As companies around the nation stage in-person or virtual costume contests, here’s some information for you a little off the beaten path. People want to own a home (“no one grows up wanting to be a renter”) regardless of… the amount of daylight? Looking at averages in the Continental United States (not Alaska or Hawaii), the difference between the amount of daylight on the first day of summer and the first day of winter is 5 ½ hours, “cushioned” by adjusting our timepieces. As much of the nation prepares to “fall back” this Sunday, talk again has come up about Congress eliminating this practice. Despite being passed in the House, and pressure from Donald Trump, several senators are holding up legislation that would eliminate changing the clocks. Supporters argue that ending the time change would mean less hassle and provide more daylight during the afternoon, when Americans are most active (except for me cuz that’s my nap time). Opponents say commuters in some states wouldn’t see the sun in winter until after 9 AM, and sunrise in the summer would be at 4 or 5 AM. Good luck with that one, Congress. (Today’s podcast can be found here. This week’s ‘casts are presented by FICO. As the industry's most predictive credit score, FICO Score 10T combines proven performance with deeper insight into borrower behavior to help support a stronger and more resilient housing finance system. Today’s has an interview with ACI Worldwide’s Tom Warsop on how real-time payments and richer payment data could make mortgage funding faster, more certain, and more efficient.)
Lender and Broker Products, Services, and Software
Your borrower relationship shouldn’t end at the closing table. Homeowners’ financial needs continue long after they get their first mortgage, but the lender relationship often does not. That creates an opportunity for mortgage professionals to support needs throughout the homeowner lifecycle. Finance of America partnered on a white paper that explores why growth may require looking beyond purchase and refinance. Download it to learn how serving the other half of the borrower journey could strengthen customer lifetime value and create growth. Download the white paper. Finance of America | NMLS 2285
Vendor management is the one process in mortgage that lenders and vendors hate equally. The lender sends 150 questions. The vendor answers the same 150 it answered last month for a different lender. The answers go into a folder and never come out. Vensight, the only vendor management platform built just for mortgage, fixes both sides. Vendors answer once; AI agents fill in most of every questionnaire after that. Lenders set policy once, and Vensight keeps the whole relationship in one record, from NDA to offboarding, every contract, scorecard, invoice, incident, and SLA in between. Ask “what did we spend with them last quarter?” and get the answer in seconds, not a week of emails. Finally, something lenders and vendors agree on. See it in 20 minutes.
Elevate your people and process with real-time, intelligent automation. Gateless is leading the way. Gateless Smart Underwrite® combines mortgage expertise, production-proven AI, and real-time orchestration to process loan files in minutes, not hours, automating underwriting analysis and related LOS updates for initial decisions. Results: 1.2M+ applications processed, 250K+ loans closed, ZERO buybacks, a 5-day reduction in approval time, and 2–3x more underwrites per day. Gateless earned AZP Insurance’s Platinum AI Mortgage Technology Certification, the highest AI certification available to vendors seeking insurance for mortgage AI solutions. Together, Gateless and AZP Insurance Brokers combine technology, independent risk assessment, and insurance expertise. Gateless outcomes are insured, adding financial protection against unlikely losses resulting from reliance on those outcomes. Automate intelligently. Scale confidently. Realize tomorrow’s future today.
Is your marketing compliance program haunted by the Unknown? The scariest thing in compliance isn’t what’s in your review queue. It’s not knowing how you compare to your peers. Are your turnaround times normal or are you the outlier? Take the ActiveComply Marketing Compliance Benchmark Survey and get first access to the results, including how your review volume and turnaround times compare, what team sizes and tech stacks peers are running with, and where other firms are putting their compliance resources in 2027. Walk into your next budget or headcount conversation with real peer data, not gut feel. Nothing frightening about that. Open to compliance and marketing compliance pros in mortgage, wealth management, and banking/credit unions. All responses are confidential. No tricks, just treats! Learn more about how ActiveComply helps lenders stay audit-ready at activecomply.com.
Your AI governance policy is only the beginning. When AI acts inside a mortgage workflow, your team still needs clear answers: Was it authorized? What was it allowed to do? Which authority applied? And where is the proof? Crittora controls AI at the moment it acts. Crittora’s CAAB solution evaluates whether an AI action is within defined authority before it reaches a tool, API, or mortgage system. Crittora Mortgage GSE Governance aligned Packs help turn those decisions into audit-ready proof. Control AI before action. Evidence after action. Less time chasing proof at audit. Crittora is the only AI security company with 100 years of combined mortgage experience. We are FRAME certified by MISMO, and ready to help you move your governance policy to production. Learn more at https://www.crittora.com/.
The next Chrisman Demo Day is November 19 and 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 Chloe Murray 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.
Wholesale and Correspondent Product News
“Lenders should keep more of what their DPA business earns. Essex Mortgage charges no fees on DPA 2nds, which may help you protect your margins on every loan. With no fees on DPA 2nds, there is one less cost to factor into every DPA loan. That makes it easier to plan your pricing, keep your pipeline moving, and give your borrowers more paths to homeownership. As the Industry Leader in Down Payment Assistance, we make that simplicity part of every loan, backed by the consistency you can trust. At Essex Mortgage, we give our partners the confidence to close with certainty. With over 20 years of DPA leadership, our proven process, nationwide reach, and elevated service help more families achieve homeownership. Ready to expand your product offerings? Connect with Essex today.”
“Every broker knows the drill. A lender announces a rate special. You move your pipeline to chase it. Then the promo ends, the price snaps back, and you're explaining to a client why their quote changed. We think your best price shouldn't need a promotion so Rocket Pro improved base pricing by 60 bps on agency, conventional, FHA, and VA products. Not for a month. Not for a quarter. There's no end date because this isn't a special. It's the price. And every broker gets it. A two-person team sees a 60 bps better base. So does a 50-LO operation. No one has to hit a number to unlock it. That's what a real partner does: earns your business with every loan instead of dangling a deadline. See the new pricing and run it against what you're getting today. We think you'll like the math.”
Newrez Correspondent updated its Fee Grid; Effective for loans submitted to Newrez for underwriting by Delegated clients on or after October 1, 2026, all applicable underwriting fees will be charged regardless of whether the loan is purchased by Newrez.
Citi Correspondent Lending is introducing a pricing enhancement of 1.000 for qualifying Agency Adjustable-Rate Mortgages (ARMs). This new incentive will be offered as of Monday, September 28, 2026.
Onity Mortgage Corporation, f/k/a PHH Mortgage Corporation, is announcing the temporary suspension of our BE Pricer tool. Log in to the Onity Mortgage Library to view the announcement content.
Onity Mortgage Corporation, f/k/a PHH Mortgage Corporation, announced their new partnership with Polly and gave important Client admin details related to the integration. Log in to the Onity Mortgage Library to view the announcement content.
Pennymac announced "Welcome Home," the second season of its "Bring It Home" video series, giving homebuyers and homeowners tools and information for every stage of the process. As the Official Mortgage Provider of Team USA, Pennymac paired its loan experts with Team USA athletes who are Pennymac homeowners, answering the questions buyers ask most.
PennyMac Financial Services, one of America's leading U.S. mortgage lenders and servicers, announced it has completed deployment of VantageScore® 4.0 across its entire production platform, including consumer direct, broker direct, and correspondent channels.
Webinars at Home
Investors bought 33 percent of all single-family homes in the second quarter of 2025, a five-year high. Picture institutional money and build-to-rent funds. Now look again because 87 percent of those buyers own one to five properties. That is not Wall Street. That is the guy with a rental two towns over who already sits in your database. Investor clients don't shop rate. They shop speed, certainty, and whether you can talk about a deal the way they think about it. Miss a closing date and you lose every deal behind it. Join Kenny Simpson and Bill Lyons, CEO of Griffin Funding, for the NMP Ignite session "How To Win Real Estate Investor Loyalty" on Tuesday, November 3 at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT, covering DSCR, bridge, second liens, cap rates, and how one investor relationship becomes ten. Register here.
Last Word is today, October 30, at 10AM PT. Brian Vieaux, Kevin Peranio, Christy Soukhamneut, and Tracey King break down the week's biggest market signals: the Fed’s lack of a move, the political climate, economic data, and what they’re seeing with clients and other lenders.
Now Next Later is Monday, November 2, at 10AM PT. Jeremy Potter leads a conversation on the digital transformation of mortgage finance, buyer and seller economics, reducing transaction friction, stablecoin and digital settlement for institutional markets, wallet-to-wallet transfers, digital loan records, ownership transparency, and faster loan settlement.
Join the Minnesota Mortgage Association’s panel of builders, a loan officer, and a realtor, on November 4 at 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM, as they lay the foundation for success in the builder channel, sharing insights, terminology, and strategies for Loan Officers to break into the builder business.
Join Pennymac on Thursday, November 5th, at 10:00 AM PT for a webinar to gain insights on Closed-End Second’s key guidelines, eligibility and features, how fixed-rate second liens let clients access equity for debt payoff, renovations and other major expenses while keeping their low first-mortgage rate, and more.
Loan Vision offers up, “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going” on Thursday, November 10, at 1PM ET. “Rates aren’t coming down. Lenders aren’t waiting. Are they heading to sharper products, better service, leaner costs, or all of the above? Join Loan Vision’s Brian Friedman, Robbie Chrisman, and Rob Chrisman in discussing what they’re seeing lenders and clients do in this environment to help head into 2027.
Deephaven offers First-Lien HELOC, DSCR and Alternative Income Features on November 5th 2-2:45 PM ET. “Your self-employed and investment clients have the equity. Their tax returns just don’t show it. Our non-agency first lien HELOC gives you a way to say ‘yes’ when traditional guidelines say ‘no.’ Join us to learn how you can offer lines up to $1 million. Serve higher-balance borrowers that most HELOC programs can’t reach, qualifying borrowers using 12-months of bank statements. Bring your scenarios. Leave with new ways to close them.
STRATMOR on Merger Strategy
M&A is about more than getting a deal done. STRATMOR Group Principal Amanda Gibson has seen companies navigate the sale process alone, work with advisors unfamiliar with the mortgage industry, or struggle to determine their next move. STRATMOR takes a different approach, helping M&A-ready companies evaluate business model fit, cultural alignment, valuation, and potential synergies. The goal isn’t simply to close a transaction. It’s to build a lasting partnership that creates value for both sides. Not sure if you’re M&A-ready? STRATMOR can help assess your situation and identify the right next step, even if it doesn’t involve M&A. To explore your options, contact Amanda Gibson and check out STRATMOR’s Mortgage Value Creation Playbook.
Capital Markets
U.S. Treasuries, and along with them Agency MBS, rallied “across the curve” yesterday as easing quarterly inflation momentum reduced expected Fed tightening, outweighing strong growth and labor data. Stronger-than-expected Q3 GDP growth of 3.4 percent and a decline in annualized core PCE inflation to 2.5 percent evidenced resilient economic activity alongside cooling underlying inflation (momentum).
But September’s Personal Income and Outlays report painted a less favorable inflation picture, with headline PCE rising to 3.6 percent year-over-year and core PCE to 3.1 percent. Consumer spending outpaced income growth and historically low jobless claims demonstrated continued labor-market strength. Yields ultimately stabilized near recent lows following a decent 7-year Treasury auction.
The implied probability of a 25-basis point December rate hike fell to 78 percent from 85 percent on Wednesday. Yes, Chair Warsh’s firm, stated commitment to the 2 percent inflation target reinforced the tightening bias (never forget, the man loves to screech like a hawk and vote like a dove), yet the decision ultimately hinges on whether incoming employment data and market conditions justify further restraint.
Put another way, this Warsh-led Fed will keep delaying action. In addition, Warsh stated that the Fed would only engage in six rate-setting meetings next year instead of the usual eight. Beyond the Fed, midterm-election outcomes and geopolitical risks (particularly potential escalation involving Iran) add uncertainty to the fiscal policy outlook, Treasury supply, and yields. Today’s economic calendar is already underway with the Q3 Employment Cost Index (+.8 percent). Later today brings October Chicago PMI and remarks from San Francisco Fed President Daly. We begin Friday with Agency MBS prices better than Thursday’s close by .125-.250, the 2-year yielding 4.58, and the 10-year yielding 4.92 after closing yesterday at 4.99 percent.
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