Earlier this week, Optimal Blue announced the general availability of Virtual Economist, an artificial intelligence-powered forecasting tool designed to help mortgage capital markets leaders analyze interest rates and mortgage lock volume. The company also launched Optimal Blue AI Labs, an initiative led by Kevin Foley, the company’s newly appointed director of AI Labs, to accelerate […]
Two Harbors Investment Corp. is pushing back on a lawsuit filed this week by UWM Holdings Corp., calling the complaint “frivolous,” “meritless” and “illogical” while defending its decision to abandon a stock-for-stock merger with the wholesale lender in favor of an all-cash deal with rival CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM). TWO’s response focuses heavily on UWM’s financial condition, noting that the […]
Mortgage applications increased 3.6% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending August 7, 2026. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 3% compared with the previous week. The refinance index increased 5% from the previous week, but was 22% lower than the […]
Only about half of U.S. private-sector workers participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan at any given time — a gap driven almost entirely by small employers, according to new research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. While more than 90% of larger employers offer retirement plans, just 49% of firms with fewer […]
Mortgage insurers will be required to keep a larger safety net for mortgages originated using VantageScore 4.0 than for comparable loans using Classic FICO, according to new guidance from the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). In late July, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac published a new grid for their Private Mortgage Insurer Eligibility Requirements (PMIERs) that, for […]
Mortgage lenders that adopt artificial intelligence should focus first on the business problems they’re trying to solve rather than chasing the latest technology, according to panelists who spoke Tuesday at HousingWire’s AI Summit. Amanda Tucker, chief risk and compliance officer at Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group, and Michael Crockett, chief operating officer at Xactus, said the […]
A federal judge in Maryland has denied loanDepot’s bid to dismiss a proposed class-action lawsuit that accuses the lender of violating federal loan officer compensation rules and steering borrowers into higher-rate mortgages. U.S. District Court Judge Julie R. Rubin on Friday rejected loanDepot’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and for lack […]
CrossCountry Intermediate HoldCo, the direct parent of CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM), has priced an upsized offering of $750 million in senior notes due in 2031 as it refinances mortgage servicing rights (MSR) facilities tied to its growth plans. The offering came in 50% higher than previously expected. The 7.75% senior notes will be issued on a […]
I’m a mortgage servicer by trade, but also a music lover and guitar player. A guitar has twelve notes, and from this comes every song, every genre, every hit ever written. Servicing works the same way. The structure is fixed – loan, customer, property – but what you can now build on top of it […]
Splitero, a financial technology company that aims to help homeowners access their home equity without taking on additional debt, has expanded to Idaho, Missouri, Montana and Wyoming. “Our latest expansion allows us to help more homeowners access the equity in their homes to better their lives without the burden of additional monthly payments,” said Michael […]
CrossCountry Intermediate Holdco (CCM) is expected to issue $500 million of senior unsecured notes, coinciding with the projected August closing of its Two Harbors Investment Corp. acquisition. Fitch Ratings said it expects to rate the issuance at ‘BB-(EXP)’, ranking pari passu with existing senior unsecured debt. Proceeds are expected to be used to repay mortgage […]
A coalition of consumer and housing advocacy organizations is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to preserve key mortgage borrower protections, warning that proposed changes to federal lending rules could leave consumers vulnerable to predatory practices and unaffordable loans. The National Consumer Law Center, National Housing Law Project, National Fair Housing Alliance, Americans for […]
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) filed a lawsuit on Monday that accuses Two Harbors Investment Corp. (TWO) of willfully breaching its merger agreement and committing fraud while pursuing a competing deal with CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM). UWM alleges TWO’s leadership deliberately undermined the stockholder process for UWM’s transaction, including by sabotaging the March 16 meeting scheduled to […]
Residential mortgage lender TPO GO is exiting the wholesale business nationally under a strategic alliance with Stockton Mortgage that will transfer most of the company’s wholesale sales and operations staff to Stockton. The news was first reported on last week by Rob Chrisman and later confirmed to HousingWire by a spokesperson for Stockton Mortgage. The […]
Last month, Claude (AI) told me to get to an emergency room immediately. It wasn’t the first time the two of us had an “emergency” on our hands. This time it was a dissected artery in my neck. In reality, I’d probably just slept wrong. So no, I don’t think AI is always right, and […]
HighTechLending (HTL) continues to be a key player in the reverse mortgage market as evidenced by its top 10 ranking for Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements. But the California-based lender does much more than that. In the home equity lending space, HTL has sought to distinguish itself through a diverse product set that includes […]
Fitch Ratings downgraded the long-term issuer default ratings of United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) to B+ from BB-, citing a sharp increase in leverage driven by second-quarter losses and higher borrowings. UWM’s ratings outlook is stable, Fitch said. UWM’s corporate leverage, measured as gross nonfunding debt to tangible equity, jumped to 6.1x at the end of […]
Achieve has closed a $261.5 million securitization of newly originated home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), its first of 2026 and ninth overall, the company announced Friday. The transaction is backed by 3,129 HELOCs. As of June 30, the cutoff date for the securitization, the pool had a total unpaid principal balance of about $261.5 […]
Dallas-based mortgage lender Certainty Home Lending, an affiliate of Rate, has hired Bryan Ingenito as executive vice president and national operations executive, the company announced Thursday. Ingenito brings more than 28 years of experience in mortgage lending and consumer banking operations, according to the announcement. He is based in the Greater Charlotte metro area. He […]
Log out of ChatGPT. Not forever. Just for the length of this column. You can log back in at the end. I’ll tell you what to do differently. One of the most-followed executives in mortgage just paid a top LinkedIn voice a few thousand dollars to spend eight weeks teaching him how to have AI […]
Blend Labs on Thursday reported higher second-quarter revenue and a narrower operating loss, driven by growth in its software platform business as the digital mortgage technology provider expanded customer relationships and rolled out its new AI-powered Autopilot product. The San Francisco-based company posted second-quarter revenue of $33.8 million, up 7% from a year earlier and […]
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) president and CEO Mat Ishbia is pitching the lender’s $2.05 billion capital raise with Oaktree Capital Management and his family as a long-term strategic partnership to support the company’s growth. But the high cost of the structure and dilution are weighing on investors, alongside the fact that it follows several setbacks […]
PennyMac Financial Services said Thursday that it has become the first large mortgage servicer to implement the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs‘ (VA) new loss-mitigation waterfall, including the VA Partial Claim option, nearly four months before the agency’s Nov. 28 implementation deadline. The rollout comes days after the VA finalized updates to its loss-mitigation and […]
Mortgage application fraud risk increased in the second quarter of 2026 as purchase lending regained momentum and higher mortgage rates kept refinance activity subdued, according to Cotality‘s National Mortgage Application Fraud Risk Index released Thursday. The index rose to a reading of 132 in Q2 2026, up 9.1% from Q1 2026, which Cotality says equates […]
A new Shelterforce report highlights a growing concern for older homeowners in rural America: Housing stability often depends less on affordability than on the ability to maintain aging homes. The report follows Kentucky homeowner Karen Moore, whose leaking roof eventually caused extensive structural damage before help arrived through the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP). “Her roof […]
UWM Holdings Corp. is pairing the announcement of a record $2.05 billion strategic capital partnership with its second-quarter 2026 results, which show the nation’s largest mortgage lender is still leaning into growth despite higher leverage and moving into the red. In an internal memo to employees reviewed by HousingWire, chairman, president and CEO Mat Ishbia […]
A leadership shakeup at Better this week underscores the company’s ongoing struggle to balance its mortgage origination business with its technology ambitions as it pursues profitability, a goal that now appears more distant than leadership previously projected. Daniel Lewis, whose hedge fund Orange Capital shut down in 2016 after 10 years in operation and a […]
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) launched its latest pricing incentive for broker partners on Wednesday, saying it will grant a 90-basis-point discount on a large swath of loans through Sept. 8. The “Bullseye 90” incentive allows brokers to apply the 90-bps to a single loan submission of their choice through Sept. 8. Eligible product options include […]
Envoy Mortgage closed a deal to acquire the distributed retail assets of Mason-McDuffie Mortgage Corp. (MasonMac), bringing on about 100 loan officers who produced $1 billion over the past 12 months, the companies confirmed to HousingWire. The transaction, announced internally on Monday, is expected to close toward the end of August. Financial terms of the […]
AnnieMac Home Mortgage has recruited a roughly 12-person retail lending team in Wichita, Kansas, that had joined Union Home Mortgage (UHM) following its acquisition of Sierra Pacific Mortgage in September 2025, the company confirmed to HousingWire. The move gives AnnieMac a new geographic foothold and adds a group that originated about $220 million in mortgages […]
Jason Vinar has joined Rocktop Technologies as chief investment officer, where he will lead Rocktop Capital Advisors, the firm’s capital markets and mortgage servicing rights (MSR) business, the company announced Wednesday. Vinar moves to Rocktop from Two Harbors Investment Corp., a publicly traded mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT), where he most recently served as […]
Mortgage applications decreased 2.9% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending July 31. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 3% compared with the previous week. The refinance index decreased 2% from the previous week and was 9% lower than the […]
Lower announced on Wednesday the launch of a mortgage program that allows eligible homebuyers to contribute as little as 1% toward a down payment while receiving a lender grant of 2%, up to $4,500. The program, dubbed ONE by Lower, is designed to reduce the upfront costs of buying a home as elevated home prices, […]
Finance of America Companies Inc. (FOA) grew its reverse mortgage and home equity funding volume 21% year over year in the second quarter of 2026, even as non-cash fair value marks in its portfolio business drove a net loss of $29 million from April through June. The Texas-based lender on Tuesday reported $730 million in […]
BankSouth Mortgage announced on Tuesday that it has appointed Erin Dee as senior vice president and chief innovation officer, a role where she will focus on artificial intelligence, workflow modernization, enterprise transformation and customer experience. Dee will lead initiatives involving technology, operational oversight and organizational transformation as the company works to increase annual mortgage production […]
Beeline Holdings announced Tuesday that it has signed a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire TYTL Corp., a blockchain-based home equity platform, in an all-stock deal aimed at creating a no-debt alternative to home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) and cash-out refinances. The proposed transaction would combine Beeline’s AI-driven mortgage origination, non-QM lending, and title […]
The newly enacted 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is a “consequential” but incremental step toward addressing housing affordability challenges, with potential benefits for small-dollar mortgages, manufactured housing and multifamily financing, according to several industry trade groups. Bill Killmer, senior vice president of legislative and political affairs at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) — who […]
Rising mortgage rates have impacted the summer homebuying season and have been cited by at least one major lender as a key reason for recent layoffs. But the market got a brief respite this week as rates cooled slightly. On Tuesday, HousingWire‘s Mortgage Rates Center showed that rates for 30-year conforming loans averaged 6.92%, down […]
Rocket Pro is moving full steam ahead in its August “Power Play,” a monthly initiative that the company promised to its business partners back in February that’s announced on the first Tuesday of each month. This month’s Power Play marks the fifth month of the initiative. August’s offerings include an increased refinance credit to 60 […]
Better Home & Finance Holding Co. has appointed board member Daniel Lewis as interim CEO effective immediately, replacing founder Vishal Garg, the company announced Monday. Garg will remain on the company’s board and work with Lewis to ensure an orderly leadership transition. As interim CEO, Lewis will manage the organization, execute the board-approved operating plan […]
A sweeping Social Security reform bill reintroduced in the House of Representatives would boost benefits for millions of Americans, change how cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are calculated and impose new taxes on high earners to shore up program finances. The Social Security 2100 Act, H.R. 9519, was reintroduced by Rep. John Larson (D-Ct.) and referred to […]
Chicago-based mortgage lender OriginPoint has hired top-producing loan officers Erin Halliday and Jon Levin from New American Funding, where they operated as a high-volume production team. Halliday and Levin officially joined OriginPoint — a joint venture of Rate and Compass — on July 27 as the Erin Halliday & Jon Levin Team, the company said […]
Florida homebuyers have filed a class-action lawsuit accusing LGI Homes, loanDepot and their joint venture, LGI Mortgage Solutions LLC, of running an “improper home-sales scheme.” The complaint, filed in federal court on July 29, alleges the companies rely on misleading monthly payment advertisements and high-pressure tactics to steer renters into mortgages they cannot afford. The […]
Two Harbors Investment Corp. has secured required state and agency approvals from all but one state for its planned sale to CrossCountry Intermediate Holdco LLC, which will change the previously estimated stub dividend tied to the merger timeline. As previously disclosed, CCM will pay a “stub period” dividend to common shareholders in connection with the […]
Longtime reverse mortgage professional John Luddy says that despite the noise around high interest rates and equity-locked borrowers, the reverse market is in its strongest position yet. In a conversation with HousingWire‘s Reverse Mortgage Daily, the senior vice president of reverse lending at Supreme Lending cited high home values, expanding product options and growing demand […]