Let’s open the mail bag and see what’s going on. “Rob, plenty of conferences offer continuing education. Do any organizations offer CE?” Yup. Lenders One members receive it as a free benefit for all their LOs. Contact Tricia Migliazzo. At this point it appears that no politician of either party wants to cut spending. “Rob, according to the Treasury Department, the national debt stands at $39.7 trillion. When President Trump took office in January 2025, it was $36.1 trillion, so $3.6 trillion has been added to the nation’s debt pile in just 18 months. In his first term, Trump added $7.8 trillion to the national debt. Add his first term total and his total from the first 18 months of his second term, and he gets credit for amassing $11.4 trillion dollars of debt. Will that impact mortgage rates?” It should, but it hasn’t so far. Believe it or not, the last president to balance the budget was Bill Clinton… And the jungle drums continue to talk about social security funding. Won’t that be fun? (Today’s podcast can be found here. This week’s ‘casts are sponsored by Figure. Figure is shaking up the lending world with their five-day HELOC, offering borrower approvals in as little as five minutes and funding in five days. Figure has hundreds of partners in the Banking, Credit Union, Home Improvement, and of course, IMB space embedding their technology. Today’s has an interview with Mortgage Solutions Financial’s Dawn Dawson on modern mortgage marketing.)
Jobs
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mLOOP, the transfer portal for mortgage originators is here. Explore your options anonymously, see who you match with, and control when your identity is revealed. No cold calls. Start on mLOOP.
Drive Enterprise Growth at One of Mortgage Tech’s Most Trusted Brands. Floify is looking for an experienced Enterprise Account Executive to help accelerate the next chapter of growth for one of the mortgage industry’s leading point-of-sale platforms. This role will focus on acquiring new business, building relationships with executive decision-makers, and helping Independent Mortgage Banks, Banks, and Credit Unions modernize the mortgage experience. We’re looking for a consultative sales professional with deep mortgage technology experience, a proven track record of winning enterprise business, and the ability to navigate complex sales cycles while delivering results. This is a unique opportunity to make a meaningful impact at a company known for innovation, exceptional customer satisfaction, and a people-first culture. If you’re ready to represent a product customers love while helping shape the future of mortgage technology, we’d love to connect. Apply today. For consideration or to recommend someone from your network, email Jason. All inquiries will remain confidential.
Non-Agency is growing, and AmeriHome has updated its non-Agency guidelines to match, enhanced DSCR and Expanded products, and extended the hours for AmeriHome’s Live Non-Agency Scenario Desk to 10 am to 2 pm PT! If you’re looking to get help structuring your non-agency loans, run through loan scenarios, or need help with unique borrower situations: there’s no better time than now to connect. Contact them to learn more. AmeriHome is also hiring an SVP, Sr. Director Underwriting! Click here for more information. You can also catch them beachside next week at the CMBA’s Western Secondary Conference in Racho Palos Verdes! Meet with members of the AmeriHome team to learn what they can do to help your business thrive and then let loose at the always electric All-Attendee Party! Follow AmeriHome Correspondent on LinkedIn to stay in-the-know and check their events page to see where else they’ll be throughout the rest of the year!
Button Finance, a leading 2nd-mortgage and non-QM lender, is looking for an experienced Loan Officer Manager to lead its Direct-to-Consumer business based in Irvine, CA. The manager will be responsible for growing a dynamic team of LOs to scale our retail business. The Direct-to-Consumer team is supported by a dedicated call center and in-house processing and underwriting. We’re looking for a driven manager who will be responsible for recruiting, training, scaling, and optimizing a high-velocity lending environment. This is an in-office position in Irvine, CA with top compensation for the right candidate. To apply, please send your resume to rose@buttonfinance.com.
The Chrisman Job Board is the go-to platform for employment opportunities across the mortgage industry. For employers, adding a job listing is easy. Simply create an account and drop in your existing application link, or forward the details to our team and we’ll take care of it for you. For job seekers, joining our Talent Community is completely free. Upload your resume to be visible to hiring companies across the industry and stay connected to new opportunities as they go live.
Lender and broker software, products, and services
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What if the most important capital markets decision you’re making today is based on incomplete data? Mortgage lenders don’t struggle with a lack of information. They struggle with too much of it spread across too many systems. Pricing in one place. Hedge performance in another. Pipeline metrics somewhere else. By the time you’ve connected the dots, the market has already moved. That’s why Optimal Blue created Profitability Center, a unified capital markets dashboard that brings production metrics, profitability insights, market intelligence, pipeline activity, investor ratesheets, and platform updates into a single personalized view. No more hunting. No more switching screens. No more waiting for reports. Just the insights that matter, surfaced the moment you log in. Whether you’re managing margins, monitoring lock activity, or overseeing production performance, Profitability Center helps you move faster and act with confidence. See what a truly connected capital markets experience looks like.
Heading to the HousingWire AI Summit on August 11? JazzX AI will be there and we should connect. If you’re interested in how lenders are moving beyond disconnected AI point solutions toward enterprise intelligence, let’s grab lunch, connect between sessions, or meet at happy hour. We’d love to compare notes and learn what your team is focused on. Email marketing@jazzx.ai with a meeting time.
Regulatory oversight for automated valuation models (AVMs) has shifted in recent years, placing greater emphasis on rigorous testing and validation. Lenders who aren’t keeping pace with evolving compliance requirements are exposed to greater risk. ICE’s AVM Model Monitor provides transparent, detailed reporting lenders need to help support compliance, strengthen internal risk policies, and build more efficient property valuation workflows. Built on more than 10 years of historical information and powered by ICE’s national property data, AVM Model Monitor delivers daily forward-blind testing, independent model validation and automated monthly reporting, all through an intuitive self-service dashboard. Learn how ICE helps customers strengthen their testing and validation workflows with AVM Model Monitor.
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.
What would you do with your extra time if not chasing paperwork? Kind Lending now offers a major innovation for its broker partners and MLOs called Fetch & Close as part of an ongoing movement to make mortgage Kind of easy. Fetch & Close streamlines the process by auto-verifying income & employment on conventional loans when brokers run LPA in its Kwikie portal. No extra steps: all brokers need to do is check findings for eligibility. Qualified loans don’t need a verbal VOE and all fees for VOI/E are waived. Designed for W-2 earners with 12-month employment history. Plus, there’s still a lift when only one co-borrower is eligible. Not an approved broker? Join the Kind movement and discover why more brokers are choosing Kind.
We’re launching Chrisman Demo Day. Once a month, mortgage tech and service companies get 10 minutes to show live product demos, no slides, no fluff: how well do they communicate with other providers. First one’s Thursday, August 20, 10am PT / 1pm ET. Sign up here to watch; for questions contact Chrisman COO Jake Perkins.
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.
Today & tomorrow’s webcasts of note
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Every technology wave in mortgage has made the same promise: helping people work faster. This one is different: the AI doesn’t assist with the work, it does the work. So-called AI “employees” now answer leads, book appointments, follow up with borrowers, update the CRM, and keep pipelines moving at 3 a.m. while your team sleeps. In the NMP Webinar “The Future of Mortgage Is an AI Workforce,” Tuesday, August 11 at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT, Pavan Agarwal, CEO of Sun West Mortgage Company and creator of AngelAi, joins Chuck La Flair, President of All In Lending, to show how No Touch Lending lets lenders close more loans without adding a single seat… which tasks AI already handles, and what it means for originators and broker owners. Curious, skeptical, or already experimenting, register here.
The Big Picture is today at noon PT. This week on The Big Picture, attorney Mitch Kider and Figure CEO Michael Tannenbaum are joined by Sam Valverde, Managing Director at Falcon Capital, for a conversation on the future of housing finance. The discussion explores today’s policy landscape, the evolving role of government in the mortgage market, and the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of housing finance.
Tomorrow at 10AM is the Last Word: Brian Vieaux, Kevin Peranio, Christy Soukhamneut, and Coby Hakalir break down the week’s biggest market signals, agency developments, and industry storylines. The discussion focuses on what the industry got right, what it missed, and what lenders should be watching next.
UWM: Indicative of the entire industry?
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UWM Holdings Corporation, the publicly traded indirect parent of United Wholesale Mortgage (“UWM”), announced its results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026, and there was plenty for its critics to point out. It had originations of $39.7 billion in 2Q26, compared to $44.9 billion in 1Q26 and $39.7 billion in 2Q25. Purchase originations were $23.8 billion in 2Q26, nicely up from $18.7 billion in 1Q26 but markedly down from $27.3 billion in 2Q25. Refinance originations were $15.9 billion in 2Q26, compared to $26.3 billion in 1Q26 and $12.4 billion in 2Q25 The Company reported 2Q 26 net loss of $451.9 million.
Lenders around the industry took note that the Company’s Board of Directors suspended its quarterly dividend. The Company also announced a $2.05 billion equity capital investment by Oaktree Capital Management and SFS Group Capital, LLC, a newly formed investment vehicle wholly owned by the Ishbia family. The Oaktree quote comes from its Global Opportunities Group, the “distressed” desk. It is the largest capital raise in mortgage industry history, and the proceeds are expected to be used primarily to pay down existing debt, repay MSR financing facilities, strengthen UWM’s liquidity and equity base, and support general corporate purposes. $2 billion will go a long way but isn’t without a cost.
So UWM’s purchase volume was $23.8 billion, down 13 percent in a market that grew. (Redwood Trust’s purchase volume, for example, doubled.) Total volume was $39.7 billion, still a sizeable portion of the industry, but was down from $44.9 billion in Q1. And expenses were up 21 percent.
United Wholesale Mortgage announced today “Bullseye 90,” a 90 basis points (bps) pricing incentive for eligible agency loans. “Available on new locks now through September 8, loan officers can apply the 90bps to one eligible agency purchase or refinance loan of their choosing, giving them the flexibility to use it when it can make the greatest impact.” Additional details about this limited-time pricing incentive can be found here.
July’s “3 Points with Mat Ishbia” can be found here and includes Mat’s statements on FHA’s minimum property requirements, the Fed is holding rates steady, and asking about a delay with condo rules (that didn’t happen). August’s 3Points with Mat Ishbia can be found here and topics include the Fed chair looking to drive down mortgage rates, a major reform to mortgage rules, and new home sales rising.
So, is UWM on the ropes? Nope. Is it prospering? Nope. It is a mixed bag, and plenty of lenders and investors are doing better and worse. Mat Ishbia and UWM have their critics and they have plenty to talk about. But are you going to bet against them?
Capital markets: employment’s shift may impact rates
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Front-end pricing constantly shifts, and borrowers are shopping for a rate long before they pick up the phone. So, when a loan officer insists a competitor is beating you on price, the capital markets desk needs to know today whether that’s true, and what moving the margin would actually cost or gain in volume. Introducing MCT’s Lender Analytics Advanced, a brand-new tier of its Lender Analytics platform. The newly launched tier provides data to answer the front-end question directly, giving margin managers an accurate competitive read on borrower pricing: discount points, lender credits, and fees normalized to a comparable borrower price and benchmarked against real peers by note rate. The intelligence comes from actual locks and deliveries, not quotes, surveys, or models. The data is sourced from MCT Marketplace across more than half of correspondent lenders and over 95 percent of correspondent buyers, the largest buyer-and-seller secondary market dataset available. Stop setting margins by instinct. Register for MCT’s webinar, “Introducing Lender Analytics Advanced,” on August 20 for a live demo of the front-end pricing workbook, peer comparison tools, and spec trends now available in Lender Analytics Advanced.
U.S. Treasuries posted a third straight gain yesterday, pushing longer-term yields down to one-week lows as investors favored safe-haven assets amid subdued global bond trading and mixed economic data, including stronger eurozone services activity but an unexpected slowdown in China’s services sector. Gains held through a largely directionless session and were reinforced by falling oil prices, with crude settling at a three-week low below its 200-day moving average, helping support demand for Treasuries.
Ahead of tomorrow’s release of the July payrolls report, the ADP Employment Change report pointed to the addition of 44k nonfarm payrolls in July, well below 75k expectations and down from 95k in June. While the U.S. workforce has reached a record 162 million people, labor force participation has fallen to its lowest level (61.5 percent) since the late 1970s, aside from during the pandemic; this is a structural shift that the headline unemployment rate increasingly obscures. Participation has steadily declined among younger workers (particularly those aged 25 to 34), while Americans aged 55 and older are remaining in or reentering the workforce at much higher rates than two decades ago. We’re seeing a reshaping of the labor market in ways that extend well beyond monthly payroll and unemployment figures.
Ginnie Mae custom pools have evolved from a niche product into a significant segment of the Agency MBS market, now representing roughly one-quarter of outstanding Ginnie Mae balances as investors increasingly favor customized pools that offer more predictable prepayment characteristics and greater value than generic multi-issuer pools. Driven by strong issuance growth and the ability to tailor exposures (e.g., concentrating slower-paying borrowers or specific loan types), custom pools are reshaping pooling and investment strategies, mirroring the earlier rise of specified pools in the conventional market despite remaining outside the major MBS index and ineligible for TBA delivery. For more discussion on Ginnie Mae, today’s The Big Picture (12p PT/3p ET) features former Ginnie Mae president Sam Valverde.
Today’s economic calendar is already under way. U.S.-based employers announced 33k job cuts in July, down 27 percent from the 46k cuts announced in June and down 46 percent from the 62k layoff plans announced in the same month last year, and marks the lowest monthly total in two years, per global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
We’ve also received Preliminary Q2 Productivity (+1.4 percent) and preliminary Q2 Unit Labor Costs, and weekly Initial Claims (199k), and Continuing Claims. Later today brings June Wholesale Inventories, expected to be unchanged from the prior month at 0.3 percent. After this initial salvo of news Agency MBS prices little changed from Wednesday’s close, the 2-year is yielding 4.21, and the 10-year is yielding 4.64 after closing yesterday at 4.62 percent.
Two Irish nuns have just arrived in USA by boat, and one says to the other, “I hear that the people in this country actually eat dogs.”
“Odd,” her companion replies, “but if we shall live in America, we might as well do as the Americans do.”
Nodding emphatically, the mother superior points to a hot dog vendor and they both walk towards the cart. “Two dogs, please,” says one.
The vendor is only too pleased to oblige, and he wraps both hot dogs in foil and hands them over the counter. Excited, the nuns hurry over to a bench and begin to unwrap their “dogs.”
The mother superior is first to open hers. She begins to blush and then, staring at it for a moment, leans over to the other nun and whispers cautiously: “What part did you get?”
Visit www.ChrismanCommentary.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. You can also explore the Chrisman Marketplace, a centralized hub connecting mortgage professionals with trusted vendors and solutions. If you’re interested, check out my periodic blog on the STRATMOR Group website. STRATMOR’s current blog is “Pricing That Can Help Borrowers.” The Commentary’s podcast is available on all major platforms, including Apple and Spotify.
qoɹ & ǝᴉqqoɹ
(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes, visit the Chrisman Job Board. This newsletter is intended for sophisticated mortgage professionals only. There are no paid endorsements by me. For the latest mortgage news, visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.ChrismanCommentary.com. Copyright 2026 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Paid job & product listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold, or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman. The views and opinions in this newsletter are mine alone unless otherwise specifically stated herein.)
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