Equifax will keep its $1 VantageScore 4.0 price in place through the end of 2027 as it pushes mortgage lenders to adopt the alternative credit score model, CEO Mark Begor told investors. The initiative was first launched in March, when the company also continued to offer free VantageScore 4.0 credit scores to mortgage, automotive, card and […]
HomeAdvantage has partnered with Valley First Credit Union to offer a real estate rewards program and cash-back incentives to the California credit union’s 80,000 members, the companies announced on Monday. Under the agreement, Valley First members will gain access to the HomeAdvantage Real Estate Rewards Program, which pairs homebuyers and sellers with a network of […]
As millions of homeowners remain locked into low mortgage rates, lenders are introducing new home equity products designed to help borrowers access accumulated equity without refinancing their first mortgages. This week, Gershman Mortgage and Truss Financial Group announced separate home equity offerings aimed at different borrower segments but built around the same premise: allowing homeowners […]
The pandemic wrought financial havoc across the economy, but its impact on the housing market was significantly reduced due to a whole-of-government response that enabled millions of families to stay in their homes. The rapid deployment of forbearance, the ability to pause mortgage payments and a slew of new options to modify distressed mortgages provided […]
Artificial intelligence has introduced hundreds of tools to the mortgage industry, but many lenders are still struggling with rising costs, fragmented workflows and inconsistent productivity. According to Siddhartha Agarwal, CEO of JazzX AI, the next phase of AI adoption isn’t about adding another application. It’s about creating an intelligence layer that works across existing mortgage […]
AD Mortgage has launched a public policy initiative aimed at increasing its engagement with federal and state policymakers on housing finance issues, beginning with recommendations to the Federal Housing Finance Agency regarding condominium financing. The initiative has already taken off running. In a July 1 policy letter addressed to Bill Pulte, director of the FHFA, […]
NEXA Lending CEO Mike Kortas said he has reached a global settlement with former business partner Mat Grella, ending a years-long legal battle over the ownership and control of the brokerage and several related entities. The agreement, reached in mediation and finalized on Monday, resolves “every single one” of the lawsuits between the two NEXA […]
Despite widespread confidence in employer-provided financial advisors and steady optimism about retiring on time, many Americans remain uncertain about whether they will be financially prepared for retirement. New surveys from NFP and Thrivent suggest rising living costs, economic uncertainty and concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) are making it harder for workers to turn retirement goals […]
Large banks posted double-digit mortgage volume growth in the second quarter of 2026 as a group, far outpacing industry forecasts and signaling that depositaries may be taking back some share from nonbank originators, according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts. The banks in KBW’s sample — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Truist, PNC, Fifth Third, […]
Finance of America (FOA) continues to be one of the main faces of the reverse mortgage industry. Last year, FOA was No. 2 nationally for Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements, and the publicly traded company will look to build on a strong first quarter when it releases its second-quarter earnings report on Aug. 4. […]
J.P. Morgan Asset Management has released its 2026 Defined Contribution (DC) Plan Participant Survey, finding that retirement plan participants — particularly younger workers — increasingly expect employers to provide more guidance and support as they plan for retirement. The biennial survey examines how participants engage with workplace retirement plans across different life stages and explores […]
A New Jersey homeowner has filed a lawsuit against Newrez LLC, dba Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing, alleging the company engaged in years of unfair mortgage servicing practices that deprived her of a meaningful opportunity to avoid foreclosure. The complaint, filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division in Essex County, was brought by homeowner […]
Union Home Mortgage Corp. (UHM) has acquired AmeriTrust Mortgage Corp. in an asset deal that closed in 45 days, boosting UHM’s exposure to the nonqualified mortgage (non-QM) market. Financial terms were not disclosed. “There have been long-term relationships between some of the senior executives on both sides,” UHM CEO Bill Cosgrove told HousingWire. “We are acquiring […]
RiskSpan has launched a new credit risk model designed for the expanding nonqualified mortgage (non-QM) market, adding to its existing prepayment modeling tools as investors seek more specialized analytics for the asset class. The company announced Friday the general availability of Credit Model 7.1, a model built specifically for non-QM loans and delivered through the […]
I have been thinking a lot about advocacy lately. Not the loud kind. Not the performative kind. Not the kind that tries to take credit for work that only happens when a lot of people come to the table. I am talking about the kind of advocacy that is harder to see from the outside, […]
loanDepot has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the lender of violating federal loan originator compensation rules, arguing that mortgage brokerage West Capital Lending (WCL) lacks standing to sue and is improperly trying to use consumer protection laws to pursue a competitive business dispute. In a reply brief filed Thursday in the […]
Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements for April showed that the nation’s top brokerages continued to originate federally insured reverse mortgages at higher or similar levels to their pace over the past year. That’s according to data released this week by Reverse Market Insight (RMI) and published by HECMWorld.com. Atlantic Avenue Mortgage remained on top […]
Carrington Mortgage Services announced Wednesday a key step in expanding its artificial intelligence strategy, selecting Kastle as its enterprise AI agent partner to automate servicing workflows and enhance borrower support. The partnership will bring Kastle’s AI agents into Carrington’s contact center and borrower-facing servicing operations, where the technology will handle high-volume interactions and provide quality […]
The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) concluded that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) could use direct payments to lenders as the primary tool in a forthcoming small-dollar mortgage pilot program, arguing it is the only approach likely to meaningfully increase originations of mortgages below $100,000. In a comment letter dated July 16 and addressed […]
Point on Thursday announced the completion of a $508.6 million rated securitization backed by home equity investment (HEI) assets, marking what the company says is the largest transaction in the HEI market to date. The transaction, which closed July 15, is Point‘s eighth rated securitization and its second of 2026. More than 30 institutional investors […]
Fairway Home Mortgage has launched Fairway SAFE (Senior Advocacy & Financial Education), a nonprofit initiative focused on helping seniors and their families recognize, prevent and respond to financial scams and exploitation, the company announced Wednesday. Fairway SAFE is positioned as an education and advocacy arm that will offer free programming, resources and partnerships aimed at […]
Last week Kelley Blue Book entered the real estate space by launching Kelley Blue Book Homes, a home valuation platform for consumers and another lead generation tool for real estate professionals. While Russ Cofano, a co-founder of Alloy Advisors feels that the industry “needs another lead generation platform like it needs a hole in the […]
Blue Sage Solutions has formed a strategic partnership with Kinective to simplify how banks and credit unions connect their digital mortgage lending technology to core banking and servicing systems, the companies announced Wednesday. New Jersey-based Blue Sage will use Kinective’s Gateway connectivity platform to standardize and streamline integrations between the Blue Sage Digital Lending Platform […]
Mortgage applications fell last week as borrowing costs increased, with the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage reaching its highest level in nearly a year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending July 10, 2026. Last week’s results included an adjustment for the Fourth of July […]
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM)’s 2021 move to bar its broker partners from also sending loans to Rocket Mortgage drove an average price decrease of 5 basis points per loan at companies not targeted by the policy, according to a new academic paper. The analysis, conducted by Spencer Stone of the University of Kentucky, looks at […]
Christy Soukhamneut In her new role, Soukhamneut will “partner with leaders across Stockton Mortgage to strengthen collaboration, simplify processes, improve efficiency, and drive innovation that supports the company’s long-term growth,” the company told HousingWire. In an interview with HousingWire, Soukhamneut said she found Stockton through a recruiter. She had taken a sabbatical from her last […]
Federal banking regulators on Monday issued guidance to remind financial institutions of their existing obligations for managing credit risk when lending to borrowers who are not legally authorized to work in the U.S. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) […]
Big banks exceeded analysts’ expectations for mortgage origination volume in the second quarter of 2026, posting an average increase of 32% compared to the prior three-month period. The strong performance from depository institutions brings a glimmer of hope for nonbank lenders that are set to report Q2 earnings in the coming weeks. “The banks’ second-quarter […]
Inflation slowed in June amid a now-defunct Middle East ceasefire, casting doubt on a potential Federal Reserve rate hike next week. The June Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis, following a 0.5% rise in May, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was the largest month-over-month decline since […]
AI in mortgage lending has evolved rapidly over the past two years, shifting from curiosity and experimentation to enterprise-wide operational transformation. Michael Vandi, founder and CEO of Addy AI, has spent the past several years working with mortgage lenders as mortgage AI adoption has evolved from experimentation to enterprise AI mortgage implementation. Vandi saw firsthand […]
Mortgage lenders continue to invest in AI, automation and digital transformation despite ongoing cost pressures. Yet many organizations still struggle to achieve the returns they expected. Larry Bailey, CEO of Mortgage Workflow Partners, said the problem isn’t the technology itself. It’s that lenders often implement new tools before fully understanding the workflows those tools are […]
Older adults with difficulty living independently are more likely to remain in their homes when states devote a larger share of long-term care spending to home- and community-based services, according to a new study. Researchers examined whether state investments in home- and community-based services — known as HCBS — were associated with changes in where […]
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) wants to drop “reputational harm” as a basis for suspending firms and individuals that do business with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. In a notice of proposed rulemaking published Monday in the Federal Register, the agency said removing the reputational-harm standard would “eliminate redundancy” and […]
AD Mortgage announced Monday that it completed its fifth non-QM residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transaction of 2026, issuing a $432.4 million securitization backed by more than 1,000 residential mortgages. The transaction, known as AD Mortgage Trust 2026-NQM5, is backed by a pool of 1,008 residential loans, with 99% of the mortgages originated by AD Mortgage […]
As financial anxiety climbs and Americans accumulate record amounts of home equity, estate planning is becoming a larger part of retirement and housing conversations, with reverse mortgages among the tools that senior homeowners can use to access the wealth tied up in their homes. Cody Barbo, co-founder and CEO of Trust & Will, said the company’s […]
Fifteen named plaintiffs allege that Veterans United Home Loans — the nation’s largest lender of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mortgages — ran an illegal kickback and steering scheme that funneled borrowers into overpriced loans. The accusations were reiterated Thursday in court filings as the plaintiffs opposed a motion to dismiss an amended complaint that […]
An analysis published Friday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) suggests that using a single randomly selected credit bureau score, rather than the current multiscore “decisioning” method, would have little effect on loan pricing or guarantee fee revenue for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). The MBA examined nearly 105,000 mortgage applications from the first half of […]
Washington says it wants to lower costs and expand access to credit. For millions of entrepreneurs, access to credit depends not only on the health of their businesses but also on their personal credit profiles. That is why regulatory decisions that make borrowing more complex or expensive deserve close scrutiny. Recent disclosures obtained through a […]
The multifamily capital stack is evolving. As elevated interest rates and tighter loan proceeds continue to reshape acquisition and refinancing strategies, investors are challenged by a market where senior loan proceeds and liquidity preservation are constrained. One effective solution is proprietary preferred equity behind Freddie Mac conventional loans. As demand for preferred equity Freddie Mac […]
The Federal Reserve on Thursday outlined a slate of five new task forces led by prominent academics and business leaders. They will scrutinize how the central bank communicates, manages its balance sheet, interprets data, evaluates productivity and jobs, and responds to inflation. The initiative, detailed in Fed press release, is aimed at advancing “the conduct […]
Three housing organizations sent a letter this week to leaders at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), regarding pending changes to condominium lending rules through the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). On July 8, the Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA), the Community Associations Institute (CAI) and the National Association […]
VantageScore on Wednesday announced the release of VantageScore 5.0, a new tri-bureau credit scoring model that the company says is designed to improve lenders’ ability to assess consumer creditworthiness, particularly for unsecured loans and auto financing. The new model is available through the three major U.S. credit reporting companies — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — […]
Synergy One Lending, a division of American Pacific Mortgage (APM), will assume control of Newrez’s distributed retail mortgage business under a new strategic agreement announced Wednesday, extending an existing partnership and reshaping both lenders’ retail strategies. The transition moves Newrez’s distributed retail operations and personnel to Synergy One, which is building out a purpose-built retail […]
In a request for information (RFI) scheduled for publication Thursday in the Federal Register, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will seek public input on whether mortgage disclosure requirements and other lending regulations should be revised to reduce compliance burdens and improve access to mortgage credit. The RFI, viewed by HousingWire in its unpublished version […]
Unlock Partnership Solutions Inc., dba Unlock Technologies, has agreed to treat its home equity agreements (HEAs) as consumer credit under Colorado law, pay restitution to affected homeowners, and meet state licensing and disclosure rules, the Colorado attorney general’s office announced June 24. The office of Attorney General Phil Weiser said it determined Unlock’s products are […]