Todd Maki: Digital Closings Transform the Borrower Experience
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Digital closings - including hybrid and all-digital - have been in use for years now, but mortgage technology companies continue...
Donna Schmidt: How Mortgage Servicers Can Protect Against Data Breaches
PERSON OF THE WEEK: The mortgage industry has been hit hard by cybersecurity incidents in recent months, causing alarm among both lenders and servicers....
Tracy Huber: One Way Lenders Can Protect Themselves From Buybacks
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Loan buybacks spiked in 2022, following the pandemic-fueled housing boom, and remained elevated through most of 2023, causing alarm for...
It’s Easier Now to Get a Tax Transcript – Or Is It?
“…Nothing is certain except death and taxes” - Benjamin Franklin
BLOG VIEW: The IRS recently announced it was overhauling the Income Verification Express Service (IVES)...
Rich Berg: Warehouse Lending Challenges and Outlook
PERSON OF THE WEEK: The warehouse lending segment has been adapting to some major changes during the past year and half - not the...
Is the Mortgage Industry Ready to Embrace AI in 2024?
BLOG VIEW: Considering the cyclical nature of the mortgage industry and the resilience it exhibits during its ups and downs, it is safe to...
Miki Adams: The Growth of Down Payment Assistance Over the Past Decade
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Down payment assistance (DPA) programs have skyrocketed in popularity during the past two years, in response to the erosion of...
How Mortgage Lenders Can Prepare for 2024: Emerging Trends, Technologies and Threats
BLOG VIEW: 2023 has been quite a wake-up call for the mortgage industry. Market forces such as low inventory and sustained high home prices,...
Five Best Practices to Guide the Migration to Digital Lending
BLOG VIEW: Digital lending is looming large over the industry, and lenders are at various stages of incorporating digital processes with many not knowing...
The ‘Five to Thrive’ Strategy for Success in a Challenging Mortgage Market
BLOG VIEW: The housing market currently faces unprecedented challenges and a constant sense of uncertainty. Originations are at or near the lowest point in...
Steve Wiese: Lenders Must Focus on Mitigating Bias in the Appraisal Process
PERSON OF THE WEEK: For years it has been widely acknowledged in the appraisal industry that fostering greater diversity in all facets of the...
Matt Stadler: With Default Servicing, Timing is Critical
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Default servicing is an important yet very distinct segment within the mortgage servicing industry. On the surface, its purpose seems...
Randy Kozlowski: Mortgage Servicers Can Expect More Problems with Escrow in the Near Future
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Having access to current and accurate property tax data is critical for any mortgage servicer. The monitoring of property tax...
Mohammad Rashid: AI and Big Data are Revolutionizing Mortgage Lending, But Will They Reduce...
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Artificial intelligence and big data hold great promise for the mortgage lending industry. As lenders implement new and advanced AI-powered...
Susan Graham: Lessons Learned From 40 Years in Mortgage Servicing Software
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Financial Industry Computer Systems (FICS) is one of the oldest mortgage software companies in the industry. Since 1983, the firm...
Hassan Rashid: When Adopting AI, Mortgage Lenders Must Consider Both the Benefits and the...
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to further revolutionize the mortgage lending process, which has already been undergoing a transformation with...
Mortgage Servicers Must Navigate Many ‘Danger Zones’ in This Current Regulatory Environment
BLOG VIEW: Mortgage servicers are under ever increasing regulatory scrutiny. Regulatory bodies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), are now more focused on...
Rod Griffin: Education is the Key to Boosting Homeownership
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Today’s first-time homebuyers face a lot of obstacles - in particular, higher mortgage rates, rising home prices, lack of inventory,...
Three Reasons Why Mortgage Lenders Should Embrace AI for Document Processing
BLOG VIEW: The mortgage lending industry has come a long way from the days of simple automation to create document sets for borrower closings....
Toby Wells: Seamless MSR Transfers Are Not Pie in the Sky
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Smooth and efficient MSR transfers are crucial to keeping borrowers happy and achieving operational excellence. Unfortunately, smooth MSR transfers are...