Colo.) -- Floify, the mortgage industry's leading point-of-sale (POS) solution, has selected Bryan Traeger as its new general manager. Traeger will lead Floify's next phase of growth with a focus on expanding the company's use of AI and push the boundaries of the borrower and lender experience. Traeger officially assumes the GM role on October 12 and will be at MBA Annual in Chicago, October 12-14, booth 600.

NATIONAL NEWS (JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) -- Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter), an innovative leader in home lending technology, today announced an integration with Mezzo, creator of the mortgage industry's first one-to-many operating architecture for third-party services. Available through Dark Matter's Exchange℠ Partner Marketplace, the integration gives lenders using the Empower® Loan Origination Solution a single gateway and workflow across multiple verification providers.

NATIONAL NEWS (BOULDER, Colo.) -- Floify, the mortgage industry's leading point-of-sale (POS) solution, today announced that Technology Credit Union (Tech CU) has chosen Floify to modernize its first mortgage and home equity lending experience.

NATIONAL NEWS (VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.) -- Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group LLC (Atlantic Bay) joined nearly 1,800 volunteers at Norfolk Scope Arena on September 18 for Roc Solid Foundation's inaugural Ready Bag Rally. In less than two hours, volunteers packed 16,000 Ready Bags to support families navigating a childhood cancer diagnosis. The rally was Roc Solid's first Ready Bag packing event of this scale.

NATIONAL NEWS (SEATTLE, Wash.) -- Friday Harbor, an AI pre-underwriting platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, today announced expanded support for investor loans, including debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) loans.

NATIONAL NEWS (DENVER, Colo.) -- ACES Quality Management®, the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, announced today the launch of ACES Population Testing™, which evaluates a financial institution's loan origination pipelines and servicing portfolios against its defined policies and identifies the records that warrant a reviewer's attention.

NATIONAL NEWS (AUSTIN, Texas) -- FirstClose, a leading fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for home equity and mortgage lenders nationwide, announced today the launch of Lender Portal, a new workspace that lets loan officers manage borrower leads in one place, from initial contact through submission.

NATIONAL NEWS (GARDEN GROVE, Calif.,) -- Informative Research (IR), a leading technology provider of data-driven credit and verification solutions for the lending industry, today announced that Tim Cox has rejoined the IR leadership team as executive vice president of business process automation. In this role, Tim will apply his industry expertise to support the company and help its clients work more efficiently and intelligently.

NATIONAL NEWS (DES MOINES, Iowa) -- iEmergent, a forecasting and advisory services firm for the financial services, mortgage and real estate industries, today released a new analysis validating its 2025 forecasts against actual Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data. The analysis, which uses final 2025 HMDA data released by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council on June 23, 2026, spans every geographic level from national down to individual census tracts.

NATIONAL NEWS (NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.) -- Argyle, the leading consumer-permissioned verification platform, today announced the launch of a new solution that enables wholesale mortgage lenders to extend income, employment, and asset verification across their broker networks with a broker-branded borrower experience. The solution is available through Argyle's Verification API as well as through Encompass® TPO Connect from ICE Mortgage Technology®.

NATIONAL NEWS (BATON ROUGE, La. and VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.) -- Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group LLC (Atlantic Bay) today announced the opening of its first Louisiana branch in Baton Rouge, extending its' presence across the South and giving Louisiana homebuyers access to a wide range of mortgage options, local expertise, and the technology and resources of an established lender.

NATIONAL NEWS (RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif.) -- Mezzo, creator of the mortgage industry's first one-to-many operating architecture for third-party services, today announced an integration with Vesta, the AI-native loan origination system (LOS) and agent platform built to automate and accelerate mortgage operations. Mezzo launches with a single gateway across verification providers.

NATIONAL NEWS (NOVI, Mich.) -- Vice Capital Markets, a leading mortgage hedge advisory firm for independent lenders, banks and credit unions, today announced that its capital markets platform now supports the inclusion of VantageScore™ credit scores on mortgage bid tapes, providing lenders and investors with greater visibility into loan-level credit characteristics during the secondary market execution process.

NATIONAL NEWS (SEATTLE, Wash.) -- Friday Harbor, an AI pre-underwriting platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, today announced its integration to the Freddie Mac Income Calculator API. Lenders can now determine calculated monthly income for wage earners, including borrowers with variable income, in minutes while helping preserve eligibility for certain representation and warranty (R&W) relief tied to the income calculation.

NATIONAL NEWS (PLANO, Texas) -- Optimal Blue today announced its initial speaker lineup for its 2027 Optimal Blue Summit, including Analyst, ESPN Monday Night Football, 3-Time Super Bowl-Winning Quarterback, Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman. The third annual event shaping what's next in mortgage will take place February 1-3, 2027 at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz.

NATIONAL NEWS (PHOENIX, Ariz.) -- Fairway Home Mortgage and the Kanyur Reverse Team are proud to announce the opening of a new branch location in Phoenix, Arizona. The new office, located at 11811 N. Tatum Blvd., Suite 1002, Phoenix, AZ 85028, represents an exciting milestone in the team's continued commitment to serving homeowners throughout Arizona with specialized retirement lending solutions.

NATIONAL NEWS (NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.) -- Argyle, the leading consumer-permissioned verification platform, today announced an expanded integration with Tidalwave, an agentic AI platform that automates the full U.S. mortgage lifecycle from application through closing. Argyle and Tidalwave partnered in 2025 to embed Argyle's verification of income and employment (VOIE) solution into Tidalwave's borrower workflow through payroll connectivity.

NATIONAL NEWS (ADDISON, Texas) -- Click n' Close, a multi-state mortgage lender, today announced that mortgage industry veteran Blake Priest has joined the company as director of whole loan trading. In this role, Priest will lead the company's scratch and dent purchasing, giving correspondent partners another outlet for loans that fall outside traditional investor guidelines.

NATIONAL NEWS (PLANO, Texas) -- Optimal Blue today released its August 2026 Market Advantage mortgage data report, which found that mortgage activity continued to soften in August even as rates leveled off. Total rate-lock volume declined 9% month over month (MoM) and slipped 3% below August 2025 levels. Purchase lock volume fell 10% from July but remained 6% higher year over year (YoY), with purchase loans accounting for nearly 81% of total lock volume.

NATIONAL NEWS (AUSTIN, Texas) -- FirstClose™, a leading fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for home equity and mortgage lenders nationwide, announced today that it has launched an integration with MeridianLink to bring its home equity order management capabilities directly into the MeridianLink Mortgage loan origination system (LOS). The integration extends FirstClose's existing MeridianLink partnership to help support lenders that manage home equity originations within their mortgage division.

NATIONAL NEWS (JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) -- Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter®), an innovative leader in mortgage technology, today announced its latest point-of-sale (POS) release, bringing document validation powered by Aiva Intelligence to the earliest stage of the lending process. By validating borrower documents at upload instead of later in the review process, lenders can identify issues sooner, provide immediate guidance to borrowers and reduce downstream conditions and rework.

NATIONAL NEWS (DENVER, Colo.) -- ACES Quality Management® (ACES), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, announced the release of its quarterly ACES Mortgage QC Industry Trends Report covering Q1 of 2026. The report analyzes post-closing quality control data derived from the ACES Quality Management & Control® software.

NATIONAL NEWS (ATLANTA, Ga.) -- Down Payment Resource (DPR), the housing industry's leading affordability intelligence platform, today announced that Brad Cardwell, vice president of sales and business development, has been named to The Mortgage Collaborative's (TMC) Partner Advisory Council. The council brings together TMC's preferred partners to promote fair, transparent and efficient practices through open dialogue and coordinated initiatives.

NATIONAL NEWS (SEATTLE, Wash.) -- Friday Harbor, an AI pre-underwriting platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, today announced expanded support for non-qualified mortgage (non-QM) and other non-agency lending programs, enabling lenders to evaluate a broader range of complex borrower scenarios against investor-specific guidelines before underwriting.

NATIONAL NEWS (ATLANTA, Ga.) -- Down Payment Resource (DPR), the housing industry's leading affordability intelligence platform, today announced it has earned a spot on the 2026 Inc. 5000 list of the nation's fastest-growing privately owned companies after achieving significant revenue growth from 2022 to 2025. DPR was also honored on the 2023 and 2025 Inc. 5000 lists.

NATIONAL NEWS (PLANO, Texas) -- Optimal Blue today released its July 2026 Market Advantage mortgage data report, which found that mortgage activity softened as rising rates weighed on both purchase and refinance demand. Total rate-lock volume declined 11% month over month (MoM) but remained 5% above July 2025.

NATIONAL NEWS (VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.) -- Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group LLC (Atlantic Bay) is proud to announce it has been recognized among Hampton Roads' Top Workplaces by the Virginian-Pilot. The annual recognition honors employers that create exceptional workplace experiences, with recipients determined through confidential employee survey feedback.

NATIONAL NEWS (PLANO, Texas) -- Optimal Blue today announced the general availability of Virtual Economist, the first on-demand forecasting tool for mortgage capital markets leaders powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML). Revealed in beta at the annual Optimal Blue Summit in February 2026, Virtual Economist is now available to all Optimal Blue Product, Pricing, and Eligibility (PPE) Engine and CompassEdge clients at no added cost.

NATIONAL NEWS (COMMERCE TOWNSHIP, Mich.) -- Halo Programs, formerly Continuity Programs, today announced the launch of self-service online registration across its industry-specific CRM and relationship marketing platforms serving mortgage lenders, real estate brokerages and residential contractors. Professionals can now activate an account in a few clicks, eliminating the wait for a sales call before getting started.

NATIONAL NEWS (NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.) -- Argyle, the leading consumer-permissioned verification platform, today announced two executive promotions-longstanding leaders stepping into expanded roles, backed by deep product knowledge built from growing within the company. John Hardesty has been named chief revenue officer and Daniel Esquibel has been promoted to vice president of mortgage.

NATIONAL NEWS (LOS ALTOS, Calif.) -- JazzX AI, an enterprise AI company purpose-built for the mortgage industry, today announced that Kunal Patel, head of AI platform and products, has been named to HousingWire's Insiders list for 2026. The annual Insiders award recognizes the behind-the-scenes operational leaders who are vital to their organizations' success and driving innovation across mortgage and real estate.

NATIONAL NEWS (GARDEN GROVE, Calif.) -- Informative Research (IR), a leading technology provider of data-driven credit and verification solutions for the lending industry, today announced the launch of the next iteration of AccountChek®, its flagship verification solution. Rebuilt from the ground up and unified with the IR Verification Platform, AccountChek is designed to scale as lenders' verification needs evolve and is expected to deliver faster performance, improved reliability and a smoother borrower experience.

NATIONAL NEWS (ATLANTA, Ga.) -- Down Payment Resource (DPR), the housing industry's leading technology for connecting homebuyers with homeownership programs, today released its Q2 2026 Homeownership Program Index (HPI) report, identifying 2,746 programs nationwide. The total represents an increase of 67 programs from Q1 2026, reflecting continued expansion of resources designed to improve affordability and access to homeownership, and is a new survey high.

NATIONAL NEWS (GARDEN GROVE, Calif.) -- Informative Research (IR), a leading technology provider of data-driven credit and verification solutions for the lending industry, today announced the promotion of Ajay Trilokeshwaran to chief technology officer (CTO). In his new role, Trilokeshwaran will lead the company's product and technology execution, overseeing platform development, application engineering, infrastructure and cloud strategy to support business growth.

NATIONAL NEWS (SEATTLE, Wash.) -- Friday Harbor, an AI pre-underwriting platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, today announced support for USDA loans. The new capability enables lenders to identify documentation gaps, eligibility issues and changes that require updated Guaranteed Underwriting System (GUS) findings before loan files reach underwriting, helping reduce rework and deliver a more predictable path to closing for both lending teams and borrowers.

NATIONAL NEWS (SAN DIEGO, Calif.) -- The Mortgage Collaborative (TMC), the nation's largest independent cooperative network for mortgage lenders, today released results from its June 2026 Pulse of the Network survey. The biannual survey gathered input from mortgage lenders, including independent mortgage banks, credit unions and depository institutions, on strategic priorities heading into the second half of 2026.