Lender and Broker Services, Products, and Software

Home equity may have been the headline in 2025, but the real story is what comes next. With nearly $35 trillion in homeowner equity and rising consumer debt shaping borrower behavior, the opportunity is clear. The path to capturing it is not. On Wednesday, Dec. 17, at 3 p.m. Central Time, leaders from Optimal Blue and FirstClose will unpack the signals behind the surge and the quieter forces reshaping home equity performance. From secondary market shifts to automation gains and the widening gap between fast and slow operators, this session spotlights the levers that sophisticated lenders are already pulling. If you’re reevaluating cost structures, cycle times, or strategies for differentiating yourself in a market that values precision, you’ll want to hear this conversation. It’s a forward look at where advantage is forming and how to position your team to capture it. Register here.

MortgageFlex’s latest Servicing release delivers a significant enhancement to special servicing management by introducing powerful, compliance, escalation-driven workflow queues that elevate both efficiency and accuracy. This major upgrade adopts a modern, work-queue–centric approach designed to address one of the industry’s most persistent challenges: the rapid increase in customer service escalations. With this release, work queues now underpin every system-level function, allowing clients to configure and maintain their own escalation templates tailored to organizational processes. Tasks are automatically routed and assigned based on user roles, ensuring that work is prioritized appropriately, consistently tracked, and completed without operational bottlenecks. This structured and transparent workflow framework not only reduces compliance risk but also strengthens a servicer’s ability to respond quickly and effectively to borrower needs. Additionally, the platform now provides complete loan-level visibility through an instantly accessible notification tracking tree, giving servicing teams immediate insight into all activities and communication. Check here for a sneak peek…

’Tis the season when most vendors thank clients and partners, and Dark Matter Technologies is no exception. But here’s the holiday twist. Dark Matter is closing out an exceptional year marked by significant automation gains, ecosystem expansion and technology that actually delivered. Its Empower LOS got even more efficient, its Borrower and Loan Officer portals got friendlier with your mobile device, its Elevate servicing platform got smarter and Aiva kept proving that intelligence really is the new productivity. As the holiday lights go up and eggnog flows, Dark Matter looks ahead to 2026 with a few resolutions of its own: to help mortgage lenders gear up with the right tech before they fall behind. With auto-assigned, data-driven tasks, modern servicing tools and integrations that fit end-to-end, Dark Matter aims to make next year smoother, leaner and a whole lot brighter for lenders doing the real work. If you’re ready to sleigh 2026, Dark Matter stands prepared to guide your course.

Navigating the surge in home insurance costs presents significant challenges for both homeowners and mortgage servicers. To proactively address the rise in costs, servicers must adopt strategies that support borrowers and simultaneously protect their loan portfolios. By having real-time data insights to automate borrower identification and outreach, as well as provide access to insurance options, servicers can help reduce defaults, preserve homeownership and build lasting relationships. Read more about how lenders and servicers can help borrowers navigate rising costs in the blog post by Matt Dowd, Vice President of Product Management at ICE Mortgage Technology.

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.

Correspondent and Lender Product News

You know what your investor clients need and Rocket Pro answered with its new DSCR loan. It is built for speed. Rocket has eliminated complex exceptions, providing crystal clear guidelines that mean faster decisions. If the investor loan has a 680+ FICO and a 1.0+ DSCR, the file qualifies for the best execution without jumping through hoops. And the technology calculates DSCR at registration, giving you transparency from the start. Rocket Pro’s DSCR loan is live now. Price it today. Not a Rocket Pro partner? Sign up now. NMLS #3030, Equal Housing Lender.

What do these top non-QM execs see coming in 2026? Find out in real time during the final NMP Webinar of the year: “Non-QM Townhall - Getting Ready for Success in 2026.” This high-energy, one-hour session brings together four of the most influential sales leaders in non-QM lending: Tom Davis (Deephaven), John Wise (Newfi), John Jeanmonod (Angel Oak), and Mel Freyre (Lendz Financial) for a live discussion focused on non-QM opportunities and threats. Happening Wednesday, December 18 at 1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT, this interactive Townhall covers what worked in 2025, the top-performing non-QM products, capital market shifts, and the biggest opportunities for 2026. You’ll also walk away with proven strategies to source more non-QM business in the new year. Ask questions, join the conversation, and set yourself up for a stronger 2026 with more non-QM. Register here.

Get Ready! LoanStream delivers Early Holiday Surprises to supercharge your December! First, gain a Powerful Edge with December Specials on non-QM and FHA Streamline/VA IRRRL loans, with up to 75 BPS (with Select Specials) or 25 BPS (without) on all Non-QM products, including DSCR 5–8 and non-QM Jumbo, and 60 BPS (with Select Specials) or 25 BPS (without) on FHA Streamline and VA IRRRLs (excludes Closed End or Standalone Seconds). For loans locked December 1–31, 2025: https://bit.ly/4prPktw Plus, new guideline updates on DSCR 5-8: Loan Amounts to $3 million, credit scores down to 680 and transferred appraisals accepted. DSCR Investor update: Cash Out can be used as reserves for Core, Fusion, Sub1, No Ratio and new DSCR Foreign National program with loan amounts to $2 million.

The Broker Insights Group to invite you to take a survey to shape how lenders work with brokers in 2026. 10 minutes gets you a $20 Amazon gift card and entered into a drawing for a $500 Visa gift card. Some broker shops are pooling theirs together to donate to a community charity. (Additionally, if you're considering doing any kind of survey component on the site, the Broker Insights Group would love to work out some kind of partnership agreement to help you get insights while also facilitating research. Have 30 minutes to connect this next week with their leadership directly? They're also interested in talking through a couple ad opportunities.)

Capital Markets

“How a lender performs in its Capital Markets Department makes a huge difference in overall profitability. Loan sales, hedging, pricing strategies, investor partnerships, post-closing speeds, warehouse turn-times, LOS functionality, accurate and up-to-date data in easily accessible formats… These all play a major role in determining your competitiveness in the marketplace. Mortgage Trading Analytics would like the opportunity to be your second set of eyes on how well you’re doing, how you could improve, and show you how our specialized analytics, unique technology, and extensive experience can deliver you outsized gains while saving you money and streamlining your processes. We’ve learned that even the most experienced Lenders have inefficiencies and we can help you identify and improve those areas. We are competitively priced, service oriented, and guarantee we will find ways for you to make or save money or you pay nothing. Contact John Sheadel (404.825.1560) to learn more!”

For those who care what interest rates do, and who doesn’t, last week the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) lowered the fed funds rate by 25-basis points as widely expected, though the committee was split with four members preferring no change. The committee faces the challenging task of weighing persistent high inflation against a softening labor market. During his press conference, Chairman Powell continued his recent rhetoric: future moves would be guided by data, and the path of monetary policy is not a foregone conclusion. The upside risk to inflation remains the question of whether the tariffs have caused a one-time increase in price levels or if prices will keep rising. Meanwhile, hiring has fallen to a cycle low (per the October JOLTS report), and employment costs have risen at their slowest annual pace since mid-2021.

This week brings a dense slate of delayed U.S. employment and inflation data that could clarify which side of the Fed’s dual mandate (labor or prices) deserves greater attention. Key releases include November payrolls tomorrow and October PCE on Friday, alongside retail sales, PMIs, housing data, sentiment surveys, and remarks from Fed officials. Globally, markets will also digest central bank decisions from Europe and Japan, with a Bank of England cut and a potential Bank of Japan hike in focus, while U.S. supply features 20-year bonds and 5-year TIPS midweek. In MBS, investors will monitor Class C and D 48-hour notifications on Tuesday and Thursday. Today’’s calendar kicked off with Empire manufacturing for December. Later today brings the NAHB Housing Market Index for December and some Fed speak. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices little changed from Friday’s close, the 2-year yielding 3.51, and the 10-year yielding 4.17 after closing last week at 4.19 percent.