Borrower Analysis, 1st Lien HELOC, Ginnie eNote Products; Webcasts Approaching; NEXA/UMortgage Deal
“People make their wealth out of one investment. People keep their wealth by diversifying their investments.” Owning mortgage servicing rights has created wealth for many companies, and STRATMOR’s current blog is, “Those Monthly Payments Go Somewhere.” I am glad that all my 401(k) isn’t in Agency shares: Fannie Mae’s stock is down 42 percent this year, and Freddie’s is down 45 percent. Although there is a steady stream of informal communication, things have been somewhat quiet formally from the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte and the FHFA in recent weeks. Recall that before he left his post at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, he made another round of personnel cuts. (Pulte was tapped to lead ODNI following the departure of DNI Tulsi Gabbard.) That ended last week as Fannie Mae parted ways with at least 10 high-ranking officials. Pulte’s FHFA is mum, but word of the senior departures spread across the industry Friday, creating worries that Fannie’s ability to provide stability to prices and activity could be hampered. Our housing market doesn’t need instability. (Today’s podcast can be found here. This week’s ‘casts are sponsored by Experian. From lenders and landlords to employers and consumers, Experian helps connect the housing ecosystem with the data and insights needed to make faster, confident decisions. Lead a smarter housing journey with Experian. Today’s has an interview with Tidalwave’s Chris McLendon on why the question lenders should ask isn't "does it use AI?" It's "can you prove the answers are right?")
Lender and Broker Software, Products, and Services
Affordability pressure doesn't disappear when the loan closes. It comes back later as repurchase risk. Your borrowers are stretched, leaving less room for errors in the file. Truework, a Checkr company, verifies income, employment, and assets before you close, replacing error-prone processes with fast, automated reports pulled directly from sources. Lenders see up to 50 percent cost savings on verifications, with faster turn times and higher accuracy. Learn more.
The next generation of mortgage lenders won’t compete based on who has the most AI tools. They'll compete based on who has built the most intelligent enterprise. JazzX AI digital assistants don’t just automate steps, they coordinate complex decisions end-to-end across processing, underwriting, QC, and servicing. Every finding is reasoned against your guidelines and overlays, continuously reassessed as new information arrives, and cited to the specific policy that produced it. The result: lower cost per loan, faster decisions, and higher loan quality. Book a demo with our team to see how top lenders are preparing for what's next with JazzX.
An eClosing may be digital, but the collateral still has a long life after the borrower signs. Ginnie Mae eNotes must remain controlled through pooling, servicing transfers, modifications, assumptions, payoffs, and charge-offs. BSI Financial is now approved by Ginnie Mae as both an eIssuer and eSubservicer under the Digital Collateral Program, with initial authority to issue up to 1,000 eNotes. That gives FHA, VA, and USDA lenders another path to scale digital collateral without building every downstream servicing and control process in-house. BSI can create Ginnie Mae eNotes and Loan Packages and service loans held in Digital Pools and Loan Packages, helping maintain the digital chain of control throughout the asset lifecycle. Digital collateral should expand your options after closing, not create a new operational constraint. Learn how BSI can support your Ginnie Mae eNote strategy from issuance through payoff. Contact Allen Price or Cindy Silva at 972-755-3324.
Looking for a Jumbo ARM product that can help you win more business? Many top producers at the premier IMBs are utilizing the recently enhanced 1st lien HELOC powered by Rhyze. Delivered through a fully delegated correspondent channel, loan officers at the nation’s largest IMBs can now offer line amounts up to $1.5M with the confidence of agency underwriting standards. A full 10-year draw window, with an IO period to match, and rates that win over most Jumbo ARM products available. Differentiate yourself by offering your clients a True HELOC in 1st-lien position, giving them the sophisticated financial flexibility they desire. Better product, rates, and experience for your client. Better pricing and brand reputation for you. To confirm your access, discuss a scenario, or learn how to win more business with a True HELOC, email us directly for fast response.
The mortgage industry loves talking about “modern borrowers.” LenderLogix looked at what they actually do. In its free LiteSpeed Borrower Behavior Report, LenderLogix analyzed 3,000 recent mortgage applications to better understand how borrowers move through the digital mortgage experience. The data challenges some familiar assumptions: 88.5% of LiteSpeed applications were completed in under 30 minutes, 56.83% were completed on mobile, and 72.77% of borrowers uploaded documents within 24 hours. The takeaway? Modern borrowers are not avoiding the mortgage application. They are avoiding friction. Read the free report to see what real application behavior reveals about completion speed, mobile usage, document upload activity, and early borrower momentum. Access the report here!
Chrisman Demo Day is a free perk for all Chrisman Marketplace members. If you're a technology or service provider and haven't joined the Marketplace yet, reach out to Jake Perkins at info@chrismancommentary.com to learn more.
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.
Webcasts and Training Coming Soon
If you’re doing non-QM loans, handling the calculations for deposit-based income is a time-consuming process that can be a breeding ground for errors. Join Cotality on September 16 at 11 a.m. PT for a 45-minute webinar around Using Cash Flow Analysis to support non-QM underwriting. During this session, we will highlight how new tools can help you automate many steps of the deposit-based income process, saving you hours of processing time and greatly reducing the chance of income calculation errors. Register today and see how you can take the hassle out of deposit-based income calculations.
Now Next Later is today at 10AM PT. Jeremy Potter is joined by Marvin Chang for a midyear look at the mortgage industry. The conversation explores the biggest trends from the past six months, how lenders are navigating AI deployment, and predictions for where the industry is headed over the next six months. With a little summer fun mixed in, the goal is to give listeners practical insights and inside perspective they can use to game plan their next business decisions.
Tomorrow at 10AM PT is Mortgages with Millennials when Kristin Messerli and Robbie Chrisman and Kristin Messerli are joined by Josip Rupena for a conversation on how innovation is expanding access to homeownership. The discussion explores alternative financing methods, underwriting nontraditional assets, the evolving role of crypto as an asset class, and the growing range of mortgage products designed to meet the needs of today's borrowers.
Join CondoAnalytics and special guest Jodi Horne, Principal at Fannie Mae on Wednesday, August 25th, at 1:00 PM CT for an educational webinar designed to explain FNMA’s condo requirements, why they matter, and how associations and management companies can better prepare for the lender review process.
Join MMLA on Tuesday, August 25th from 12:00 – 1:30 PM for the fourth session of their UAD Lunch & Learn series. They’ve secured exclusive access to expert speakers from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to give you the insider edge you need to stay ahead of the curve.
More Mergers and Acquisitions
Another day, another consolidation deal between two IMBs. This time, it’s ‘mega broker’ NEXA, who has acquired UMortgage, a $2B originator lead by industry veteran Anthony Casa.
Garth Graham, Senior Partner at the STRATMOR Group, writes, “NEXA owner Mike Kortas is doing a lot of deals, and is getting so big it’s hard to refer to NEXA as a broker. In the last 6 months, Mike Kortas has launched evoLend to retain servicing, the online real estate platform FSBO.com, and launched an AI centered Point of Sale system to support originators. Volume has doubled to over $12B in the past two years, and that is before the UMortgage deal.
“Normally you don’t expect a broker (even if a mega broker) to buy a mortgage banker, but NEXA already has been using their warehouse lines extensively in the last year and has many of the elements of the typical Mortgage Banker. Last year there were 40 consolidation deals in the industry, and based on our STRATMOR deal pipeline, it sure does not appear to be slowing down anytime soon.” Thank you, Garth.
Capital Markets
The Treasury market is increasingly confronting the limits of policy intervention in the face of deeper fiscal pressures. An initial rally sparked by the Trump administration’s expansion of long-end buybacks quickly faded by the end of last week as investors questioned whether Treasury can meaningfully suppress long-term yields simply by changing the maturity mix of its borrowing. Buybacks can improve liquidity and influence the supply of duration, but they cannot fix a $1.8 trillion annual deficit, a debt load above $40 trillion, or rapidly rising interest costs. This indicates a broader loss of confidence: the dollar has weakened, gold has rallied, and investors increasingly view fiscal deterioration as the dominant force shaping asset prices.
Several forces are now keeping long-term yields elevated: resilient economic activity, the possibility that AI-driven productivity lifts the economy’s equilibrium real rate, persistent fiscal deficits, higher global rates, diminished demand for Treasuries as a safe haven, and heavy corporate bond issuance competing for duration capital. That leaves the market in the awkward balancing act of an uncertain Federal Reserve reaction function, coupled with the increased risk of chasing yields higher if growth suddenly cracks or financial conditions tighten enough to force intervention. The Treasury market may be transitioning from one where policymakers can meaningfully manage long-term rates through technical interventions to one where credibility itself increasingly determines equilibrium yield levels.
Capital-markets technology is increasingly ripe for stack-wide automation because fragmented systems cannot manage increasingly complex pricing, execution, locking, selling, and hedging decisions as one integrated process. As margin economics become commoditized, competitive advantage should shift toward reducing the cost, lag time, and human effort across the mortgage value chain. There's definitely a shift toward AI as a mechanism for continuously automating decisions and execution, particularly in hedging because better automation directly improves risk management. Ultimately, secondary marketing desks are moving from software that reports and recommends to software that decides and executes, with humans handling the exceptions.
Without any releases of note on today’s economic calendar, tomorrow brings the FHFA Housing Price Index and S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index, followed by New Home Sales and Consumer Confidence, with a two-year Treasury auction later in the day. Wednesday is the busiest session of the week, featuring the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, the second estimate of second-quarter GDP and its deflator, Personal Income and Spending (expected to show resilient consumer demand), PCE and Core PCE inflation (should point to easing underlying price pressures), Durable Orders, crude oil inventories, and a five-year Treasury auction. Thursday centers on Jobless Claims, advance trade and inventory data, and a seven-year Treasury auction. Friday closes the week with Chicago PMI and the final University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment reading. Jackson Hole will also be in focus, with Chair Warsh likely to emphasize the Fed's longer-term policy framework and task force priorities.
We begin the week with Agency MBS prices better than Friday’s close by about .125, depending on maturity and coupon, the 2-year yielding 4.23, and the 10-year yielding 4.71 after closing last week at 4.74 percent, up four-basis points over the course of last week.