In news underwriters will need to know, banks and satirists across the United States are taking Director Bill Pulte’s and President Donald Trump’s 50-year mortgage suggestion are running with it. They (the underwriters) would now require an applicant's grandkids to co-sign on a 50-year mortgage "just in case” as part of the approval equation. What happens when you leave out a key part of the equation? (Skip ahead to the two-minute mark for another chuckle.) The IT staffs of lenders and vendors are always on guard not to leave out any part of any equation, and they may have some interest in this: ClickFix may be the biggest security threat your family has never heard of, as it is a relatively new technique that can bypass many endpoint protections. (Don’t confuse it with Click n’ Close, a fine company in the correspondent & wholesale space! (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by TransUnion. Mortgage lenders choose TransUnion for their identity-focused, data-driven mortgage insights and solutions, enabling them to achieve more desirable lending outcomes in a volatile housing market. Hear an interview with MeridianLink’s JP Kelly on how evolving credit scoring models, real-time analytics, and data integration are reshaping mortgage lending, from improving credit inclusivity and compliance to accelerating decision-making and redefining competition in a data-driven marketplace.)

Services, Products, Software, and Tools for Lenders and Brokers

Is the refinance wave just a ripple or the start of a surge? Optimal Blue’s October Market Advantage report shows a mortgage market that’s holding strong. Total lock volume dipped 4.2 percent from September but jumped 18 percent YoY, fueled by improving affordability and tighter rate spreads. Rate-and-term refis remained elevated (up 143 percent year over year) while cash-outs rose 6 percent MoM and 29 percent YoY. Lenders leaned into agency MBS executions, up 400 bps to 46 percent, and captured top-tier pricing on 81 percent of loans sold. The OBMMI 30-year fixed rate dropped to 6.16 percent, its lowest since 2023, and the spread to the 10-year Treasury narrowed to levels last seen in early 2022. Execution strategies remained disciplined, and pricing strength signaled growing investor confidence across the secondary market. Whether you’re pricing, hedging, or trading, the Market Advantage report delivers the insights that matter, directly from the source. Subscribe now for the full October edition.

“Extreme weather events are steadily increasing in frequency and intensity. For lenders, gaining a full understanding of the impact of climate-related events on loans in their pipeline can be challenging as, historically, climate data has lacked in granularity. This can leave lenders in the dark when it comes to managing and mitigating climate risk. The good news is there’s a better way. ICE offers a robust suite of climate risk solutions that leverage current, comprehensive data, and advanced analytics to deliver unmatched visibility into the potential and actual impact of climate-related events to subject properties. Further, by gaining access to climate and affordability data in near real time, users can better prepare before a disaster strikes, receive alerts and monitor loans during a disaster event, and accurately track property risk post-disaster. Read our blog to learn more.”

Introducing MeridianLink Insight for Mortgage! Data Intelligence & Analytics Designed to Accelerate Mortgage Business. Make faster, smarter decisions that drive mortgage lending growth with the NEW MeridianLink® Insight for Mortgage data solution. Insight for Mortgage delivers 60+ pre-built dashboards and reports, real-time peer benchmarking, and deep borrower insights from the MeridianLink® Mortgage LOS to help you: Identify more engagement opportunities, personalize offerings, create seamless borrower experiences, speed up approvals, and more, all within a customizable interface that pulls from 2000+ data sources to enhance the end-to-end mortgage origination journey. Learn how this brand-new solution can harness data to accelerate your growth potential.

Heading to the IMN MSR Forum in New York this week? Mark your calendars for tomorrow morning’s session on “Hot Button Regulations, Client Requests, and Measuring Performance of Sub-Servicers & Self-Servicers.” You’ll hear directly from Covius Chief Business Officer Pete Pannes, who will moderate the panel, and executives from Newrez, LoanCare, Cenlar, Dovenmuehle, and PMSI. The panel will discuss escrow challenges, retention opportunities, the new compliance landscape and changing MSR economics. Want to discuss your strategy for this market? Reach out to set up a meeting during the conference.

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.

Wholesale and Correspondent Product News

Expand your business with Planet Home Lending Correspondent. As the housing market heads into winter, savvy lenders will be adding niche products to build volume and strengthen relationships with real estate agents. Planet makes it easy for lenders to offer three powerhouses: Renovation, Manufactured Housing, and Co-Issue. With non-delegated delivery and expert support, you can launch quickly without disrupting operations. In 2026, you’ll be helping real estate agents move dated listings, serving more affordability-minded buyers, and seeing higher volume. Ready to expand your product lineup? Contact Jason Mac Gloan, SVP Correspondent Sales, at 843-625-6869.

While many lenders have pulled back from construction lending, Click n’ Close is leaning in… carefully. The company has just announced a tripling of its warehouse capacity to meet the growing demand for its One-Time Close (OTC) construction-to-permanent product, which is available across FHA, VA, USDA, and Section 184 loans. The move follows a record profit year and underscores investor confidence in Click n’ Close’s balance sheet and risk discipline. The OTC product, which can finance land, construction, and permanent costs in one go, continues to stand out as one of the few viable FHA options in the market. In a year when “measured growth” is a luxury, Click n’ Close seems content to build quietly, brick by brick. Learn more here.

Compliance Products, Warnings, and Updates

CLE-Eligible Webinar: The 50-Year Mortgage and What It Means for Compliance. Join experts from Asurity, Sandler Law Group, Hudson Cook, and Mitchell Sandler for a CLE-eligible webinar on November 19 at 1 PM ET. Explore the implications of the new proposed 50-year mortgage, and what it signals for lenders, investors, and regulators. Gain insights on CFPB priorities, GSE guidance, and expanding state enforcement. CLE credit is available for TX and IL (pending CA & NY).

The 100th Edition of Levy’s Mortgage Musings is out. To celebrate this “very special edition” of the Musings, attorney and Mortgage Law Today host Brian Levy provides a spirited tour of his disdain for bad regulations and love of summer camps with a discussion of Cass Sunstein’s “nudging” regulatory policies and a brief shout out to utilitarian philosophy, among many other things. Can he pull all that off and still be funny, insightful, and accessible to all readers? Somehow Levy usually seems to bring it all together, but you can decide for yourself here, and sign up to get the Mortgage Musings delivered by email directly for free at www.blevy.substack.com.

Firstline Compliance President Josh Weinberg, CMCP, and our friends at Firstline Compliance, remind you to “keep disclosures and timelines in mind this Thanksgiving so your borrowers don’t think you’re a Turkey! November 23 (Thanksgiving Day) is a federal holiday and Specific Business Day, so excluded from all timing calculations. November 24 (the day after) is not a federal holiday and follows the General Business Day requirements. If your office is closed, it doesn’t count for sending initial or revised LEs or CDs, SSPLs, or the Toolkit, but it still counts for the 3-day CD review period, 7-day initial LE rule (MDIA), and rescission periods.

“The last day to close and fund a refinance in probably November is Friday, November 21; those closing Monday, November 24, will fund Monday, December 1. Holiday schedules don’t stop the regulatory clock, so make sure your teams are aligned. Stay compliant and pass the gravy once the LE is out!” Thank you, Josh!

Capital Markets

A deep understanding of how mortgages are created, priced, and delivered is critical in mortgage capital markets. MCT’s recent webinar, Intro to Mortgage Banking, connects foundational concepts to current strategies shaping secondary marketing. Watch as MCT experts, Bill Shirreffs and John Sayre, walk through the mortgage origination process, examine key loan and borrower characteristics, and discuss how execution decisions are made. The session also explores the lasting influence of the GSEs and the financial crisis, which continue to shape today’s market dynamics. Whether you’re building your secondary market foundation or elevating your execution strategy, this session offers non-negotiable practical knowledge essential to the mortgage capital markets industry. To be notified of upcoming webinars and other educational content, join MCT’s newsletter.

It’s better to have loved and lost than never loved at all. In this case, and it is a bit of a stretch, I’m talking about Robbie and I publishing the Commentary without the usual 8:30AM ET economic releases during the government shutdown. But it appears that things will crank back up, at least until January when we may be going through this again. Oh… wait a minute… The White House said yesterday that it was unlikely the federal jobs report or the Consumer Price Index reports that were due to be released in October would be published after the government shutdown ends. Recall that Fed Chair Jerome Powell said, on Oct. 29, "If you ask me, 'could it affect the December meeting?' I’m not saying it’s going to, but... what do you do if you’re driving in the fog? You slow down.’”

While we’re on the Fed, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said yesterday he will retire at the end of his current term on February 28, 2026, an unexpected departure amid a push by President Donald Trump for more influence over the Fed. Remember that, despite tweets, Trump does not select the presidents of the regional Fed banks, but the appointments must be approved by the central bank's Board of Governors, which the U.S. president is trying to reshape through the attempted firing of Governor Lisa Cook and the upcoming choice of a replacement for Fed Chair Jerome Powell when his term as Fed chief ends next spring.

In the bond markets, even after a brief dip following a weak $42 billion 10-year note auction yesterday, yields on 10- and 30-year bonds stayed below their recent averages, signaling steady demand. Yesterday’s 10-year Treasury auction was mixed, stopping at a 4.07 percent yield, below the 4.34 percent recent average. Non-dealers took a strong 89.5 percent share, while the bid-to-cover of 2.43 was slightly weaker than usual. Dealers bought less than average, directs bought more, and indirects were steady. Treasuries rallied before the sale but yields rose afterward as the market cheapened.

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index slipped to 98.2 in October, marking a second straight monthly drop and returning sentiment to its lowest level since new tariffs were introduced in April. While confidence remains above pre-election levels, many owners reported that limited labor availability, softer sales, and shrinking profits are dampening their outlook. On a positive note, hiring conditions have remained steady, and fewer businesses are raising prices. Still, small firms continue to cite high operating costs, elevated borrowing rates, and sluggish demand as key pressures on growth.

Today’s lone data point is the October budget statement, with the Congressional Budget Office estimating a deficit of $219 billion versus $257 billion in the prior fiscal year. Treasury will announce next week’s auction sizes for 20-year bonds and reopened 10-year TIPS before auctioning $25 billion 30-year bonds. Freddie Mac will release its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (the prior week’s 30- and 15-year mortgage rates rising 5-basis points and 9-basis points to 6.22 percent and 5.50 percent, respectively), and two Fed speakers are currently scheduled: St. Louis’ Musalem and Cleveland’s Hammack. We begin Thursday with Agency MBS prices roughly unchanged from Wednesday’s close, the 2-year yielding 3.59, and the 10-year yielding 4.09 after closing yesterday at 4.07 percent.