“A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.” How’s your memory of rates, and what you did when they moved higher? 30-year mortgage rates were about at this level, briefly, exactly three years ago, but before that we weren’t here since the late 1990’s when they were at these levels for a long time. How many of your sales staff were in the biz then? As the United States’ deficit continues to increase, 5-year Treasury securities, issued at 1 percent, are paying off and the U.S. Government is now having to pay 5 percent on new 5-year T-notes. At the Virginia Mortgage Bankers Association’s Conference, which wraps up today, the talk on the stage and in the hallways revolved around this relatively high rate environment, AI, credit changes, LOs being relevant, and how lenders should pay attention to demographics. Along those lines, the VantageScore news this week will certainly be a topic on Last Word today at 10AM PT when Brian Vieaux, Tracey King, Kevin Peranio, and Christy Soukhamneut discuss changes in credit, AI governance, the UAD 3.6 shift, and industry storylines. (Today’s podcast can be found here. This week’s ‘casts are presented by Gateless, intelligent automation that gives you the competitive edge. Gateless solutions reduce costs, deliver a superior borrower experience, and mitigate risk by automating tasks and decisions historically made by people. Today’s has an interview with Eris Future’s Geoffrey Sharp on how futures contracts replicate the cash flows and functionality of over-the-counter interest rate swaps, and are suitable for short-term trading or long-term hedging.)
Lender and brokers products, services, and software
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Many future closings come from people a loan officer already knows. Past borrowers. Referral partners. Personal networks. Those relationships matter. Staying connected to them consistently is often a real challenge. Good intentions alone don’t create consistency. Without a solution, that challenge often results in missed opportunities. MortgageHalo was built with that in mind. Built to make professional lives better and easier, MortgageHalo solves this challenge through ongoing done-for-you communications that help loan officers stay connected. The system captures and delivers opportunities from relationships already earned without creating more work. It is designed to drive repeat, referral, and recapture business. To learn more, activate an account online, or schedule a personalized demo, visit here.
Byte LOS now supports VantageScore 4.0 and FICO-10T, alongside Classic FICO, empowering lenders to take advantage of the GSEs’ expanded model choice. Byte displays scores, findings, and score rank for both models, side-by-side, with visual indicators showing the “active model” to support the one-model-per-loan requirement. Lenders can also switch the active model within a loan, while supporting downstream data updates including HMDA, disclosure set up and SFC/IFI. Byte’s native QC tools help maintain exceptional loan quality standards, including continuity with co-borrower scores across the loan. Request a demo or meet at MBA Annual to learn how Byte’s next-gen LOS delivers speed, intuitive user experience, and ease of administration in a modern platform, backed by our long-standing reputation for putting product quality and client relationships first.
What if loan officers could actually look forward to their NMLS CE every year? What if those required CE hours could teach you something you needed to know? With Mortgage Education Institute (MEI), they do! Students describe MEI classes as fun, engaging, high-energy, interactive, filled with real-world examples and information they can actually use. Complete your NMLS CE live in one day, by webinar or in person, and actually enjoy the experience. See why students say they’ll return year after year. Led by Andrew W. Conner, a nationally certified mortgage professional with decades of experience, MEI turns required CE into a class people want to take. They also provide compliance support services, including BSA/AML Independent Audits. The MEI difference is how they bring mortgage education and compliance together, with mortgage compliance you can understand and education that engages, energizes, and empowers professionals. Need CE? Join MEI’s October 15 Live NMLS CE Webinar.
Homeowners aged 62 and older are sitting on $14.92 trillion in housing wealth, and most originators are leaving that conversation to someone else. That’s not a niche, it’s one of the fastest growing and most underserved segments in the market, and the LOs who learn to work it will own relationships their competitors never knew existed. The key is leading with the homeowner’s goals, not the loan product. That’s the focus of Home Equity Options With Modern Retirement Planning, part of an ongoing NMP Webinar series on retirement lending, on Thursday, October 8 at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Courtney Rozell, Manager of Partner Engagement, and Barbara Cripple, National Sales Training Manager, will use real-world borrower scenarios to show how to evaluate needs, compare traditional and reverse mortgage strategies, and confidently open the conversation most originators skip. Register here.
“Home equity is getting a lot of attention, and so is MBA Annual in Chicago. Our Lakeview Correspondent team will be at the conference discussing our new HELOC program with correspondent partners. We’ll share where we’re headed with the product while gathering feedback on the guidelines, pricing, and features lenders need to compete in the growing home equity market. If HELOCs are on your product roadmap, schedule a meeting with us in Chicago. We’d like to hear what your needs are and learn where your biggest opportunities are.”
Three out of four borrowers use a different lender next time. Your customer. Your relationship. Someone else’s loan. As rates rise, recapturing this business is more critical than ever. Milo turns your past client database into a consistent stream of repeat business, engaging clients every month with branded home value reports and monitoring them at every step of their journey to flag the exact moment they’re back in the market. Know the exact moment your clients shop online, explore using their equity, get married or divorced, list their home for sale, stack up high interest debt, or get their credit pulled. Start online in minutes or book a call to learn more. No contracts. No adoption required. Just more loans from the clients you already earned.
“Is your LOS or servicing system older than you are? If the answer is even close, it may be time to look at alternatives. LoanQUEST from MortgageFlex was built for today’s lending environment, not yesterday’s. Its modern, cloud-native, API-driven architecture gives lenders and servicers flexibility to adapt, integrate, automate, and grow without being constrained by decades-old technology. LoanQUEST supports conventional mortgages, HELOCs, business-purpose loans, private lending, chattel, consumer lending, and servicing. One modern platform can simplify your technology stack while helping you launch new products, improve efficiency, and prepare for what comes next. If modernization is on your roadmap, let’s talk. Meet MortgageFlex at MBA Annual in Chicago or the National Private Lender Conference in Scottsdale. Schedule time directly with John McCrea. Let’s discuss how LoanQUEST can modernize your lending and servicing operations and provide greater flexibility, efficiency, and opportunities for growth. Let’s start the conversation about your technology future. Book time to meet with me.”
The next Chrisman Demo Day is October 15 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 Jake Perkins 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.
Demographic trends can be a lender’s friend
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Home prices in all 50 of the largest U.S. metros have grown faster than inflation since 2011, according to a new report from Clever Real Estate, a nationwide discount real estate broker where sellers can compare full-service, low-commission real estate agents near them and save money on their next sale. Inflation rose 48 percent between January 2011 and January 2026, while home-price growth over that span ranged from 65.5 percent in Baltimore to 343.9 percent in Miami. The gap runs even wider over the past four decades. The median U.S. home sold for $78,200 in 1984 and sells for $423,100 today, an increase of 441 percent. Inflation, on the other hand, rose “just” 210 percent. If home prices had risen only as much as inflation, the median home would cost $242,309, a gap of $180,791.
Wage growth is often measured against inflation. U.S. real median household income reached a record $87,460 in 2025, rising 2.6 percent from 2024. This surpassed both the pre-pandemic 2019 level and the previous post-pandemic high, signaling broad improvement in inflation-adjusted household earnings. Post-tax median income also increased 3.1 percent to $76,060, although it remained below the unusually elevated 2020-2021 levels when pandemic stimulus and tax credits boosted household resources.
The gains, however, were unevenly distributed: while incomes at the 90th percentile rose for a third consecutive year, income at the 10th percentile was statistically unchanged from 2024.
Over the longer term the disparity is even clearer. Since 1967, income at the median and 10th percentile has increased roughly 56 percent, compared with about 121 percent at the 90th percentile. Consequently, despite the historic median income level in 2025, the data highlights a persistent and widening distributional divide, with the income of households at the 90th percentile reaching roughly 13 times that of households at the 10th percentile, versus 9.2 times in 1967.
FHFA’s Bill Pulte in action
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Bill Pulte has his proponents and detractors. Is he good for housing?
The Federal Housing Finance Agency on Wednesday evening announced cuts to the budget of the regulator’s inspector general, in a move criticized by many as an attempt by FHFA Director Bill Pulte to shut down the watchdog. FHFA in a press release said its Office of Inspector General was “an extraordinary budgetary outlier among its peer OIGs” because its budget request was 16 percent of the agency’s operating budget, compared to an average of 2 percent. “FHFA cannot justify such a discrepancy to the American people,” the agency said.
The FHFA is moving Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to bi-merge credit checks. The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) sent a letter to FHFA Director Bill Pulte commending him for his recent action to require conventional mortgages and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) to have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac credit score to go along with a FICO Classic or VantageScore number.
Remember: neither Freddie nor Fannie use a credit score to determine whether they will buy a loan. Ryan Kingsley raises a question: If lenders pull both FICO and VantageScore, and both must be disclosed to the GSEs, who is actually ready to operationalize that on the verification side? Other questions arise. What happens upstream, at the credit report level, when lenders start pulling dual scores at volume? The verification infrastructure has to be ready before the investor infrastructure can catch up, and that is a detail most coverage skips.
An industry vet in the credit world noted, “If the purpose of introducing VantageScore 4.0 is to increase competition and lender choice, how are FHFA and the GSEs addressing the disparity between direct sellers and lenders dependent on correspondent aggregators? Rocket and UWM have direct execution available, while smaller lenders may originate a GSE-eligible loan but have no correspondent investor willing to purchase it. What is being done to ensure that the new scoring model is commercially accessible across all lender channels, rather than primarily benefiting institutions with direct GSE delivery?
UAD 3.6: delayed, not abandoned
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Chris Flynn, Chief Operating Officer at Class Valuation, writes, “The policy exception Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced gives sellers (who need more time) a path to keep delivering 2.6 reports through May 19, 2027, and we appreciate the GSEs giving the industry that flexibility. It’s a sensible backstop, but the November 2 mandate still stands, and the exception has to be requested and comes with an implementation plan. We’re encouraging lenders to use the extra runway to prepare well, not to slow down.
“At Class Valuation, we’re ready for both 2.6 and 3.6 today. We’re working with each client on their own path, whether they’re already ordering 3.6, switching over in the next few weeks, or pursuing the exception. For lenders still getting comfortable with the new report, hybrid appraisals are a practical way to get real experience with 3.6 now, and they’ve delivered meaningful cost savings for lenders and borrowers alike. For lenders who want more support through the changeover, we also offer appraisal and underwriting assurance that can take some of that review burden off their teams, on both traditional and hybrid appraisals, in either format.”
Capital markets: rates treading water is better than going up
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Have long-term yields finally reached a self-stabilizing level yet? U.S. Treasuries yesterday rebounded from a global bond selloff as pressure in European markets fueled demand for haven assets, pulling 10-year yields down from a 24-year high, and the 2-year Treasury yield lower by 10-basis points to 4.79 percent. The rally looked more technical and positioning-driven than fundamentally motivated, and certainly there was some seller fatigue after Wednesday’s pressure, as well as some end-of-week positioning ahead of payrolls.
After strong labor data and a sharp rise in ISM prices paid initially pushed yields to new highs (the 10-year touching 5.34 percent, and the 30-year reaching 5.69 percent, its highest since 2002), the move reversed as those levels failed to hold and Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari offered notably neutral commentary on the path of Fed policy. Markets sharply reduced the implied probability of an October 25-basis point Fed hike, while Fed officials Jefferson and Williams emphasized that future policy decisions may require more time. MBS benefited fully from the Treasury rally, with FNCL 6.0 recovering from 97-24 to 98-10 and spreads tightening broadly across the coupon stack. The uniform improvement in both price and spreads suggests the move was less about a fresh conviction on rates and more about the Street getting back “onside” ahead of today’s payrolls report, particularly after being caught leaning the wrong way earlier in the week.
Payrolls now have the potential to determine whether this rally has legs or was simply a pre-data positioning adjustment. While the underlying tension between resilient growth and elevated inflation persists, investors don’t seem to be worried about runaway inflation as much as the Fed’s potential response to it, as well as uncertainty surrounding Chair Warsh’s leadership. The Fed’s recent hike may strengthen its credibility, but higher front-end rates cannot directly address a one-time energy-driven supply shock. Beyond the Fed’s near-term path, the bigger question is how far higher long-end borrowing costs can extend before they weigh meaningfully on risk assets, as equities have so far remained resilient despite elevated rates, while oil above $90 and the ongoing Iran war add uncertainty but have not yet produced a major rise in long-term inflation expectations.
Today’s economic calendar is already underway with the aforementioned September job information. September nonfarm payrolls were only +29k, about 60k lower than expected, with a serious back month revision lower. The Unemployment Rate was 4.2 percent (versus 4.1 percent previously) and Average Hourly Earnings were only +.1 percent. Later today brings August Factory orders and remarks from Dallas Fed President Logan. After the weak employment data Agency MBS prices are better than Thursday’s close by .250-.375, the 2-year is yielding 4.71, and the 10-year is yielding 5.17 after closing yesterday at 5.24 percent.
The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.
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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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