Apr. 9: MLO, AE jobs; Commercial, UAD 3.6, data analysis tools; pieces on AI governance, consistency, and focusing on the basics

My cat Myrtle never had much use for a credit report. Nor credit scores, which came along in 1958, nor a FICO score (1989). Millions of borrowers were analyzed without them. Rumors swirl of the FHFA, overseer of Freddie and Fannie, “operationalizing” VantageScore any day now. VantageScore, created in 2006, is a joint venture by the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). Will it change your lending process? Possibly. Do government regulations change your lending process? States have trigger lead requirement overlays, over and above what was enacted at the Federal level in March. (Talk to your attorney.) Some states are rumored to be looking at bundling credit report fees, referring to the practice of combining various charges associated with obtaining credit reports into a single, all-inclusive fee, which can “help eliminate hidden costs, improve compliance with regulations, and simplify the pricing structure for consumers and lenders alike.” Some companies, like Birchwood, discuss bundling and transparency. Interest rates are relatively transparent, and on today’s The Big Picture at 3PM ET Chris Bennett of Vice Capital Markets will discuss strategies given shifting rates, geopolitics, and framing hedging given the Fed’s thoughts. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s ‘casts are sponsored by JazzX, the first true end-to-end AI platform built for mortgage. From application to underwriting, JazzX is a new operating model that helps you scale growth, boost productivity, and transform how your team performs. Hear an interview with OFA Group’s Thomas Gaffney on what real problems tokenization solves in mortgage finance today, where it will gain early traction in residential real estate, and how lenders can assess regulatory risk and platform credibility as the market evolves.)

Employment

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“Built for Growth. Positioned to Win. Mortgage lending’s next chapter is being written, and U.S. Bank is expanding where opportunity is strongest. U.S. Bank is actively growing our Mortgage Loan Originator teams in Nashville, Charlotte, Atlanta, St. Louis, Florida, Texas (Houston and Dallas), Phoenix, and California, including Sacramento, Central CA, San Diego, and the Inland Empire. As a direct lender with national strength, U.S. Bank gives MLOs a platform designed for performance. This includes competitive portfolio solutions up to $10MM, construction-to-perm options, HFA and DPA programs, and our American Dream initiative. Pair that with a strong brand, built-in customer acquisition, and dedicated operational support, and you can focus on what matters most: relationships and results. If you’re ready to grow in a market that’s growing with you, your next move starts here.”

“Waiting for the Fed won’t fill your April pipeline. While borrowers watch and wait for lower rates, Planet MLOs are using product diversity to meet them where they are and operational certainty to keep deals moving. At Planet, we pair a diverse product set (renovation, manufactured housing, one-time close construction, and non-agency, including loans for real estate investors) with fast underwriting decisions and specialized support. Add a servicing-driven retention machine to recapture your borrowers during rate dips, and you have a model that creates consistent production in any market. Connect with SVP Retail Growth and Strategic Marketing Candice McNaught| 469-592-6631 or SVP National Production Distributed Retail Matt Payan | 469-592-6630 to learn more.

ACC Mortgage is expanding its national wholesale team and hiring experienced Non-QM Account Executives who want a platform that can truly support their production. This is a well-capitalized lender with strong leadership, operational depth, and a track record of helping AEs grow real volume in the non-QM space. As the oldest non-QM lender in the marketplace, the company brings unmatched experience and stability to brokers and partners nationwide. The role is fully remote and relationship focused, giving you the ability to build and manage broker partners through calls and email while leveraging a strong CRM and marketing engine that keeps deals moving. Compensation is performance-driven with uncapped earnings, plus transition support designed to help you ramp quickly and confidently. If you are ready to plug into a lender that matches your hustle, reach out today.

“Today you’re invited to learn how Fairway Home Mortgage supports loan officers and branch managers in building successful, sustainable mortgage careers. At 3PM ET join us for an anonymous virtual meeting that takes you behind the curtain with Fairway’s executive team and other leaders. You’ll get an inside look at what makes Fairway a thriving independent mortgage bank, and how its support, real independence, top-of-the-line technology, and game-changing culture are designed to help professionals succeed on their mortgage journey. This is a unique opportunity to listen, learn, and ask questions in a confidential setting. We hope you’ll join us: April Virtual Fairway Day Registration.”

The Chrisman Job Board is the go-to platform for employment opportunities across the mortgage industry. For employers, adding a job listing is easy. Simply create an account and drop in your existing application link, or forward the details to our team and we’ll take care of it for you. For job seekers, joining our Talent Community is completely free. Upload your resume to be visible to hiring companies across the industry and stay connected to new opportunities as they go live.

Products, services, and software for brokers and lenders

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Do you have a Servicing portfolio? Do you understand how it is being valued? Given the recent and extensive interest rate volatility, understanding the value of this critical asset is paramount. The MSR asset has become increasingly important for Lenders given continued production challenges, and effectively managing that asset requires consistent oversight and a reliable valuation assessment. MCT offers portfolio valuations that are prudent and easy to understand, with built-in safeguards focused on client and borrower data security. MCT’s fair value analysis and reports provide extensive detail to inform Seller/Servicer’s internal requirements and strategic objectives. Regardless of the underlying asset type, including non-QM, MCT has the expertise to assist. Schedule a call with the MCT MSR experts to discuss a customized approach for valuing your MSR portfolio.

Still trusting yesterday’s headlines to price today’s loans? Market Advantage is a powerful, complimentary view of current mortgage pricing and activity, giving you fast context and credible perspective. But when leadership asks what changed, where margin went, or how you stack up, you need more than a snapshot. You need to know what is happening now, so you can price, coach, and compete with clearer answers across every channel. Optimal Blue Data Solutions dive deeper with real-time, direct-source insight drawn from rate sheets, locks, and transactions, revealing pricing, volume, concessions, and competitive positioning as they happen. Built for decision making, not static reporting, these insights help capital markets, secondary, and sales teams align on one current story, respond sooner, and protect margin with confidence. Start with Market Advantage, then use deeper intelligence to turn awareness into action and action into advantage. Learn more about Optimal Blue Data Solutions today.

In an ever-changing industry, companies need to consistently evolve to produce the best results… and AmeriHome does just that. AmeriHome recently updated multiple products to maintain their deep library of offerings with enhancements like accepting UAD 3.6 appraisals alongside 2.6 appraisals, improvements to their non-QM program guides, and expansion of their AUS Jumbo Express program. AmeriHome is staying on top of the needs of its client base. It also launched its live Non-Agency Scenario Desk. Reach out or contact your local sales executive today to get more details! If you’d rather connect with AmeriHome in person, meet with the team at the TMBA 110th Annual Convention in Austin. Click here to schedule a meeting with a sales executive! Check out AmeriHome’s events page to see where they’ll be throughout the rest of 2026, find your sales executive here, and follow AmeriHome Correspondent on LinkedIn to stay in-the-know for any future product offerings!

Visit here: iKenekt AI has officially launched, and some of the biggest names in real estate are already plugged in. For the first time ever, brokers will be at the front end of the lead funnel, seeing buyers the moment they start analyzing properties. To keep up with the expected demand, the Certified Broker Program includes full training, a complete commercial tool kit, and 75 guaranteed leads per month. The commercial lane is wide open, and there has never been a better moment in history for a residential broker to add commercial. With a $2 trillion CRE debt bubble ahead, timing is everything. Book a strategy session today.

The Chrisman Marketplace is a centralized hub for vendors and service providers across the mortgage industry to be viewed by lenders in a very cost-effective manner. We’re adding new providers daily, so check back often to see what’s new. To reserve your place or learn more, contact us at info@chrismancommentary.com.

Natalie Overturf on how the basics matter in sales

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From Idaho, CMG Financial’s Natalie Overturf has some thoughts on fundamentals. “The current market is exposing a hard truth. Production is concentrating among a small group of originators who never stopped doing the fundamentals well. While many are looking to technology for answers, the real divide is execution and relationships. Leaders are now deciding whether to double down on what actually drives business or chase tools that promise efficiency but rarely create trust. What feels different from past cycles is the clarity. There is less room to hide and fewer shortcuts to rely on. The operators who stay close to the work and invest in real relationships are pulling ahead in a measurable way.

The Agencies and AI governance

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“Fannie Mae dropped its first-ever artificial intelligence (AI) governance mandate on sellers and servicers yesterday. The Lender Letter LL-2026-04 requirements take effect on August 6. If you use AI or machine learning (ML) in connection with originating or servicing Fannie Mae loans, you now have a compliance predicate and four operational requirements coming at you, including: (1) documented governance policies with a designated owner who reviews them annually, (2) vendor and subcontractor AI governance held to a “no less protective” standard, (3) compliance with the Information Security Supplement, and (4) an on-request disclosure obligation. The fourth operational requirement is worth pausing, considering that Fannie Mae can ask for a full accounting of what AI tools you are using, how you are using them, and what safeguards you have in place.

“The Fannie Mae request can come at any time, and the disclosure language is nearly word-for-word identical to Freddie Mac's, right down to the open-ended "such other information as [the GSE] may require" clause. At the end of the day, both GSEs can now knock on your door and ask to see the documentation. Freddie Mac's requirements under Bulletin 2025-16 have been live since March 3 and Fannie Mae's take effect in August. However, the two frameworks look different, with Freddie Mac telling you what to build and Fannie Mae telling you what standard to meet. But for dual-approved sellers, the practical move is to build to Freddie Mac's prescriptive requirements and layer Fannie Mae's principles-based additions on top.”

(James Brody and Ron Gapp are the Founding Partners at Brody Gapp LLP, which is a mortgage banking compliance and litigation firm that has published a number of recent articles on AI Governance issues, including one that sets forth a side-by-side comparison of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac AI related governance mandates, titled “Fannie Mae Issues AI Governance Mandate: What Lender Letter LL-2026-04 Requires, How It Compares to Freddie Mac, and What to Do Now.” Click here to access Brody Gapp’s AI Governance articles and for more information on their AI Governance Practice, call James Brody at (415) 246-3995 and/or Ron Gapp at (909) 952-3076.)

Consistency in our business is important

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How would you like doing business with someone who will always return your call or email within five hours? Or doing business with someone who returns it in five minutes or five weeks?

Robbie Chrisman, soon heading to a regional golf event in Georgia, penned a piece for Thought Leadership and observed that the real divide in today’s mortgage market is not strategy or technology. It is consistency. While many chase scale, shortcuts, and faster ways to grow, the operators pulling ahead are doing something far less visible. They are showing up every day, delivering something useful, and earning trust over time. That sounds simple, but in a market defined by pressure and noise, it is increasingly rare. Leaders are being forced to decide whether to optimize for reach or for reliability, and that choice compounds. The ones who stay close to the product and protect trust will outlast the cycle.

Capital markets: Oil, Fed Minutes, Treasury auctions…

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Hedging firms are increasing both the granularity and scope of their offerings. For example, today Vice Capital Markets announced that it now supports new 30-year fixed-rate specified-cash payup commitment grids from Fannie Mae, which became effective April 9, 2026. “With these additions, Vice Capital clients can incorporate more precise pricing into their rate sheets and best execution analysis when evaluating eligible loans for delivery to Fannie Mae.”

Looking at the markets, Andrew Stringer with PrimeLending notes, “We aren’t out of the woods quite yet. The market improvement today is a component of forward guidance and belief (albeit cautionary optimism) that the cease-fire will hold, and material steps will be taken to put an end to the war. The additional positive here is extending a cease-fire is much more acceptable (as market gauges extensions = productive conversation) than threatening escalation only to avert deadlines. This produces a base case for us to build on if US/Iran cease-fire is honored… I suppose that’s the big ‘if’ the market is trading on today.”

So, is the optimism the deal real? It’s hard to tell with this Administration. The news of an Iranian war ceasefire, and that potential material steps will be taken to put an end to the war, still left a number of key questions unanswered by the temporary pause in attacks. And then Israel bombed Lebanon, which Iranian officials allege is a breach of the deal. Regardless, the 10-year dropped around in yield yesterday, and Federal Reserve rate cuts are being priced as if they are back on the table.

The release of March FOMC Minutes showed growing interest among policymakers in using two-sided language when discussing the expected rate path. Many participants observed that higher inflation could call for rate hikes while most officials were concerned that an extended war could result in job cuts that would warrant cuts to the fed funds rate range. Let’s see how CPI prints tomorrow. 

Yesterday's $39 billion 10-year reopening auction didn’t attract quite as much enthusiasm as usual despite the geopolitical developments that were responsible for bringing oil prices back below $100/bbl (one bbl = 42 gallons) boding well in the lead up. After a solid reception to Tuesday's 3-year offering, the stabilization in Treasuries was expected to lead to dip-buying interest as investors use the auction to take advantage of the still-elevated outright level of yields and retracement in realized volatility. However, there were fewer typical buyers stepping in at the 10-year auction and more bonds ended up with dealers, which is usually a sign demand was a bit weaker than normal.

The composition of the U.S. mortgage-backed securities (MBS) index has shifted meaningfully since QE4, leaving it heavily concentrated in low-rate, 30-year bonds issued between 2020 and 2022 (particularly 2.0 percent to 2.5 percent coupons, which still account for about one-third of the index) while newer, higher-rate coupons (5.0 percent to 6.0 percent) are gradually gaining share as rates have risen. Compared to 2019, when recent vintages made up less than half the index and were clustered in a narrower range, today’s index is both more dominated by recent issuance (over 74 percent) and more widely distributed across coupon levels, reflecting the rapid rate shifts of the past few years.

At the same time, 15-year MBS have shrunk as a share of the index (from 9.5 percent to 6.5 percent) due to higher rates locking homeowners into existing mortgages and crushing refinancing activity, though this trend may slowly reverse as rates ease and refinancing picks up, modestly increasing issuance of shorter-term loans without signaling any major surge.

Today’s economic calendar kicked off with the previously delayed final look at Q4 GDP (+.5 percent), and weekly jobless claims (219k, a tad high). Personal income and spending (income -.1 percent, weak; spending was +.5 percent). The core PCE price index (+.4 percent, +3.0 percent y-o-y). Later today brings wholesale inventories and sales, Treasury activity that will be headlined by an auction of $22 billion reopened 30-year bonds, Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, and remarks from Chicago Fed President Goolsbee. We begin Thursday with Agency MBS prices roughly unchanged from Wednesday’s close, the 2-year yielding 3.78, and the 10-year yielding 4.30 after closing yesterday at 4.29 percent.

A group of engineering professors were invited to fly in a plane.

Right after they were comfortably seated, they were informed the plane was built by their students.

All but one got off their seats and headed frantically to the exits in maniacal panic.

The one lone professor that stayed put, calmly in his seat, was asked: “Why did you stay put?”

“I have plenty of confidence in my students. Knowing them, I can, in fact, assure you this piece of ---- plane will never even start”

Visit www.ChrismanCommentary.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. You can also explore the Chrisman Marketplace, a centralized hub connecting mortgage professionals with trusted vendors and solutions. If you’re interested, check out my periodic blog on the STRATMOR Group website. This month’s piece is titled, “Mortgage Rates Are Not Random.”  The Commentary’s podcast is available on all major platforms, including Apple and Spotify.

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(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes, visit the Chrisman Job Board. This newsletter is intended for sophisticated mortgage professionals only. There are no paid endorsements by me. For the latest mortgage news, visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.ChrismanCommentary.com. Copyright 2026 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Paid job & product listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold, or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman. The views and opinions in this newsletter are mine alone unless otherwise specifically stated herein.)