Feb. 27: LO jobs; fraud, processing, verification waterfall products; Fairway & insurance; conv. conforming changes... UAD 3.6
Can’t you feel the anticipation building? March 5th… Trigger leads… Don’t tell me that you’ve forgotten all about it. When a borrower applies for a mortgage and their credit is pulled, that data has historically been sold as a “trigger lead” and dozens of calls are received. Starting March 5, according to the law, credit bureaus can no longer sell trigger leads, the borrower’s lender can still contact them, and the current servicer may also reach out. Originators are reminding clients that online forms and third-party sites can still resell their information, so where they click still matters. Meanwhile, our MBA and others continue to tell the Administration that the costs lender incur in providing financing for homes is passed on to borrowers whose loans actually fund. “Talk about affordability……why don’t the agencies bring down rates by lowering loan level price adjustments (LLPAs) and guarantee fees (GFs). It is evident that they are overpricing credit risk.” When was the last time you heard a government official talk about lowering homeowner’s insurance costs, condo fees, or permitting & utility costs? (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s ‘casts are sponsored by FirstClose, a leading home equity technology platform that combines digital application, automated workflows, integrated vendor management, and seamless LOS connectivity, to turn home equity into a scalable, predictable growth engine. Hear an interview with MakeMyMove’s Evan Hock on new data that shows that many financially stable, middle-income households are being priced out of homeownership in major metros not by monthly affordability but by lack of access, prompting relocations to smaller regional hubs where similar housing costs unlock ownership, stability, and better quality of life.)
Employment & transitions
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Evergreen Home Loans™ is expanding into Michigan, and we are looking for experienced Loan Officers and Branch Managers who are ready to grow with us. With in-house servicing, a great suite of products, and a focus on innovation and growth, Evergreen is a great place to call home. If you are passionate about helping families achieve homeownership and want the freedom to build your business with strong operational, marketing, and leadership support, now is the time to reach out. Join a company that values relationships, integrity, and long-term success while making a real impact in your local community. To connect, visit discoverehl.com or contact Todd Miles, EVP of Production Growth.
As a reminder, loanDepot welcomed Scott Lucier to open and lead the company’s first Retail branch in Montana, expanding loanDepot’s Retail footprint across the Pacific Northwest. Lucier brings more than 25 years of industry experience and a performance record that has earned statewide recognition, including a Top Originators honor from Scotsman Guide. With deep ties to local businesses and real estate partners, and a visible presence in the Missoula housing conversation, he is already accelerating loanDepot’s growth in the area. The company’s new Missoula branch targets a market with strong home values, long-term appreciation and steady rental demand while extending loanDepot’s Retail branch presence to more than 40 states.
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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Less back-and-forth. More first-time-right verifications. Truework replaces manual verification waterfalls with a single automated platform, so underwriters, LOs, and ops can cut down the document chasing, conflicting numbers, and last-minute corrections. Lenders see up to 50% cost savings on verifications, with faster turn times, higher accuracy, and stronger R&W relief. Trusted by 4 of the top 5 lenders in the U.S., Truework gives your team verification results they can rely on. Learn more.
Who actually owns your loan data? If you're on a legacy LOS, the honest answer is not you. Want to add a field? Submit a ticket. Update an integration? Budget for development. Change a screen layout? Get in line. Elphi gives you back control: Manage your own data, workflows, integrations, and page layouts… no tickets, no vendor queue, no waiting. Lenders on Elphi have cut closing times by 50%, increased productivity by 40%+, and saved 8,000+ hours a year. "With Elphi, we are achieving record pull-through rates and cycle times." (Chris Wilhoit, Senior Director of Operations, Lima One Capital) Hear directly from MoFin Lending's President what changed when they took control. Schedule your demo. My LOS. My Rules.
Fraud isn’t slowing down in 2026, and neither can you. On March 4 at 10am PT, join industry leaders at the Cotality Fraud Summit, a must-attend virtual event designed for mortgage lenders, servicers and risk professionals who need practical strategies to detect, prevent and respond to evolving fraud threats. From synthetic identity and income manipulation to emerging AI-driven schemes, today’s risk landscape is more complex and costly than ever. The Cotality Fraud Summit brings together experts across data, analytics, and operations to share real-world insights, actionable best practices and technology-driven solutions that help you stay ahead of risk without slowing down your pipeline. Attendees will gain perspective on current fraud trends, regulatory considerations and how advanced data and intelligence can strengthen decisioning across the loan lifecycle. If protecting margins, preserving borrower trust and safeguarding your organization are priorities in 2026, this event belongs on your calendar. Register here.
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.
Lenders are branching out, in this case Fairway
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The Baldwin Group, listed on NASDAQ and an independent insurance brokerage and advisory firm delivering tailored insurance solutions to a wide range of personal and commercial clients, announced a new collaboration with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, the sixth largest independent mortgage lender in the United States with more than 67,000 loans originated in 2024.
“Through this collaboration, Fairway will launch Fairway Home Insurance Agency, an affiliated insurance agency designed to deliver streamlined insurance solutions to homeowners nationwide. The strategic partnership is expected to commence in the second quarter of 2026. This embedded partnership will enable Fairway to offer home and other personal insurance solutions to their mortgage clients while leveraging Baldwin’s proprietary technology platform, national insurance carrier relationships, and industry expertise. The addition of Fairway as an embedded partner will enhance Baldwin’s ability to support the seamless sale of insurance solutions at the point of mortgage origination and home sale, while complementing Baldwin’s existing portfolio of embedded national mortgage and real estate partners.”
Conventional conforming products are always shifting
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Despite the ramp up of non-QM and other non-Agency biz, Freddie and Fannie still garner the lion’s share of residential business. What’s going on with their products, and how are the aggregators and private mortgage insurance companies handling it? November will be here before we know it, and with it UAD 3.6... are you preparing?
Recent technological advancements and a growing interest in alternative collateral valuation options have led to the growth of property data collection. Learn the basics of property data collection; what it is, how it works, who can do it and where it fits into Freddie Mac’s spectrum of collateral valuation options.
On February 12th, Freddie Mac published its latest Quality Control Advisor PlusSM. Release includes enhancements that can help you save more time and receive greater clarity. New features enable you to: maintain your own contacts without needing to reach out to Freddie Mac, access a new Notifications tab that displays every email notification that Freddie Mac sends for a particular loan.
Fannie Mae Single-Family acquisitions increased in 4Q as refinancing activity picked up. In 2026, Fannie Mae will continue focusing on making the mortgage process more efficient and less costly for lenders and borrowers. Explore the results here. In servicing news, Fannie Mae is offering clearer guidance for servicers and faster relief for homeowners.
Spend less time evaluating tax returns, reducing verification errors, and move borrowers through the pipeline faster with automated, accurate income calculations. Fannie Mae’s LoanCraft is now an authorized technology service provider for Income Calculator.
Pennymac aligned with Fannie Mae Selling Guide Announcement SEL-2025-10 regarding updates to the HomeStyle Renovation program, effective January 20, 2026. Read Pennymac Announcement 25-06 for details.
In 2025, Fanne Mae continued to evolve policies and tools to help lenders serve renters and homeowners, expand access to affordable and sustainable housing, and leverage innovation while promoting safe, responsible lending. Catch up on Selling and Servicing Guide updates, Lender Letters, and Desktop Underwriter? release highlights in Fannie Mae’s 2025 year in review.
Lenders already submitting UAD 3.6 appraisals are seeing the benefits: more standardized appraisal data, improved downstream efficiencies, A smoother transition to redesigned appraisal forms, and now is the time to get started and modernize your appraisal process. Fannie Mae UAD 3.6 and Forms Redesign is now available for all lenders
National MI Announcement UW 2026-01 provides TrueGuide? changes and clarifications including eligibility for 2-Unit Manufactured Housing on AUS Affordable Loans, occupancy guideline revisions, and new summary of overlays to GSE requirements.
Explore Fannie Mae’s February Guide for updates & expanded borrower assistance. Topics include the alignment of MH Advantage and CHOICEHome requirements and expanded opportunities for first-time homebuyers with the extension of $2,500 HomeReady? down payment and closing cost assistance credit for very low-income purchase first-time homebuyers.
Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin 2026-1 contains updates to the following: construction to permanent mortgages and renovation mortgages, affordable lending, manufactured homes, income continuance start date, and automated collateral evaluation (ACE), property eligibility, and appraisals.
Pennymac is aligning with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s recent announcement regarding extension of the temporary down payment assistance ($2,500) for very low-income purchase borrowers (VLIP) for HomeReady and Home Possible products. View Pennymac Announcement 26-12 for more information.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced an extension of the HomeReady? and Home Possible? $2,500 Very-Low Income Purchase (VLIP) Mortgage Credit through February 2027. AmeriHome Mortgage accepts these changes in the GSE timeline provided. See AmeriHome Mortgage Announcement Number 20260201-CL for eligibility details.
PHH Mortgage is aligning with the FHLMC and FNMA extension of the VLIP (Very Low-Income Purchase) Credit. Log in to the PHH library to view the announcement content.
Capital markets: always good to keep an eye on jobs and inflation
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What’s going on in the mortgage capital markets? TBA (“to be announced” securities used in hedging) trading volume has been light this week, with bid/ask spreads on screens set at purposely wide levels. All over the news are “mortgage rates being below 6 percent, the lowest level since September 2022, by most measures.” That means LOs, at least those that can compete against automated dialers/bots in the recapture wars, aren’t complaining. Lower rates have nudged a growing slice of recent borrowers back “into the money,” especially those sitting in mid-6 percent coupons taken out over the past few years.
For secondary marketing managers, even small rate declines are expanding the pool of homeowners with a financial reason to refinance, and prepayment speeds are already accelerating in the higher coupon stacks where newer loans live. Keep in mind that more than half of borrowers remain locked into 4.5 percent or lower rates and are effectively immobile, which keeps aggregate speeds contained and underscores a bifurcated market where refinance activity is concentrated among newer, higher-balance, higher-coupon borrowers rather than the legacy low-rate majority.
Investors are expressing less concern about demand for Treasuries as an asset class with each steady, uneventful auction signaling stable demand for U.S. government debt. Despite Wednesday’s 0.8-basis point 5-year tail and the highest dealer allocation since March 2025 (which oddly, didn’t trigger a significant selloff), the U.S. Treasury completed this week's note auction slate with a solid sale of $44 billion in 7-year notes yesterday. The government was able to sell the bonds at a slightly lower interest rate than recent averages, and investors placed a bit more total bids than usual. Big institutional and foreign buyers showed up in healthy numbers, and primary dealers didn’t have to take on as much of the bonds as they typically do, which is usually a good sign. Leading into the auction, bond prices were already rising (which means yields were falling), and the results didn’t change that trend much.
Instead of worrying primarily about how much debt the government needs to issue and who will buy it, investors are once again concentrating on the core economic drivers: growth, inflation, and employment. That said, one issue still hanging over the Treasury market is concern about the reliability of government data, particularly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recent jobs reports have not always lined up with private-sector data, which has made investors hesitant to react too strongly. For example, when January payrolls came in at +130k (about double expectations) bond yields initially rose but then fell back as traders questioned how much weight to give the number, especially given possible distortions from the recent government shutdown. Looking ahead to next week’s jobs report, those shutdown-related data issues should be less significant, meaning the market may respond more decisively to whatever the numbers show.
Tariffs are real: Today’s month-end calendar kicked off with the previously delayed Producer Price Index report for January (+2.9 percent y-o-y, +.5 percent, a touch higher than expected, core +.8 percent). Expectations were for headline and core to rise 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent month-over-month, respectively, putting them up 2.7 percent and 3.0 percent year-over-year. Later today brings Chicago PMI for February, and delayed November and December construction spending reports. We begin Friday with Agency MBS prices better than Thursday’s close by about .125, the 2-year yielding 3.41, and the 10-year yielding 3.98 after closing yesterday at 4.02 percent.
On average, an American man under age 75 will have sex two to three times a week.
Whereas, a Japanese man the same age will have sex only one or two times a year.
This is very upsetting news to many of my friends…as they had no idea they were Japanese.
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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.)