HELOC AI, Doc Analysis, Home Equity POS Products; L1 rebrand; Delinquencies Impact Rates; Live RESPA Panel

People who say that residential lending and the state or federal governments aren’t intertwined have to look no further than the CFPB.  Their new office spaces fit 550. There are 1,100 currently. They will get there? Theoretically only Congress can actually shut down the CFPB, in the Senate with 60 or more votes, and the CFPB is still functioning with a regulatory agenda… which doesn’t include RESPA! 1974’s RESPA could be too tough to eliminate, especially Section 8, the anti-kickback provision and no one wants to come out against that. On today’s Mortgage Law Today (3 PM ET), presented by Polunsky Beitel Green, panelists will have a debate on the future of RESPA Section 8, examining whether the regulation still serves its intended purpose or if the mortgage industry would be better served by reform. Join Phillip Schulman, Senior Counsel at Mayer Brown, and Suzanne Garwood, Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase, join Brian Levy, Loretta Salzano, and Marty Green. Tomorrow, on Lender One’s Mortgage Matters at 11AM PT, NewFed’s Chief Strategy Officer Rick Scherer, CMB, will address tech-driven innovation, setting and implementing strategy, and companies striving to grab market share. (Today’s podcast can be found here. This week’s ‘casts are sponsored by JazzX, the first true end-to-end AI platform built for mortgage. From application to underwriting, JazzX is a new operating model that helps you scale growth, boost productivity, and transform how your team performs. Today’s has an interview with Climative’s Winston Morton on turning homeowner demand for energy and resilience upgrades into qualified financing opportunities.)

Lender and Broker Software, Products, and Services

Did you know the world’s loudest human shout was just recorded in Australia? Joseph McGrail-Bateup, who happens to be an honorary town crier, hit 122.4 decibels yelling the word “now.” Funniest part of the story: he said there was no way to practice for it. It took him seven tries just to get the one word right, and his voice was shot for days afterward. While that’s a fine way to set a world record, the home equity application process shouldn’t require nearly as much pain or effort. That’s the thinking behind XpressEquity, FirstClose’s home equity-specific point-of-sale (POS) platform, where borrowers answer a handful of questions and walk away with a real pre-approval decision before they can overthink it. Lenders using it have seen application volume increase by 40 percent, with completion rates reaching 50 percent, because the process works the same way every time, no warm-up needed. See how XpressEquity works.

“When it comes to subservicing, you need a partner that truly understands the challenges lenders face. As both a regulated bank and servicer, Servbank has firsthand knowledge of those pressures, allowing them to deliver meaningful, reliable service. A key part of that experience is the SIME servicing portal. SIME (short for Servicing Intelligence Made Easy) is built to be intuitive and easy to navigate. It provides real-time access to your data, whether you’re using standard reports or building your own. Either way, you get transparent, actionable insights when you need them. It’s just one of the reasons Servbank maintains a 99 percent customer satisfaction rate. Partner with us today.”

Truework, a Checkr Company, is the unified income, employment, and asset verification platform built for mortgage lenders, replacing slow, manual processes with fast and automated reports pulled directly from payroll providers and other authoritative data sources. Lenders see up to 50 percent cost savings on verifications, with faster turn times and higher accuracy. Trusted by 4 of the top 5 lenders in the US, Truework delivers verification results your team can rely on. Learn more.

PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending, a subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH), offers funding for multiple mortgage products and programs with little to no additional requirements. FNMA HomeStyle, FHA 203K Full, Limited, and USDA Rural Housing renovation loans. Mortgage Revenue Bond and DPA loans with extended dwell times. Sub Limits for lower FICO scores, manufactured homes, renovation, construction and other unique mortgage products and programs. With over 30 years’ experience and a well-capitalized diversified financial holding company we provide our customers with confidence to meet their loan funding needs. If you are interested in learning more about PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending, please contact Deric Barnett at (469)955-6786.

RIN AI Agent analyzes & actions mortgage docs in 45 seconds! CANDID's RIN AI agent, backed by groundbreaking Documents-as-a-Command ("DaaC") technology, reads a borrower's mortgage docs, actions every issue, and takes the next step automatically. That first pass costs a skilled loan officer assistant 20 to 45 minutes, and even longer for self-employed borrowers. Drop 30 documents in at once: RIN AI Agent classifies every one, labels each with the details that matter, and catches what usually surfaces only when an underwriter pushes back, such as an unexplained large deposit, expired DLs, a missing bank statement page, or a password-locked PDF. Then it DMs the borrower to fix each issue in seconds. When a purchase contract drops, RIN AI Agent reads it, pulls the listing and buyer's agents' contact info, purchase price, and title or escrow contact, writes them into the Prospect record, and even orders the title. It alerts the LO. Nobody is at a desk, yet the loan moves anyway. Run that across your pipeline: the same team, far more volume, and borrowers who never wait. How RIN AI Agent does it safely and natively in CANDID is worth a conversation. Schedule a Discovery call.

“Your HELOC Pipeline Is Leaving Money on the Table. Most lenders treat data enrichment and AI engagement as separate tools. Total Expert combines them on a single platform, and the results speak for themselves. One top ten lender used Customer IQ to enrich their entire servicing book with current credit and equity data to identify HELOC-ready consumers. Then, AI Sales Assistant stepped in to engage homeowners, gauge interest, pre-populate applications, and connect customers with an originator. The result? 450 HELOC originations in the first two weeks. Total Expert doesn't just bolt generic AI onto existing stacks, we provide mortgage-trained AI with the necessary context to engage customers in personalized conversations that lead to positive financial outcomes. Total Expert identifies, surfaces, and qualifies opportunities at scale so lending team can focus on building relationships and closing deals. See how Total Expert can do the same for your servicing book.”

The Chrisman Marketplace is a centralized hub for vendors and service providers across the industry to be viewed by lenders in a very cost-effective manner. We’re adding new providers daily, so check back often to see what’s new. To reserve your place or learn more, contact us at info@chrismancommentary.com.

Lenders One Refreshes its Brand

Lenders One Cooperative, a national alliance of independent mortgage bankers, community banks and credit unions, managed by a subsidiary of Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. announced the launch of its refreshed brand identity. “The new brand refresh represents an important step forward for Lenders One as it continues to grow in scale, influence, and market relevance. With L1 members originating approximately 20 percent of mortgages in the United States, the new identity reflects the strength of the Lenders One network and reinforces its commitment to helping independent mortgage lenders expand opportunities, strengthen their businesses, and compete more effectively in a changing market.”

Rick Seehausen, President of Lenders One, noted, “For more than two decades, Lenders One has been built on a simple but powerful idea: independent lenders, banks, and credit unions are stronger when they work together. Our refreshed brand gives us a modern and compelling way to tell that story while reinforcing the value Lenders One delivers to members every day.”

Developed under the creative direction of Edgard Negron, Vice President of Marketing at Altisource, the brand refresh includes an updated visual identity, refined messaging, and was designed to reflect L1’s future while preserving its member-first foundation.

Purchase Market Strategies

Your Next Purchase Client Could Be Worth 10 Loans! The next refinance boom isn't your growth strategy. The mortgage professionals winning today aren't waiting for rates to change. They're building businesses fueled by purchase transactions that become lifelong client relationships. One closing leads to a refinance, a HELOC, an investment property, referrals, and repeat business for years to come. Join NMP Ignite for Winning the Purchase Market in 2026, a live video event featuring candid conversations with top-producing mortgage professionals who are building referral-driven businesses in today's market. You'll learn practical strategies to strengthen Realtor relationships, overcome rate objections, create memorable follow-up systems, and turn every purchase into future opportunities. No consultants. No fluff. Just real mortgage professionals sharing what's working right now. Reserve your free seat today.

How Delinquencies Impact Rates

Severe delinquencies continue to rise sharply among FHA borrowers, reaching 5.4 percent versus just 1.8 percent for VA loans. Lower credit quality, recent FHA policy changes, and stress among 2024–2025 vintages are driving a growing pipeline of loans eligible for buyouts.

While new transitions into severe delinquency have begun to slow in lower-coupon pools, a large inventory of distressed FHA loans remains, creating potential opportunities for investors as servicers approach Ginnie Mae delinquency thresholds that can trigger mandatory buyouts at par, particularly among servicers with elevated concentrations of 90-day-plus delinquent loans. State-level Ginnie Mae performance data shows that severe delinquencies remain heavily concentrated among FHA borrowers, with the highest rates in Louisiana, Maryland, Georgia, and Illinois (and an exceptionally elevated level in Washington, D.C.), while VA delinquencies, though elevated, remain substantially lower overall.

Looking ahead, three-month roll rates indicate that states such as Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, and Maine are seeing the fastest migration of FHA borrowers into severe delinquency, while Mississippi, Vermont, Wyoming, Indiana, and D.C. stand out on the VA side, suggesting these regions are likely to experience higher mortgage buyout activity in the coming months. This is also evidence of the growing importance of geographic loan concentration in assessing Ginnie Mae pool performance and prepayment risk.

Capital Markets

What did we ever talk about when we didn’t have the Fed to wonder about? Despite a limited dose of data and a small slate of news yesterday, uncertainty grew over the Federal Reserve’s policy path and the near-term outlook for rates. Rising oil prices have renewed inflation concerns, pushing Treasury yields higher, and leaving mortgages looking less appetizing to investors. Yields on 10-year and 30-year Treasuries are within 10-basis points of their respective 2026 highs from early May; the 2-year yield is also 10-basis points from its 2026 high, which was notched just last week.

Money market funds managing more than $8 trillion have concentrated on very short-duration securities, preserving the flexibility to reinvest at higher yields should inflation or Fed policy turn more restrictive. Putting a bow on yesterday, hawkish rhetoric from Fed Chair Warsh and an uptick in Treasury supply squashed any chance of a meaningful rally in the bond market. Agency MBS have continued to drift modestly weaker, with the broad MBS index losing excess return despite (relatively) stable Treasury yields and historically subdued volatility. Fannie Mae 20-year and 15-year securities continue to outperform, while valuations suggest Agency MBS remain modestly cheap relative to both Treasuries and investment-grade corporates, particularly Ginnie Mae 30-year and Fannie Mae 15-year pools. Select higher-coupon, newer-vintage specified pools have been offering attractive relative value. Mortgage rates have edged higher and duration has remained stable; renewed geopolitical tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz warrant caution as they could reignite volatility and pressure fixed-income markets. It is safe to assume that Redbook same store sales won’t be a market-mover when they are released today. With no data of note on today’s economic calendar, we begin the day with Agency MBS prices unchanged from Monday’s close, the 2-year yielding 4.21, and the 10-year yielding 4.60 after closing Monday at 4.60 percent.