eNote, Non-Agency, Spec Pay-Up, Processing, Hedging Tools; UAD 3.6 Paused; Agency Pricing Changes
Welcome to the 4th quarter. Remember when, in 2024, the informal slogan for many in our biz was, “Stay alive ‘til ’25!”? (’27 isn’t expected to be heaven.) This is the month of Halloween. Suddenly residential lending is filled with tricks or treats, along with conferences of varying value. People are on the move: the jobs section of this Commentary has been filled with transitions and promotions. On a larger scale, the pace of company changes is picking up. Just when people are wondering if the shift into non-Agency products is becoming “long in the tooth,” New York Life Investment Management is taking majority control of Invictus Capital Partners, the company behind Verus. The asset manager has $838 billion under management, and Verus is already having its biggest securitization year yet with about $8.9 billion across 14 deals in 2026. Meanwhile, in Agency news, keeping track of 38-year-old FHFA Director Bill Pulte’s tweets, impacting thousands of lenders and millions of borrowers, has become a full-time job. “Fannie and Freddie are hereby moving to one pricing grid with VantageScore joining the existing FICO Classic pricing grid.” But wait! The FHFA and Fannie and Freddie announced (here and here) that approved lenders may apply for a temporary exception to the November 2nd, Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) 3.6 appraisal delivery deadline, “a move that follows concerns MBA and its members raised with the GSEs about readiness across the broader appraisal ecosystem.” (Today’s podcast can be found here. This week’s ‘casts are presented by Gateless, intelligent automation that gives you the competitive edge. Gateless solutions reduce costs, deliver a superior borrower experience, and mitigate risk by automating tasks and decisions historically made by people. Today’s has an interview with Gateless’ Mike Brown on how AI is overcoming legacy technology and operational friction to improve risk management, accelerate time-to-close, demonstrate ROI, and ultimately enable a scalable “no-touch” underwriting experience.)
Lender and Brokers Products, Services, and Software
Mortgage companies know that volatility is the enemy of profit margin. Big market swings can introduce basis between loans and hedges, causing underperformance. Options can protect against this outcome, reduce downside risk, and allow mortgage companies to participate in positive price movements of underwritten loans due to favorable rate movements. CME Group’s Eris Options are transparent, centrally cleared instruments, offering mortgage companies easier access to options-based hedging with efficient risk-based margining and no upfront premium payment. If you're hedging an MSR portfolio or agency and non-QM origination, Eris Options are worth adding to your toolkit. Learn how Eris SOFR Swap futures and Eris Options can help stabilize earnings and improve execution by reaching out to John Douglas (Director Mortgage).
“Meet with the ICE team in the Windy City during the 2026 MBA Annual Convention and Expo. You’ll find our team of mortgage technology experts at Ocean Prime restaurant, located at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Upper Wacker, just around the corner from the convention at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Stop by to learn more about the advancements we’re making to MSP® to help servicers operate with less friction, lower costs, and build stronger customer retention. Can't make it to MBA Annual? Schedule a demo to see how ICE can transform your servicing operations. No reservation required.”
Uncle Ben warned Peter Parker that with great power comes great responsibility. He never had to manage a warehouse line. There are only two ways to make more money in mortgages: create more production or take on more risk. Going non-delegated starts with risk, and production can follow, because you become a broker with mortgage banker power. You close in your own name, unlocking better pricing, secondary market access, and your own brand. The responsibility is compliance, warehouse costs, and staffing calls that decide everything. NMP's CEO, Andrew Berman and Drey Roberts, Primis Bank EVP and President of Warehouse Lending, host Tyler Flora, CEO of SunnyHill Financial, and Lamont Harris Jr., CEO of Harris Capital Mortgage Group, in The Risks And Rewards Of Going Non-Del, an NMP Ignite Session on Tuesday, October 6 at 1 PM ET / 10 AM PT. Register here. Radioactive spider not required.
Agency has automated underwriting. Non-Agency now has LoanPASS AUS. Purpose-built for non-Agency and portfolio lending, LoanPASS AUS is officially here and provides deterministic, rules-based automated underwriting to the loans that traditional agency AUS platforms weren't designed to handle. (DSCR • non-QM • Bank Statement • Bridge/RTL • Construction • Portfolio • Multifamily • Reverse • Specialty • HELOC). LoanPASS AUS gives lenders the ability to automate complex underwriting decisions while maintaining the control, transparency, and auditability their credit policies demand. Schedule time with LoanPASS to see firsthand how lenders can move from manual underwriting and fragmented guidelines to decisions that are predictable, explainable, auditable, and controlled. Private demonstrations will be held throughout MBA Annual at the CitizenM Hotel, including a look at how LoanPASS uses AI to help build and maintain lending systems while keeping production credit decisions deterministic. Contact Bill Mitchell, CRO or Nomi Smith, SVP at LoanPASS.io.
Your 2027 vendor strategy deserves more than a renewal. Before you sign another contract, ask a bigger question: Is your current vendor mix actually making lending easier? Multiple providers can mean multiple contracts, disconnected systems, scattered support, and more for your team to manage. SettlementOne offers another approach. Bring essential credit, data, and verification solutions together through one experienced partner, with connected technology and support built around your business. That includes expertise helping lenders navigate credit score modernization, a key part of any 2027 strategy, by implementing VantageScore 4.0 and FICO® Score 10T. If you’re evaluating vendors and pricing for 2027, now is the time to see what could work better. Cheryl Kenney, SVP of Sales & Marketing, will be at MBA Annual in Chicago, October 11–14. Before you renew what you have, see what SettlementOne can bring to the table. Connect with Cheryl in Chicago.
Spec pay-ups haven't stabilized after the March 2026 drop-off, and they continue to slide. MCT's proprietary look at implied spec values across LLB buckets from 85 to 450 shows the retreat that began in late August compounding through September, with pay-ups giving back as much as 0.50 to 0.70 in implied value from where the window started and no clear bottom. In MCT's blog post, How Spec Pay-Up Changes Impact Front-End Pricing, Sarah Hellman, Director of Lender Analytics at MCT, breaks down how these premiums flow through to borrower pricing and the impact of lenders passing along too much of the pay-up. She also covers how Lender Analytics Advanced tracks spec trends, pipeline exposure, and peer pricing so capital markets teams can react before the loss shows up on the P&L. Get the full breakdown on spec pay-ups and front-end pricing before the next move catches you off guard.
Heading to Chicago for MBA Annual? Book a meeting with Planet to explore non-Agency solutions built around the way you do business. Planet’s Correspondent Non-Agency program offers operational flexibility and support from underwriting through servicing, with delegated or non-delegated delivery options based on each loan and your business needs. Before loan submission, leverage our scenario desk for bank statement income calculations, non-warrantable condo approvals, and quick evaluations of complex lending scenarios. Forward commitments, flexible reliance letter options, and rated residential and commercial servicing platforms provide the flexibility and specialized expertise to support your non-Agency business at every stage of the loan lifecycle. Connect with your Regional Sales Manager, SVP Correspondent Sales Jason Mac Gloan at MBA Annual (843-625-6869) or schedule your meeting today.
eNotes are becoming a critical advantage in modern closings, promising faster delivery and fewer defects. Lenders face the daunting task of planning for a fully digital process… but what if they didn’t have to? Using NotaryCam’s “Done for You” program, title and settlement providers can deliver eClosings without disrupting lenders’ established workflows. Lenders send documents to their title partners, who then submit requests to NotaryCam. The loan package is uploaded and tagged. Finally, NotaryCam generates an eNote and deposits it in a designated eVault. This allows title and settlement agents to meet lenders where they are while providing consistent, compliant signing experiences for lenders and borrowers. Schedule time with NotaryCam President Brian Webster and Suzanne Singer at the ALTA ONE conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, Oct. 12-15, to explore how eNotes can fit seamlessly into your closing operations. Not attending? Reach out to Suzanne directly for the details.
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.
Capital Markets
Plenty of those in the capital markets will be happy to see September in the rearview mirror. Unswayed by the Treasury announcing plans to purchase up to $6 billion of bonds today, the bond market endured a steady, catalyst-light selloff yesterday, driven less by fundamentals than by technical and flow-driven selling that accelerated once key yield levels broke. Economic data offered conflicting signals: the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, Core PCE, undershot expectations at 3.0 percent year over year. Meanwhile, personal spending surged 0.9 percent, ADP rose 90k, and Q2 GDP was revised sharply higher to 2.2 percent, yet none of it materially altered the market’s direction. Instead, yields rose again, continuing the yield curve's bear-steepening, with the 2s10s spread finishing around +40-basis points.
MBS also weakened, with prices down roughly .250 and spreads modestly wider, although 15s/30s outperformed and late-day recovery softened the overall damage. The current coupon rose 5-basis points to 6.40 percent amid elevated trading volumes. Duration, rather than spread, drove the session, with technical selling proving capable of sustaining itself. Today’s Treasury buyback and tomorrow’s payrolls report stand out as the next potential market catalysts.
For now, nearly every Fed President is speaking. We kicked off with initial jobless claims (197k, and very close to the 4-week moving average… the labor market is fine; continuing claims was 1.70 million). Later today brings September S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing PMI, August Construction Spending, and September ISM Manufacturing Index. Markets will also receive remarks from Richmond Fed President Barkin, Boston Fed President Collins, Kansas City Fed President Schmid, Fed Governor Waller, Fed Governor Jefferson, Fed Governor Bowman, New York Fed President Williams, Fed Governor Cook, Dallas Fed President Logan, and ECB President Lagarde. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices nearly unchanged from Wednesday’s close, the 2-year yielding 4.86, and the 10-year yielding 5.29 after closing yesterday at 5.30 percent, up 56-basis points for the month of September.