Broker and Lender Products, Software, and Services

Ever gone to pick up a prescription only to be told it needs prior authorization? The request leaves the provider’s system and lands in the health insurer’s, but neither system updates the other, so you end up calling the insurance company yourself to find out whether the drug is covered. Home equity runs on the same handoffs. Valuation, title, and flood certification each sit in a separate file with no automatic sharing, so a processor logs into each one by hand just to learn where a loan stands. With U.S. homeowners holding a near-record $34.5 trillion in home equity, the demand is there, but the holdup lies elsewhere. Top-performing lenders are already closing in under 10 days, while everyone else is still on hold. FirstClose's new eBook, “Home Equity Lending in 2026: Why Speed Is Becoming the New Competitive Edge,” explains how. Read the eBook.

Most lenders don't have a lead problem. They have a visibility problem. When lead data, LO activity and pipeline status all live in separate places, the picture you get is incomplete. ICE Business Intelligence, together with Velocify®, powered by ICE, connects lead pipeline data, LO performance metrics, and campaign effectiveness into a single reporting view. Your data is talking. Are you listening? Read more.

30 minutes. One Rich. Unlimited hot takes. This week, LenderLogix CEO Patrick O’Brien is putting Rich Swerbinsky in the hot seat for their webinar: Get Rich Quick: 30 Minutes of Hot Takes from Rich Swerbinsky, a fast-paced conversation about the mortgage industry's biggest headlines, debates, and whatever else is worth talking about. Tune in Thursday, September 24 at 1 PM ET for 30 minutes of strong opinions and a few laughs along the way. Register here!

Affordability pressure doesn't disappear when the loan closes. It comes back later as repurchase risk. Your borrowers are stretched, leaving less room for errors in the file. Truework, a Checkr company, verifies income, employment, and assets before you close, replacing error-prone processes with fast, automated reports pulled directly from sources. Lenders see up to 50 percent cost savings on verifications, with faster turn times and higher accuracy. Learn more.

“eLEND: More Tools to Help You Win More Business. At eLEND, we’re continuing to expand the tools and solutions available to our broker partners. Our new eXPRESS HELOC gives borrowers a way to tap into their home equity without refinancing their existing first mortgage, adding another solution to your lending toolbelt. We’ve also expanded our DSCR program, with eligible loans now able to close in an entity name, creating added flexibility for real estate investors. And we’re making renovation lending easier with our new partnership with Ready4Remodel, an AI-powered platform that helps borrowers visualize projects, understand property-specific costs, and explore financing options before they apply. Together, these solutions are designed to help you uncover more opportunities, serve more borrowers, and compete for more business. More options. More innovation. More ways to grow with eLEND. Visit elendtpo.com, call 1-800-375-6071, or email sales@elend.com (NMLS 2826) Want in on this action? Partner today.”

Ever click a link from your lender and land somewhere that doesn't quite feel like your lender? Borrowers notice. In digital mortgage, that split-second glance at the address bar can be the difference between "I trust this" and "wait, is this legit?" Dark Matter Technologies decided white labeling shouldn't stop at swapping in a logo and some brand colors. Its custom domain framework for the Empower POS system carries the lender's brand all the way down to the domain itself, so borrowers and sellers get a fully branded, secure experience instead of a shared or provider-owned URL that raises questions nobody wants raised mid-application. The lender keeps ownership of its domain and brand; Dark Matter handles the technical work behind the scenes, so the borrower journey feels seamless and consistent, start to finish. Curious how the technology behind it actually works? Dark Matter breaks it down on its blog.

Still chasing income and employment documents? There’s a better way. Maxwell’s VOI/E solution, powered by Argyle, lets borrowers verify income and employment directly within the Point of Sale. No need for the document chase or manual follow-up that slows down the application. Lenders using Maxwell have seen a 75%+ reduction in VOI/E costs, while giving borrowers a faster, more connected verification experience. For loan officers, this means less time tracking down verification and more time moving loans forward. For borrowers, it means a faster, more connected application experience. If reducing friction in the mortgage process is on your list, take a look at Maxwell’s VOI/E.

Chrisman Demo Day is a free perk for all Chrisman Marketplace members. If you're a technology or service provider and haven't joined the Marketplace yet, reach out to Jake Perkins at info@chrismancommentary.com to learn more.

The Chrisman Marketplace is a centralized hub for vendors and service providers across the 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.

Conforming Loan Limit Changes

Many believe that residential lending has left Freddie and Fannie behind to some degree. Borrowers and properties have changed, as has risk, so there is continued talk of lower gfees and loan level price adjustments. Non-Agency investors don’t have some of those pricing hurdles, but those are two major ways of how F&F earn their income. Stay tuned.

Pennymac announced that it is the first large lender to increase conforming loan limits to $850,0000 across all production channels for single-unit properties in the lower 48, including Third-Party Origination (TPO), Consumer Direct Lending (CDL), and Pennymac Correspondent Group (PCG). Pennymac’s new conforming loan limits come ahead of FHFA’s updates to the baseline loan limit, expected this November. Pennymac's conforming $850,000 loan limit is the highest announced increase of any large lender and is $17,250 above the national baseline limit of $832,750 and is effective immediately. But it is best to read the details: on or after September 16, 2026, see Announcement 26-110 for details.

Newrez Correspondent reminds clients that Newrez will increase its Conventional loan limits for all commitment types effective with New Locks on or after September 15, 2026. The official FHFA loan limits for 2027 are expected to be released in early to mid-December.

Loan Stream Mortgage increased their conforming loan limits up to $845,000 for U.S. mainland, and up to $1,267,500 for Alaska and Hawaii.

Pennymac will update Conventional LLPAs effective for all Best-Efforts Commitments taken on or after Monday, September 21, 2026. View Announcement 26-111 for more information.

United Wholesale Mortgage announced it will be honoring estimated 2027 conforming loan limits, effective today, ahead of any official announcements from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). 

AmeriHome Mortgage General Announcement 20260705-CL summarizes previously published changes made during July, additional changes made with this announcement, and recent Agency and regulatory news.

Onity Mortgage, f/k/a PHH Mortgage, has revised topics within the Correspondent Seller Guide and is reminding Clients about the Exclusionary List policy. Log in to Onity Mortgage library for more information.

Lower, an end-to-end homeownership platform built to help our members build wealth and achieve financial freedom, announced ONE by Lower, a new mortgage program designed to help homebuyers overcome one of the biggest barriers to homeownership: saving for a down payment.

AmeriHome Mortgage 20260812-CL General Announcement summarizes previously published changes made during the month of August and provides news and additional changes made with this announcement.

Fannie Mae SEL-2026-07 and Freddie Mac Bulletin 2026-10 announced Selling Guide policy changes addressing multiple topics. AmeriHome Mortgage Announcement Number: 20260808-CL describes their acceptance of changes and includes AmeriHome additional overlays.

In Bulletin 2026-7, Freddie Mac announced an expansion permitting the use of a Property Data Report (PDR) for properties with incomplete construction or renovations, and properties with deficiencies consistent with a C5 condition rating. Effective immediately, Pennymac is not aligning with this change. View Announcement 26-91 for more information.

Effective immediately, servicers may proactively solicit borrowers who are eligible to terminate conventional mortgage insurance based on their property’s current value, helping them potentially lower their monthly mortgage costs. This change will be included in a future update to the Fannie Mae Servicing Guide.

Streamline custodial account form management with Fannie Mae’s enhanced Custodial Bank Account Management application. Beginning Sept. 17, added safeguards will help prevent common errors and provide greater clarity around signing requirements.

United Wholesale Mortgage announced the expansion of Non-Warrantable Condo eligibility, providing more ways to finance eligible condo projects. Independent mortgage brokers can now access financing for certain condo projects that typically fall outside standard agency requirements, giving qualified borrowers more flexibility when purchasing or refinancing condo properties.

Newrez Correspondent announced the acceptance of VantageScore® 4.0 effective Tuesday, September 15, 2026. Loans delivered to Newrez Correspondent using VantageScore® 4.0 must comply with all applicable Agency guidelines and Newrez Correspondent eligibility requirements. Additionally, such loans must be eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

National MI announced that it is accepting VantageScore® 4.0 for both DU® Approve/Eligible and LPA® Accept/Eligible loans. The TrueGuide® has been updated to reflect the changes.

Capital Markets

The Treasury market is undergoing some renewed price discovery after last week’s Fed rate hike, with two competing forces: renewed confidence in the Fed’s inflation-fighting credibility that could lower inflation expectations and support lower nominal yields, and persistent fiscal and Treasury-issuance concerns that demand higher real yields and term premium further out the curve. The unanimously hawkish statement, especially the dot plot showing 16 of 18 officials expecting at least one more hike this year, has pushed markets to price a more aggressive tightening path. In the short-term, the 2-year yield remains anchored by near-term policy expectations, making the yield curve more likely to (bull-)flatten when Fed credibility dominates and (bear-)steepen when fiscal concerns intensify. 2-year Treasury yields rose 10-basis points over the course of last week to 4.74 percent and 10-year Treasuries rose above a 5 percent yield multiple times.

Additional Fed hikes will depend heavily on whether policymakers are responding primarily to sticky core inflation or renewed energy-driven inflation, particularly if oil remains above $100/barrel and September inflation data prove less benign. The resulting rate volatility has weighed on mortgages, which widened in four of five sessions last week and remain tactically “cheap on spread,” but buyers are waiting for Treasuries to establish a more stable trading range before adding risk. The choppy rate environment also made mortgage hedging particularly difficult, while the deeply special FNCL 6.5 roll increased extension and financing costs for pipeline hedgers. Overall, last week reminded us that the Fed appears increasingly determined to regain control of inflation, oil is adding to the pressure, growth has yet to weaken meaningfully, and 2-year yields now look more justified. For mortgages, realized volatility needs to settle before that cheapness can translate into cleaner performance.

This week is light on the data front, with the focus being Thursday's new home sales report. Sales are expected to partially recover in August, rising 2.6 percent to a 623k pace after a sharp decline in July. Other highlights this week include Treasury auctions of $69 billion 2-years, $70 billion 5-years, and $44 billion 7-years. With nothing of note on today’s economic calendar, we begin the day with Agency MBS prices better by .125-.250 from Friday’s close, the 2-year yielding 4.72, and the 10-year yielding 4.95 after closing Friday at 5.00 percent.