THE LEAD
The biggest lenders in America are rebuilding their technology right now. Not buying a module. Not bolting on a POS. Rebuilding.
It costs a fortune, takes eighteen months, and drags your best ops people off their day jobs the whole time. And they are doing it in a market with no volume, which is exactly when the playbook says cut everything and wait.
They are not doing it because they like software. They are doing it because of your biggest expense line, and it is not technology. It is LO comp. You cannot cut it, not in a purchase market, not without losing the people you can least afford to lose. The only lever left is making the seat worth more. Get an LO closing meaningfully more and you earn the right to pay less per loan while they take home more per year. Nobody loses. That is not a negotiation trick, it is arithmetic.
Almost all lenders current LOS platform is a system of record. A database with forms on top. Very good at holding a loan, very good at telling you where it is. It does not do anything.
The automation you bought on top of it is a pile of if-then rules somebody configured years ago. If the file looks like this, do that. It works, and it handles the 60% of loans that behave.
Your people handle the other 40%. And the other 40% is the job. The self-employed borrower. The gift letter dated wrong. The condition that is technically satisfied but the underwriter wants restated. No rule covered it, so a human does it, and that human is often the one you pay 125 basis points.
An agentic platform starts where the rules end.
Lenders are starting to figure it out. Agentic AI works perfectly for the mortgage manufacturing process.
CHART OF THE DAY
Feels like we’re gonna end up at close to 15% non QM originations nationally by this time next year.
WHAT’S THE BEST COMPANY NAME IN THE MORTGAGE INDUSTRY?
Last spring we settled Best Brand in Mortgage Banking (Rocket) with LinkedIn polls and it got completely out of hand.
Doing it again. New question. What is the best company NAME in mortgage lending? Not the best company. The best name.
I pulled every lender in America that closed $50M+ in 2026 and pored through them. I need you to understand these are real. You can look them up.
There is a lender called GoRascal. $308 million. 585 closed loans. Somebody incorporated that. Somebody put it on a business card. A warehouse bank read a term sheet that said Go Rascal and said yes.
There is Cake Mortgage Corp. $1.6 billion. Cake.
Mortgage 2000 Inc is still closing loans. In 2026.
64 names. 16 groups of 4. One poll a day, right here, same as last spring. Group winners and the eight second place teams with the most votes go to the Sweet 16, then a Final Four, then somebody gets a crown and absolutely nothing else.
The field ...
THE SPEED TRAP
Rocket · Swift · Turbo · Kwik
Named after how fast they are. None publishes a days-to-close.
THE BRANDING AGENCY INVOICE
Onity · Tomo · Quontic · Velocio
Not one is a word. Somebody billed real money for each.
THE SCALE PROBLEM
Nations Lending · CrossCountry · New American · Planet Home Lending
A nation. A country. A continent. A planet. Where does this end.
NAMED AT 2AM
loanDepot · Go Rascal · Boss Mortgage · The Money House
We’re going to crown the best named mortgage company in America over the next few weeks.
THE BEST MODEL IN MORTGAGE BANKING?
I've always said the best model in mortgage banking is the wholly owned sub of a bank (outside of single owner, more money than God) with competent leadership that acts like an IMB. The best mousetrap in mortgage banking has been sitting in the corner, rusting, for 30 years. Regulators just proposed oiling it.
Every bank in America gets a report card called CAMELS. Six subjects: Capital, Asset quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity, Sensitivity to market risk. Graded 1 to 5, 1 is best.
Three things about this report card:
✔️ It's confidential. The bank can't publish it.
✔️ It's basically unappealable.
✔️ It decides everything. Whether you can do a deal, open a branch, pay a dividend, take brokered deposits, what you pay for insurance. Everything.
So it's a report card you can't see, can't argue with, and can't live without. Great system. Very normal.
For 30 years, the M got "special consideration." It counted extra. And the M is where every soft, squishy, process-y finding went to live. Your policy binder. Your documentation. Your consumer compliance exam. Your CRA exam. Your IT review. Complaint logs.
Which is to say: the M is where the mortgage division went to die.
Here's the scenario that's played out all over America for decades. Bank is a fortress. Capital 1. Asset quality 1. Earnings 1. Liquidity 1. Then a mortgage shop that is 3% of the balance sheet takes a consumer compliance ding on a disclosure timing issue, and that flows into M, and M counts double, and the composite drops to a 3, and now the bank is not "well managed," and the M&A deal they've worked on for 18 months is dead.
On May 19, the FFIEC proposed the first real CAMELS overhaul since 1996. It kills "special consideration" for M. It strips out a pile of M's softer evaluation factors. And it says specialty findings, so IT, BSA, consumer compliance, CRA, only touch your rating if they actually hit financial condition or represent material financial risk or significant legal noncompliance. Comments close August 17.
What does that mean for mortgage? The single biggest structural penalty on bank-owned mortgage has always been a ratings channel that had nothing to do with financial risk, and that channel is likely being narrowed for the first time in 30 years.
The wholly owned sub of a bank model ...
▪️Deposits. AKA free warehouse lines.
▪️A balance sheet that can portfolio a loan that doesn't fit a box.
LONG overdue CAMELS reform seems to be coming down the pike.
TWO SUMMITS, ONE TRIP
Two Summits. One Trip. A Smarter Way to Spend Three Days in Dallas.
August brings two of the industry’s most technology-focused events to one city, back-to-back. The HousingWire AISummit begins on August 11th, bringing together mortgage leaders to explore how artificial intelligence is already reshaping strategy, operations, customer experience, and decision-making across the housing ecosystem.
Then, on August 12th and 13th, the conversation continues at the actTechSummit, where lenders, technology leaders, and industry innovators will come together to examine the tools, ideas, and partnerships influencing the next chapter of mortgage.
For lenders, this creates a rare opportunity to turn one trip into three days of focused learning, sharper conversations, and valuable connections.
Hear where AI is gaining traction, explore how technology is being applied across the mortgage lifecycle, compare perspectives with peers, and meet the people building the solutions. You'll return home with clearer questions, stronger insight, and ideas you can act on.
One city. Two summits. Three days are designed for what comes next. Make Dallas your technology destination this August.
Register For HousingWire: https://lnkd.in/g9FZUxV2
Register For actTechSummit: https://lnkd.in/gPQuYF8F
LINKS THAT DON’T SUCK
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
July 19 - World Cup Final
July 28-29 - Fed Meeting/Decision
July 30 - Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and PCE inflation reading releases
AUGUST
Aug 7 - July Jobs Report
Aug 12 - Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation reading
Aug 13 - Producer Price Index (PPI) inflation reading
Aug 27-29 - Fed Jackson Hole Retreat
Aug 28 - FINAL NFL ROSTER CUTS FOR REGULAR SEASON!
Aug 29 - COLLEGE FOOTBALL RETURNS!
Aug 30 - US Open Tennis Tournament begins
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Attention is the most valuable asset in business." — Gary Vaynerchuk
THE OHIO MORTGAGE BANKERS ASSOCIATION (OMBA)
The OMBA Podcast Network = underrated if you like mortgage content
Consider joining The Ohio Mortgage Bankers Association!
THE MORTGAGE COLLABORATIVE
Want to learn more about the benefits of membership in TMC? Reach out to Heidi Belnay at [email protected]! Or me by replying to this email!
THE CARDBOARD JUNGLE
LOADED sports card break lineup for this coming Friday! Get your sports at thecardboardjungle.com!
We are one of eBay’s biggest and most highly rated sellers of sports card singles! Check out our eBay store here and pick up one of your favorite players rookie cards!
Until the next one,
Swerb
[email protected]