Ralo, an AI-native mortgage broker founded by two former Google employees, has raised a $2.9 million seed round to expand its automated home loan platform, which the company says delivers interest rates below the national average and closes loans in roughly half the industry’s typical timeline. Co-founders Arjun Lalwani and Helly Shah, who met while […]
Today, Kevin Warsh finished presiding over his first meeting as Federal Reserve chair, and boy, it was interesting to say the least. Now, keep in mind that I’m the only person on Earth who had #AnyOneButWarsh, so my feelings are well known, but as always, I’m going to call it down the line on what […]
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a target range of 3.5% to 3.75%, marking its fourth consecutive pause as it enters the Kevin Warsh era. Monetary policy watchers, however, have changed their forecasts on the Fed’s next moves as they react to an economic landscape that has shifted dramatically […]
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) announced on Wednesday the expansion of its product lineup with the addition of Doctor Loans, a mortgage program designed for medical professionals who may face barriers to homeownership despite having strong income potential. Although medical professionals typically have strong long-term earning potential and stable career paths, many carry substantial student loan […]
Mortgage applications decreased 3.8% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending June 12, 2026. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 5% compared with the previous week. The refinance index decreased 5% from the previous week and was 17% higher than […]
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Director Bill Pulte are asking Congress for the power to bring civil lawsuits against individuals suspected of mortgage fraud. In its newest Annual Report to Congress, released Monday, the FHFA recommended new authority to directly sue for mortgage market fraud. This would allow the agency to file the […]
Social Security’s long-term financial outlook deteriorated significantly in the latest annual report from the program’s trustees, with officials projecting a larger funding shortfall and an earlier depletion date for the retirement trust fund. The 2026 Trustees Report estimates Social Security‘s 75-year funding gap at 4.42% of taxable payroll, up from 3.82% a year earlier. That […]
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) is asking the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to delay new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac condominium project and property insurance standards, set to begin taking effect in August, by at least 12 months. In a June 15 letter to FHFA Director Bill Pulte, the trade group warned […]
Home equity investment (HEI) company Hometap has introduced a new pricing structure that it says will lower the cost of accessing home equity and make its products more competitive with traditional borrowing options such as home equity lines of credit and home equity loans. The Boston-based financial technology company announced Tuesday that it is implementing […]
I launched a condo conversion community recently. Units priced between $90,000 and $140,000. Sold six in the first week. Five of the six were seller-financed. Not because the buyers preferred it. Because conventional lenders couldn’t touch them. FHA couldn’t touch them. These were people with real income, real savings and no path to a mortgage. […]
Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) have long been the gold standard product set for reverse mortgage originators, but they became a minority share of the market earlier this year as proprietary loan volume exceeded HECM volume in the first quarter of 2026. While private-label reverse mortgages offer advantages like lower upfront costs and larger loan […]
As lenders weigh how to adopt artificial intelligence under evolving fair lending and compliance expectations, Copperlane is pitching a full-fledged AI “employee” rather than another point solution. The startup, founded by 21-year-olds Athan Zhang and Brianna Lin, recently raised a $4.1 million seed round to build Penny, which the company describes as an autonomous AI […]
Two Harbors Investment Corp. said in a letter on Monday that UWM Holdings Corp. failed to submit a revised offer to buy the company or request to extend a waiver period to negotiate, leading the seller to urge shareholders to approve its sale to CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM). The waiver period, obtained after investor feedback and a recommendation from proxy advisory […]
New American Funding (NAF) is ramping up its push into reverse mortgages. It has grown its dedicated reverse division from three loan officers to 85 in the past three years as more senior homeowners look to tap into record levels of housing wealth. Shannon Robinson, senior vice president of NAF’s reverse division, is building a […]
Most people working in the mortgage industry today couldn’t pass a basic exam on the industry they work in. I was guilty of that myself, for my first several years originating loans. For me, it wasn’t because I didn’t have the aptitude or didn’t care. I cared, but about the things I knew would benefit […]
Copperlane, an AI-native mortgage origination platform, has raised $4.1 million in seed funding to scale an autonomous AI mortgage loan officer that aims to compress hours of document reviews into minutes, the company announced. The round was led by TQ Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator, US News Digital Ventures, Mercor, Valon Mortgage and others. […]
Guild Mortgage is advocating for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to adopt residual income analysis at scale through ongoing conversations and data sharing. The California-based lender has used this model since 2022 in its “Complete Rate Program” that’s available for government loans. Because Guild retains servicing and issues the loans in Ginnie Mae pools, the company is able to set its own […]
As reverse mortgage lenders and servicers find innovative ways to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into their operations, compliance issues are likely to pop up. Jim Brodsky, a founding member of Washington, D.C.-based law firm Weiner Brodsky Kider PC, says that AI should be categorized as an assistant but not a replacement for humans. Licensed mortgage […]
MISMO, the mortgage industry’s standards organization, launched a new artificial intelligence governance toolkit on Thursday, which is designed to help lenders, servicers and other housing finance companies manage AI-related risks while supporting innovation. The Framework for Responsible AI in the Mortgage Ecosystem, known as FRAME, is now available to MISMO member companies through MISMO Connect. […]
For many lenders, UAD 3.6 (Uniform Appraisal Dataset) may still feel like something the appraisal world needs to own and lenders only need to monitor, but that sentiment may leave some organizations underprepared. UAD 3.6 is not a back-office update. It is a meaningful shift in how appraisal data is structured, delivered and interpreted, and […]
Unlock Technologies completed a $358.5 million securitization backed by home equity agreements (HEAs), marking the company’s first transaction of 2026 and the largest HEA securitization completed in the market this year. The financial technology company announced on Tuesday that its Unlock HEA Trust 2026-1 transaction closed on May 21 and securitized approximately $358.5 million of […]
On Wednesday morning, Figure Technology Solutions announced it would acquire fix-and-flip lender Kiavi, a move executives say will add about 40% to Figure’s first-lien volume and extend its lead in real-world asset tokenization. The move marks Figure’s first acquisition and is expected to close in August, according to a company spokesperson. Under the agreement, Figure […]
Every mortgage AI demo this year ends the same way: the loan closes itself. The most valuable AI deployments in mortgage end differently, with the underwriter finishing in a fraction of the time what once took most of the day and still signing their name to the result. That gap, between what the industry is […]
Rocket Companies has priced the issuance of $1.5 billion in senior notes in an oversubscribed transaction, with proceeds to refinance an existing term loan, the company announced Tuesday. The Detroit-based parent of Rocket Mortgage priced $900 million in 6.125% senior notes due in 2031 and $600 million in 6.5% senior notes due in 2034. The […]
Figure Technology Solutions will acquire Kiavi in a $717 million deal that increases its exposure to real estate investor loans and the first-lien mortgage market, the companies announced Wednesday. Under the deal, Figure will acquire Kiavi’s technology and operating platform, while a joint venture between Figure and global investment firm Sixth Street will purchase Kiavi’s […]
PennyMac Financial Services Inc. announced on Tuesday that Tiffany To, the CEO and co-founder of AI and operational intelligence software company Ontollo, has joined its board of directors. David Spector, chairman and chief executive officer of PennyMac, said To’s experience in AI, business transformation and enterprise technology will help support the company’s continued investment in […]
Mortgage applications increased 10.8% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending June 5, 2026. Last week’s results included an adjustment for the Memorial Day holiday. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 21% compared with the previous week. The refinance index […]
Every technology adoption cycle reaches a point where the question shifts from “should we?” to “how fast can we?” In mortgage lending, AI has reached that moment. Lenders are deploying AI tools for document processing, income analysis, borrower communication and, increasingly, credit decisioning. The productivity gains are real, the efficiency improvements are measurable and the […]
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) on Tuesday announced the launch of a new member forum dedicated to reverse mortgages and other senior-focused mortgage products. The Senior Mortgage Solutions Network (SMSN) will provide MBA members a venue to discuss emerging trends, policy developments and business challenges tied to lending to older homeowners. Its scope includes Home […]
MISMO, the real estate finance industry’s standards organization, released an update to its Property and Valuation Services (PaVS) Procurement Dataset Specification on Tuesday, aiming to modernize how valuation services are ordered across the mortgage ecosystem. The updated specification replaces legacy form-based ordering with a standardized, data-driven framework for exchanging valuation service orders. It is designed […]
All 11 Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee have introduced legislation that would “automatically and fully fund” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, seeking to shield the agency from future funding cuts and political interference. The bill, introduced June 4 and led by Ranking Member Sen. Elizabeth Warren, would require mandatory transfers to the CFPB equal […]
Mortgage credit availability inched higher in May, driven by a modest loosening in jumbo loan programs, according to the Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) that analyzes data from ICE Mortgage Technology. The MCAI rose 0.1% to 108.0 in May. The index, which was benchmarked to 100 in March 2012, […]
Rocket Companies plans to issue $1.2 billion in debt, with proceeds earmarked to pay upcoming maturities and other debt obligations, the company announced Tuesday. The move comes as nonbank mortgage lenders continue to manage liability profiles built during the low-rate era and address “maturity walls” in 2025-2027. In this case, Rocket intends to sell $600 […]
Mortgage activity slowed in May as rising interest rates dampened both purchase and refinance demand, according to Optimal Blue‘s May 2026 Market Advantage report. The report, released Tuesday, found that total mortgage rate lock volume fell 9% from April, although it remained 7% higher than a year earlier. Purchase loans continued to dominate the market, […]
For decades, financial systems operated on a quiet assumption: most information entering the system was fundamentally real. Documents might arrive incomplete. Borrowers might omit details. Fraud existed at the margins. But lending infrastructure was built around a world where verification happened slowly enough for human judgment and institutional friction to absorb uncertainty. The system was […]
The nation’s housing shortage is often framed as a challenge for first-time buyers and growing families. But another group is increasingly feeling the impact — older homeowners who want to downsize yet find themselves with few practical options. Across the country, many seniors remain in large family homes long after their children have moved away. […]
Like many mortgage professionals, Vipul Hapani can see the wave of industry consolidation forming on the horizon and knows it is only a matter of time before it reaches his shores. As the broker-owner of Waxhaw, North Carolina-based Vema Mortgage—the third-largest brokerage originator in the U.S. in 2025, according to HousingWire Mortgage Rankings—Hapani hasn’t yet […]
Homeowners tapped their housing wealth at the fastest pace for any first quarter in four years as more borrowers turned to home equity loans and lines of credit instead of refinancing their existing mortgages, according to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)’s June 2026 ICE Mortgage Monitor report. The June report, released Monday — which tracks delinquency and […]
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday announced a $4.6 million settlement with California-based mortgage servicer Select Portfolio Servicing (SPS). Under the agreement, which is subject to court approval, SPS will pay $1.6 million in civil penalties and provide $3 million in consumer restitution to affected borrowers. The settlement also requires the company to overhaul […]
Two Harbors Investment Corp. postponed a special shareholder meeting to vote on its existing agreement to be acquired by CrossCountry Mortgage LLC. The delay will allow Two Harbors to solicit more votes while engaging directly with UWM Holdings Corp. (UWMC) on a potential all-cash acquisition proposal. The upcoming shareholder vote, originally scheduled for June 11, will now take place […]
In a 2026 mortgage market defined by higher-for-longer interest rates and softening home values, the traditional reverse mortgage playbook is facing headwinds. But top-producing originators are finding an avenue for growth by selling the product as a wealth management tool for affluent, asset-rich retirees rather than a lifeline of last resort. Gabe Bodner, a reverse […]
The share of first-time buyers in the U.S. housing market has fallen to 21%, the lowest on record. The historical norm is closer to 40%. That gap isn’t a blip, nor is it a rate-cycle artifact that corrects itself when the Fed moves. It’s a structural condition, and it sits at the root of why […]
President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration is still considering a public offering of shares in mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, despite naming the government’s top housing regulator to temporarily lead the nation’s intelligence agencies. Bloomberg reported that while speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One, Trump dismissed suggestions that plans […]
Mortgage Forward announced Friday that it has agreed to acquire the third-party origination (TPO) division of First Federal Bank, including QRL Financial, in a deal the companies say will expand Mortgage Forward’s national mortgage lending platform and broaden its product offerings. The companies confirmed that they have signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition, although […]
A former employee of the District of Columbia Housing Authority who later became a real estate developer has pleaded guilty to federal charges — stemming from a yearslong scheme to secure millions of dollars in financing from private mortgage lenders. The announcement was made by the office of Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the […]