Products, Services, and Software for Brokers and Lenders

Yesterday this Commentary mentioned a guide titled, “AI in the Workplace: Acceptable Use Policies, Data Risk, and the Discovery Trap.” Many wrote for the piece, which is now posted on the internet!

Spring EQ (NMLS# 1464945) is hosting a webinar next week (Tuesday, April 14 at 2:00 p.m. ET) to help brokers capitalize on today’s home equity opportunity. With homeowners sitting on near-record levels of equity, including $34 trillion in total U.S. home equity, an average of $295,000 per homeowner, and 50% holding first mortgage rates under 4%, the market is primed for growth. In Why Home Equity? Why Now? Unlocking Opportunities in Today’s Market, attendees will gain insights into current trends and strategies to turn today’s conditions into new business. The opportunity is already translating into results, with Spring EQ partners earning an average of $3,574 per loan in 2025. Register today! Visit EMMA to price, process, and manage your loans today. Not a partner? Join here: Wholesale or Correspondent.

New cash-specified payups from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now live. Vice Capital Markets clients can already incorporate both into their execution strategies. With new low loan balance categories and expanded commitment grids for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, lenders now have more precise pricing options across both agencies. Acting quickly on these updates can make a meaningful difference in best execution and secondary market performance. Vice Capital ensures clients are ready on day one. Through ViceEx, lenders can seamlessly integrate new agency payups, compare executions and refine delivery strategies without disruption. In a market where timing and precision matter, immediate access to both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae updates helps lenders stay competitive and capture new opportunities as they emerge. See how Vice Capital helps lenders optimize execution strategy at ViceCapitalMarkets.com.

Lenders that still think UAD 3.6 is “just an appraisal update,” should think again … and take action now. UAD 3.6 is a fundamental shift in how appraisal data is structured, delivered, and reviewed, and it’s going to expose inefficiencies you may have been working around for years. “The way we’ve always done it” won’t translate cleanly into a more data-driven environment. When volume returns, those gaps will show up quickly in longer turn times, heavier pipelines and missed opportunities. The good news? There’s still time to prepare. Forward-thinking lenders are already auditing workflows, setting expectations internally and getting comfortable with a more flexible approach to appraisal review. Class Valuation helps lenders get ahead of the transition with practical guidance, webinars, and links to GSE resources. Explore Class Valuation’s UAD 3.6 resource center 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.

Credit Controversy

As noted in yesterday’s Commentary, rumors swirl of the FHFA, overseer of Freddie and Fannie, “operationalizing” VantageScore any day now via a press conference scheduled, then cancelled/postponed. Rumors are also swirling of lenders already registered for testing, and the industry hopes for a logical and extensive testing of VantageScore results versus FICO Score 10T. Speaking of which…

FICO points out that, “Momentum continues to build around FICO Score 10T, and as Julie May highlighted in a recent MBA Newslink article, the industry is moving from interest to action. Through FICO Score 10T Adopter Program, launched at the end of 2024, lenders already accessing FICO Score Classic for non-GSE loans are being offered FICO 10T at no additional charge, creating a true side-by-side evaluation environment.

“With more than 50 lenders participating, the program removes cost as a barrier and allows institutions to directly assess how trended credit data enhances risk precision, supports expanded access to credit, and informs smarter lending decisions across the lifecycle. It’s a pragmatic approach: put the most predictive model in lenders’ hands, let the data speak, and give the market confidence before broader adoption. Contact Devin Norales’s team.”

Trends We Watch to Best Help Clients

Matt Schulz observed that the most important shift in housing right now is not rates or inventory, it is that buying no longer clearly beats renting and that changes borrower behavior in ways the industry has not fully absorbed. When owning costs materially more each month, the decision becomes analytical, not aspirational, which extends renter timelines, compresses first-time buyer demand, and reshapes where volume shows up geographically. This feels different from past cycles because the pressure is not cyclical alone, it is structural, tied to taxes, insurance, and supply constraints. For lenders, the implication is clear: demand is becoming more conditional, more mobile, and more selective. That recalibration is already underway in how borrowers think.

Travis Hodges of Viu has some thoughts on affordability. Namely, the real affordability squeeze is no longer just rates, it is the parts of the payment lenders still treat as someone else’s problem. As insurance premiums and escrow volatility accelerate, lenders are facing a structural decision: continue optimizing the loan in isolation or take ownership of the full cost of homeownership. What feels different now is that fragmentation is no longer just inefficient, it is distorting borrower decisions and eroding trust after closing. Embedding insurance is not a feature discussion, it is a shift in accountability and experience design that could redefine where value sits in the transaction. The implications are bigger than they appear at first glance.

Capital Markets

The vast majority of FHA & VA loans (mostly originated by IMBs) are placed into Ginnie Mae securities. Ginnie Mae's mortgage-backed securities (MBS) portfolio outstanding grew to $2.909 trillion as of February 2026. In addition, Ginnie Mae issued $39 billion in total MBS, resulting in net portfolio growth of $4.5 billion. Ginnie Mae facilitated the pooling and securitization of more than 101,000 loans for first-time homebuyers year to date. Key highlights from the February issuance include $38.4 billion in Ginnie Mae II MBS, $1.1 billion in Ginnie Mae I MBS (including $1 billion for multifamily housing loans), and the pooling and securitization of loans for more than 113,000 American households, including over 43,000 first-time homebuyers.

Some days, there is a lot of hullabaloo and volatility, just for bonds to end the day where they began; yesterday was one of those days due to the fluid nature of the Iran conflict. Renewed worries that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire might not hold due to Israel's continued attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon pushed prices in one direction at one point, while reports that Israel will start negotiations with Lebanon pulled in the other subsequently. The ongoing focus on the conflict overshadowed the release of a Personal Income/Outlays report for February, which showed an unexpected drop in Personal Income (-0.1 percent month-over-month when it was expected to register 0.5 percent) and a slight deceleration in the Core PCE Price Index to 3.0 percent year-over-year from 3.1 percent previously. Crude oil settled near $100/bbl. The day's $22 billion 30-yr bond reopening was met with decent, but unimpressive demand.

March’s prepayment report showed a sharp but likely short-lived acceleration, with Fannie Mae 30-year speeds jumping 22 percent month-over-month to 11.0 CPR (the fastest since April 2022) and running 67 percent above year-ago levels, aided in part by a longer day count and lingering refinance momentum. However, that strength is already under pressure as rising mortgage rates have sharply reduced borrower refinance incentive and seasonal trends turn less favorable heading into spring, pointing to slower speeds ahead.

Beneath the surface, performance continues to be heavily shaped by servicer behavior, with firms like Freedom Mortgage and Union Home driving faster prepayments across multiple coupon and loan-age segments, while others such as Citigroup, Carrington, and Bank of America lag, highlighting how operational strategy (not just borrower characteristics) remains a key determinant of MBS performance. While gains were broad across coupon stacks and especially strong in certain lower and mid coupons, and even faster in Ginnie Mae securities, the outlook is turning more cautious: seasonal factors, diminished rate incentive, and slowing refi demand are expected to push speeds modestly lower in the near term, underscoring how sensitive mortgage behavior remains to even small shifts in interest rates.

Does the CPI (Consumer Price Index) matter less than usual since the war pushed inflation higher in March? Today’s economic calendar kicked off with March CPI (+.9 percent, the highest in four years; +3.3 percent y-o-y) versus 0.7 percent expectations and a prior reading of 0.3 percent, and Core CPI (+.2 percent, +2.6 percent y-o-y) versus 0.3 percent expectations (from a rise in airfare) and a prior reading of 0.2 percent. The report is perhaps “transitory” if a perceived resolution is in the works to bring oil prices back down. However, the measure reveals just how much inflation is working its way into the consumer psyche, and ultimately, demand destruction. Future reports should reveal the contagion of cost increases driven by the spike in oil prices.

Later today brings February Factory Orders, preliminary April University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment, and the March Treasury Budget. After the CPI came in about as expected, Agency MBS prices are roughly unchanged from Thursday’s close, the 2-year yielding 3.76, and the 10-year is yielding 4.28 after closing yesterday at 4.29 percent.