By Wes Costello, EVP of Sales Operations at AnnieMac Home Mortgage For decades, the mortgage industry has relied on traditional credit lines and W-2 income documentation as the primary gatekeepers to homeownership. That approach worked when most borrowers earned predictable income from a single employer and documentation followed a standard pattern. Today, this framework no longer reflects how many Americans are making a living. More borrowers are financially qualified to buy

For decades, mortgage lending has operated with an artificial divide at its core. Agency lending lived in one world. Non-QM lived in another. Different guidelines, different systems, different mental models. That separation once made sense, largely because the agencies did not buy non-QM loans and had no reason to. But over time, what began as a structural distinction hardened into operational silos, and those silos quietly introduced real costs across the industry. The cost

The mortgage industry has always been cyclical, but what is unfolding now feels structurally different. Consolidation is no longer just a byproduct of downturns or margin compression; it has become a defining feature of an industry grappling with scale, technology, and shifting consumer expectations. In 2025, this reality became impossible to ignore. Despite a return to modest profitability, roughly 25 basis points for the average independent mortgage bank (IMB), merger and a

By Michele Bodda, President Employer Services, Verification Solutions and Housing at Experian Credit scores feel like a simple thing because we’ve been taught to treat them that way, a three-digit number that opens doors or closes them. But credit scores don’t exist on their own. They are downstream of something far more fundamental: credit data. Without the information in a credit report, there is no score at all. That distinction matters, especially now, as the mortgage ind

I have been in mortgage long enough to watch communication shift from a nice-to-have skill into a real competitive edge. Buyers today can shop lenders as easily as they shop homes, and many do. Not because the first loan officer failed them on rates or accuracy, but because the experience felt off. It felt pushy instead of helpful, scripted instead of conversational, more like being sold than being guided. That reaction matters, especially with Millennial buyers, who are not

For the past several years, housing affordability has been discussed as if it were a force of nature. Everyone agrees it is a problem, everyone studies it, and yet it often feels beyond reach, like something that can only be changed by sweeping legislation or a dramatic shift in interest rates. What feels different right now is that some of the most immediate levers are not theoretical at all. They are administrative. They do not require Congress, but rather decisions. And th

There is something uniquely clarifying about being on the ground at the Independent Mortgage Bankers Conference. IMB has always been a barometer for where this industry actually is, not where slide decks say it should be. This year, the signal was unmistakable. The mood is more optimistic than it has been in years, attendance is strong, and conversations have shifted from survival to execution. But that optimism is disciplined. Lenders are encouraged, not complacent, and the

There is a tectonic shift that’s taking place in the appraisal space right now - and it promises to reverberate through every nook and cranny of the lending world. Mortgage brokers, direct lenders, independent mortgage bankers, banks, credit unions, investors, underwriters, reviewers, state review boards (and their investigators), amcs, appraisal educators, plus technology and software providers are all impacted in substantive ways.   On November 2 nd of 2026, all appraisals

As we kick off the New Year, affordability remains one of the biggest challenges facing the mortgage industry and the broader housing market. It continues to shape conversations among lenders, policymakers, and consumers alike. Affordability Is Not a Rate Problem Ask most people what’s wrong with housing affordability, and the answer comes quickly: rates are too high. It’s an easy diagnosis, clean and intuitive, and it fits neatly into headlines and political talking points.

Behind every mortgage rate, every lock extension, and every borrower question, there is a hidden world of precision, strategy, and high-stakes timing that few ever see. For most borrowers, asking for an extension feels casual. Can I have a few extra days? Maybe a week? In the retail world, it is almost a courtesy. In the world of institutional finance, where Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America operate, time is currency. Every hour counts. Every day matters. Whe

There’s a saying in the mortgage world, borrowed from the Eagles’ Hotel California:  that you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. For many of us, that lyric isn’t just clever; it’s autobiographical. I’ve tried to step away from mortgage lending more than once, yet the industry always calls me back. Maybe it’s the complexity, maybe it’s the mission, or maybe it’s something deeper: the fact that underwriting still sits at the intersection of data, risk, op

After several years defined by volatility, scarcity, and historically high borrowing costs, the mortgage industry enters 2026 with something it hasn’t had in a while: a cautious, but genuine, sense of optimism. That sentiment was palpable at the MBA Annual conference, where the collective mood reflected a meaningful shift from the exhaustion of 2023 and the grinding uncertainty that clouded 2024. Lenders, economists, and market participants seemed aligned in a shared belief t

In an era defined by locked-in mortgage rates and frozen inventory, an old mechanism in American housing finance has suddenly reentered the conversation: the assumable mortgage. It is an idea that feels almost quaint, yet it sits at the center of some of the current debates about affordability, consumer rights, and the role of government in modern housing markets. To understand why assumability is back in the spotlight, it helps to start with what the feature actually is. At

The mortgage industry has been embracing the concept of speed as a marketing feature in the past several years. The idea that a mortgage loan can transition from application to closing in a flash is something that loan officers and business owners have become convinced will make them more attractive to clients. Hey, who doesn't want to apply for a loan while making their morning coffee and get approved before they have finished their bowl of cereal, right? Maybe not. About tw

For decades, credit reports were treated as snapshots - a fixed moment in time meant to summarize a borrower’s financial history. That view no longer fits today’s reality. Credit data has evolved into a living, dynamic asset that tells a story not just about who a consumer was, but how they are behaving right now and where their financial trajectory is heading. This shift is more than technical, it’s strategic - driving smarter decisions and better outcomes across the mortgag

For decades, FICO has been the dominant force in credit scoring, central to the U.S. mortgage ecosystem since the introduction of its score in 1986. It has long drawn both scrutiny and reliance from the industry, regarded as a gatekeeper to credit access for millions of consumers. But a major structural shift is now underway: FICO has announced a direct licensing model that will bypass the traditional credit bureaus and instead work directly with credit reporting agencies (CR

In the first Voice of the Industry , David Spector, Chairman and CEO of Pennymac, discussed his path from early beginnings on Wall Street...

I’ve been in mortgage since 1991. Rates were north of 10%, “apply now” meant stacks of paper, and the concept of consumer-permissioned...