If you want to have more of your financial future tied to lending, PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (PMT) announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 8,000,000 common shares. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for “general corporate purposes, including funding its investment activity, which may include investments in credit risk transfer securities, mortgage servicing rights, mortgage-backed securities and new products such as home equity lines of credit or prime, non-qualified mortgage loans, as well as the repayment of indebtedness and working capital.” And in other corporate moves, Gateway Mortgage Group completed its merger to form Gateway First Bank with $1.2 billion in assets, five banking centers in Northwest Oklahoma, 160 mortgage centers with operations in 40 states and the District of Columbia, and over 1,200 employees. That’s a big ‘un!
Lender Products and Services
A well-known Digital Mortgage PoS company has come on the market for purchase, including both IP and leadership team. “This is a rare opportunity to accelerate your leadership position in Digital Mortgage with a secure and compliant web and mobile PoS and a team with software product development expertise.” Ideal acquirers will be well capitalized and have wide distribution for their mortgage customer acquisition products and services. Please email Anjelica Nixt to forward confidential notes of interest.
Renovating is becoming an increasingly popular strategy in today’s high-cost, tight inventory housing environment and Plaza Home Mortgage is making it easier for correspondents to participate in this market. Its renovation mortgage program includes FHA 203(k), Fannie Mae® HomeStyle® and VA Renovation options. Plaza’s flexible delivery options include Best-Efforts, Single Loan Mandatory, Bulk, Direct Trade and Assignment of Trade (AOT) through its Mandatory trade desk. Plaza has a department of dedicated renovation specialists to answer all specific correspondent renovation loan questions that can be reached here.
PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending, a subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH), is excited to announce its all-in-one BTW Services! “A partnership with PlainsCapital Bank includes a unique opportunity to take advantage of three great platforms within one company to help further reduce costs and streamline services: broker-dealer/Treasury Management/warehouse lending, HilltopSecurities’ TBA/Specified Pool desk which helps qualified mortgage lenders hedge their origination pipelines by buying and selling TBAs and specified pools, and PlainsCapital Bank Treasury Management group which helps mortgage lenders meet the challenges of managing their cash positions with clearing accounts and escrow management for FNMA, FHLMC and GNMA. For over 25 years, PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending has provided lines of credit to mortgage lenders across the country and offers multiple incentive pricing options to reduce costs for our customers. To learn more about PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending, please contact Deric Barnett, EVP National Warehouse Lending, or for HilltopSecurities’ Broker Dealer, please contact George M. Meillarec, Managing Director.
Recruiting quality origination talent is a process, not an event! Without a reliable, organized system and a clear game plan, opportunities can fall through the cracks and potential revenue is left on the table. We wouldn't manage a loan in our pipeline without a defined process so why should recruiting be any different? Model Match's award-winning Talent Management Suite (TMS) provides the solutions to help your business grow! With our Market Insights solution, we'll help you source candidates and develop a healthy pipeline of origination talent that's best matched to your company. Our partners enjoy visibility into a complete production report with contact information and much more. Our TMS helps guide the hiring manager through each stage of the recruiting process, from attracting candidates, to hiring, on-boarding and retention. Click here to learn more about the value of Model Match will create for your business.
The CMO role is ever-evolving and the pressure is on to achieve high growth while owning every aspect of the customer experience. This is a tall ask, and not something that can be achieved – successfully – without collaborating with key stakeholders in your organization. Read the latest blog from Total Expert, Key Alliances for Tomorrow’s CMO, and regain control of your customer experience.
The mortgage industry is in flux. Fluctuating interest rates. Shrinking inventories. Changing borrower needs. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some consistency, especially from your automated underwriting system? Freddie Mac Loan Product Advisor® delivers reliable eligibility findings that foster responsible lending and give you confidence that you’re originating quality loans. Its innovative capabilities were developed in collaboration with lenders, providing automation and insights that help reduce costs and increase efficiency. What does it all mean for you? Greater opportunity for business growth and an edge on the competition– The Freddie EdgeSM. Learn more about ACE and AIM, available exclusively through Loan Product Advisor®.
“California Mortgage Professionals, get set for a new down payment assistance program from Golden State Finance Authority coming this summer. The GSFA OpenDoors™ Program will feature enhanced pricing, assistance up to 7% of the loan amount and flexible FICO score and DTI. Want to know more? Join us for a LIVE training near you in May and June. Dates and locations listed on the GSFA website on the Lender Training page. Registration is open for ~ May 21 in Riverside~ May 22 in Redlands, May 23 in Corona. Space is limited. Register today. Additional dates for LIVE workshops in Santa Ana, Fresno, Bakersfield and various Northern California locations will be announced shortly. Follow news and announcements on our Facebook page or visit www.gsfahome.org. You don’t want to miss out on this HOT new Program!”
Optimal Blue releases an innovative social media publishing solution, the latest capability offered in its all-in-one social media platform already supporting social media monitoring, audits, and collaboration. Through a library of approved templates and corporate assets, the publishing tool enables LOs to schedule and post relevant content to all social networks. An intuitive scheduler simplifies the process of managing social interactions and a built-in calendar organizes posts across all profiles and campaigns. Optimal Blue’s end-to-end social media platform is the only of its kind, developed around the NMLS database and pre-loaded with every mortgage professional nationwide – so originators can quickly take advantage of the solution without the burden and hidden costs of administering user profiles. Optimal Blue will host an exclusive webinar on May 14th @2:00 CT to examine social use in the mortgage market, outline associated risks and compliance requirements, and present this powerful new publishing functionality – REGISTER NOW.
Like it or not, we are back on the seasonality train in the mortgage industry, and the ride is about to get interesting. The XINNIX Performance Training, Accountability and Coaching Programs are filling up fast with loan officers focused on elevating their performance to take advantage of an extremely busy summer homebuying season ahead. The XINNIX System’s proven methodology increases experienced Loan Officer production an average 40% and produces new loan officers that average 4.6 loan applications in their first 30 days in the market! Why wait to Elevate your production? XINNIX is offering a special 10% discount on all of their Award-Winning Programs. The offer expires at the end of May, so visit them online today and enter promo code ELEVATE2019.
Vendor Mania
Mortgage-related vendors do a lot more than capitalize odd letters and combine words. Let’s take a random sample of relatively recent news.
Radian MI is now available directly through Compass Analytics’ product, pricing and eligibility (PPE) engine, CompassPPE™ (CPPE). “This integration is helping ensure customers receive Radian’s most competitive MI rates by providing them access to a comprehensive, contemporary PPE that is designed to optimize speed, flexibility and accuracy. Lenders and loan officers can conveniently view precise, side-by-side comparisons of Radian’s MI products in one seamless transaction. Through CPPE, Radian offers pricing for a standard rate card, as well as RADAR Rates, Radian’s more granular MI pricing option that allows lenders to search with confidence knowing that each rate quote is fine-tuned to their borrower's individual risk profile and loan attributes.”
Colonial Savings has selected LoanServ Account Connect, the borrower self-service solution from Sagent Lending Technologies. With LoanServ Account Connect, Colonial Savings will reduce call volumes related to simple inquiries about payments, taxes, and other borrower questions providing Colonial Savings with a solution that will empower its mortgage and credit line borrowers with always available, real-time access to their loan information through any device. Borrowers can easily access their loan details online while being assured that the information they share on LoanServ Account Connect is kept secure and confidential.
Thrive Mortgage deployed Cloudvirga’s digital mortgage technology, which combines a mobile-first experience for consumers with an enterprise platform that empowers loan officers to rapidly structure deals and collaborate with customers; to loan officers across its more than 50 branch locations nationwide.
Equifax is working with Yodlee, a financial data aggregation and data analytics platform, to help simplify the mortgage loan process by making it easier for lenders to derive insights from borrowers' financial data. “This collaboration provides Equifax with access to real-time asset and income information on prospective customers who have granted permission and helps streamline loan production, reduce fraud exposure in the application process, and give banks, loan originators and lenders additional tools to assess risks in underwriting and portfolio management. Equifax manages the nation's largest centralized repository of income and employment verifications, powered by The Work Number, a proprietary data asset containing more than 350 million payroll records.”
Equifax has announced that it is working with Freddie Mac to create a simpler, faster and less costly path for lenders, and ultimately consumers, through its income verification tool, The Work Number®. The income data will be used as part of Freddie Mac Loan AdvisorSM automated income and asset assessment capabilities designed to make the mortgage origination process easier and more efficient, from point-of-sale to securitization.
ReverseVision has partnered with leading mortgage industry advisory firm STRATMOR Group to develop the first-ever HECM borrower satisfaction benchmark as part of STRATMOR’s MortgageSAT Borrower Satisfaction. To ensure its MortgageSAT program accurately considers these unique HECM processes, STRATMOR Group will build a tailored survey with input from ReverseVision. With the MortgageSAT program, ReverseVision customers will be able to survey every borrower within 24 hours of loan closing. Direct, instant borrower feedback, along with deep insights into the loan process and the people involved, will enable lenders to pinpoint sources of borrower dissatisfaction and quickly take corrective action.
Anow, creator of software for real estate appraisal offices, announced a partnership with the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) that gives members a significant discount off Anow’s core appraisal office management platform and early access to the tech firm’s cutting-edge products currently in development. As part of the ASA’s affinity program, members now have access to the following benefits: 20% off a 12-month Anow subscription, an invitation to participate in Anow’s closed beta programs and Priority consideration of member suggestions by Anow’s development team.
Capital Markets
U.S. Treasuries rallied to begin the week, including the 10-year dropping back to 2.50% as President Trump added to global uncertainty by threatening to increase the tariff level on $200 billion worth of imports from China to 25.0 percent and imposing tariffs on remaining Chinese imports. He was informed that Chinese officials are no longer willing to agree to a trade deal that would require changes to Chinese law. Other news out of China saw the People's Bank of China announce that the reserve requirement ratio for small and medium banks will be lowered, China's Services PMI increased above expectations in April, as did Hong Kong's Manufacturing PMI. In Europe, Eurozone Retail Sales in March beat expectations and British Prime Minister Theresa May is reportedly hopeful that she will be able to convince Labour to back her withdrawal bill.
Here in the States we have a light smattering of news: Dallas Fed President Kaplan is participating in a moderated Q&A, Johnson Redbook Chain Store Sales Index for the week ending May 4, job openings from JOLTS for March, the Treasury’s announcement and auction for their quarterly refunding, Fed Governor Quarles is speaking on financial regulation, and March Consumer Credit. We begin today with Agency MBS prices better by .125 versus Monday’s close and the 10-year yielding 2.47%.
Jobs
There’s a lot of talk about AMY at Academy Mortgage. AMY who? AMY, which stands for Academy Mortgage for You, is the lender’s new pre-approval bot. Utilizing the latest in AI technology, AMY navigates Encompass to determine pre-approval in just minutes and accelerates the app-to-approval timeframe by pulling credit, running pricing and DU, and more. AMY is paired with Academy’s new My Mortgage platform, a web-based and mobile 1003 that allows Loan Officers to originate from anywhere. They can generate pre-approval letters, request documentation, upload mobile-signed disclosures, etc., while customers can securely submit loan documentation and check their loan status at any time—all of which results in an improved mortgage experience. To further streamline the process, Academy launched LoanBeam for automated income extraction and calculation. Interested in seeing how these innovative tools can help increase your Productivity and power your Potential? Contact Chad Melin, VP of National Business Development.
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