AI, AMC, Analytic, Equity, Correspondent Products; Lennar’s Lawsuit; Oil Hits Rates (Again)

STRATMOR Group has opened participation for its 2026 Compensation Connection® Study, providing mortgage-specific insights into compensation components, incentive plan structures, compensation percentiles, and more. (Compensation Connection focuses exclusively on mortgage banking, with benchmark comparisons by lender type, size, region, and national averages, plus three-year trending for many metrics. This year’s study includes four modules: Retail Sales, Consumer Direct Sales, Fulfillment, and Executive Management. Return your submissions to compconnection@stratmorgroup.com by August 15.) Today on L1’s Mortgage Matters at 11AM PT Flyhome’s Tushar Garg will discuss his understanding of empathy and understanding customers’ and stakeholders’ challenges rather than only solving personal frustrations. Lastly, today at noon PT the Capital Markets Wrap, presented by Polly, the panel presents their understanding of how credit changes may impact investor’s appetite for MBS as well as FHFA Director Bill Pulte’s proposed title insurance waiver initiative. (Today’s podcast can be found here… this week’s ‘casts are sponsored by FICO. As the industry’s most predictive credit score, FICO Score 10T combines proven performance with deeper insight into borrower behavior to help support a stronger and more resilient housing finance system. Today’s has an interview with FICO’s Ethan Dornhelm on how credit score modernization is giving lenders and market participants the ability to evaluate long-term predictive performance and expand responsible access to credit while preserving safety and soundness.)

Lender and Broker Software, Products, and Services

The First Bank of the United States reopened in Philadelphia, just days before America’s 250th birthday, after being closed for 50 years. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton chartered it in 1791 to provide the young nation with currency that merchants could trust and the credit they needed to move goods to market. Home equity lenders face a similar charge today: getting credit to move. Without the right technology, many are stuck with a manual, siloed verification process that keeps them from closing home equity transactions quickly. On Wednesday, July 22, at 1:00 p.m. CT, FirstClose CTO Dan Kellett and Chief Product Officer Ramiro Castro will show lenders how to close that gap with smarter platforms and faster closings in a free webinar, Built for What’s Next: How Product and Technology Are Reshaping the Home Equity Lending Experience. Register here.

The next generation of mortgage lenders won’t compete based on who has the most AI tools. They’ll compete based on who has built the most intelligent enterprise. JazzX AI digital assistants don’t just automate steps, they coordinate complex decisions end-to-end across processing, underwriting, QC, and servicing. Every finding is reasoned against your guidelines and overlays, continuously reassessed as new information arrives, and cited to the specific policy that produced it. The result: lower cost per loan, faster decisions, and higher loan quality. Book a demo with our team to see how top lenders are preparing for what’s next with JazzX.

Is your team losing time and competitive edge to fragmented reporting and stale data? When mortgage lenders work from different systems, reconciliation becomes a full-time job. ICE Business Intelligence (BI) and Encompass Data Connect® provide the tools and insights needed to work more efficiently. Operations teams receive self-service dashboards and out-of-the-box reporting. Data teams receive flexible, near real-time access to loan data for custom modeling, data warehouse consolidation, and cross-system integrations. Both solutions pull from a single source of truth, the Encompass® LOS, so everyone is working with the same data. By using both, management receives the on-demand visibility they need which allows your data team to get back to focusing on the work that drives your business forward. See how ICE helps organizations establish an automated, highly efficient analytics ecosystem.

Before 1900, only 4 percent of America’s roads were paved. Good luck getting from point A to point B without hitting a rut. Mortgage has its own infrastructure projects, and UAD 3.6 is one of the biggest we’ve seen in years. It isn’t simply a technology update; it reaches risk, operations, and the borrower experience, and the implementation clock is ticking. As the nation’s largest AMC, Class Valuation is tracking adoption across lenders and appraisal panels, and Mark Walser recently joined Robbie Chrisman to share early insight into readiness, cycle times, quality control, underwriting workflows and the practical steps lenders should take before the mandate. Listen to the podcast, then request a UAD 3.6 readiness consultation from Class Valuation to build your migration plan.

What if AI isn’t exposing your strengths, but your weaknesses? Hear one top lender’s perspective in this short clip. Artificial intelligence has become the latest must-have across mortgage technology. Yet AI doesn’t create great sales processes. It magnifies the ones in place. If your database is outdated, follow-up is inconsistent, or loan officers aren’t using their CRM, AI won’t solve those problems. It simply helps you repeat them faster. The lenders gaining ground today aren’t asking what else AI can do. They’re asking whether they’ve built a process worth scaling. Execution is becoming the real competitive advantage. AI is most valuable when it strengthens those habits instead of replacing them. Usherpa believes AI should support relationship engagement and help loan officers execute consistently because better technology delivers better results when the process behind it is working.

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.

Correspondent and Broker Loan Product News

Stop spending valuable time hunting down loan guidelines. eRESI sellers can now take advantage of complimentary access to Guideline Guru, an AI-driven search tool designed to deliver fast, accurate answers to your underwriting and product eligibility questions. With instant insights at your fingertips, you can confidently move your non-QM deals forward faster. Contact eRESI to get started. Looking to stay ahead of where Non‑QM is heading next? Meet us at the Western Secondary Conference, where Rich Zimmerman, our SVP of Capital Markets, will discuss emerging trends in private credit, securitization, and opportunities with underserved borrowers during the Non‑QM 3.0 panel. Stop by to connect with the eRESI team and join the conversation. August 10-12.

More borrowers may qualify today than they did just a few months ago. Arc Home has expanded its Clean Slate suite of lending solutions, making it easier to revisit borrowers previously declined due to credit events, seasoning, housing history, reserve requirements, and other qualifying factors. The expanded program now spans Full Doc, Alt Doc, and DSCR, helping originators say “yes” to more borrowers across a wider range of scenarios. Arc has also expanded its Closed-End Second product across Wholesale, Non-Delegated Correspondent, and Correspondent channels, giving more lenders the ability to help homeowners access their equity while preserving a low-rate first mortgage. Together, these enhancements create new opportunities to revisit past declines, strengthen your pipeline, and close more loans. Learn more during Arc Home’s webinar on Wednesday, July 22 at 2:00 PM ET.

“With Symmetry, there are no condo questionnaire or condo docs… ever. We only require the master insurance policy, making approvals faster and easier for you and your borrowers. We offer up to 89.99 percent CLTV for primary resident’s 2nd liens up to 500k. For first liens, we offer HELOCs up to 1M (certain restrictions apply: primary residence, up to 75 percent LTV with 720+ mid FICO.) Symmetry is proud to offer no pricing add-ons for property type, fast reliable approvals, no prepayment penalties/EPOs, and no reserve requirements. You can even use a Symmetry HELOC to purchase a condo, without a condo review, or place it in 2nd lien behind an existing first. Let’s make condo HELOCs simple—for you and your clients. Symmetry Lending (*For Mortgage Professional Use Only/Not for Distribution to the Public)

Citi Correspondent Lending issued a critical date reminder on the discontinuation of its Special Purpose Credit Program. Continued diligence in prioritizing all in-process SPCP loans remains crucial to ensure these transactions are in a final status by the 7/3/2026 deadline.

Equity Prime Mortgage announced it will deliver full loan disclosures and documentation in six languages: English, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean. The announcement was made by EPM CEO Eddy Perez jr. during the company’s flagship event, The American Gift, making EPM the only 100% third party lender in America to offer full disclosures at this scale of language access.

AmeriHome Mortgage is updating SFTP security controls to align with current standards on Tuesday, July 7th. Older encryption algorithms and key types that no longer meet security requirements will be retired. View Security Update Notice 202606303218 for details.

Citi Correspondent Lending Bulletin 2026-07 contains credit policy income updates and reorganization. Notices include a note date requirement change on HomeRun and SPCP, Depreciating Markets monthly list updates, and retirement of pricing support email inboxes.

AmeriHome Mortgage’s 20260506-CL General Announcement summarizes previously published changes made during May, additional changes made with this announcement, and recent Agency and regulatory news.

Lennar Stock Price Drops from Seminole Lawsuit

Bloomberg is reporting that Lennar is embroiled in a lawsuit with a Native American tribe in Florida. Lennar allegedly constructed homes on tribal land which are now uninhabitable. The story has been around for almost a year, but apparently things are heating up and impacting the stock price.

Capital Markets

Before we get into politics, remember that mortgage prices are derived from supply and demand. Trading activity surged yesterday as heavy Class A dollar roll volume, pending settlements, and a wave of late-day panic locking following geopolitical headlines (attacks near the Strait of Hormuz and subsequent U.S. retaliatory strikes) drove elevated mortgage-backed securities (MBS) volume and hedge demand.

Agency MBS prepayment activity has remained remarkably stable over the past month despite meek seasonal support, corroborating the view that refinancing activity is likely to stay subdued. Aggregate Fannie Mae 30-year speeds rose just 2 percent month-over-month to an 8.4 percent one-month CPR, the first increase in three months and consistent with seasonal patterns; 10-year, 15-year, and 20-year mortgages posted somewhat larger gains. Year-over-year prepayment speeds continue to recover from their post-QE4 lows, but the increase largely reflects normalization from exceptionally weak levels rather than a material shift in borrower behavior.

Deeply “out-of-the-money coupons” (e.g., low rate mortgages) continued to show a slight pickup in activity, reflecting a gradual thaw among borrowers locked into ultra-low pandemic-era mortgage rates, while higher-coupon, refinanceable pools generally slowed. With only about 7 percent of outstanding 30-year borrowers currently holding a meaningful refinance incentive, the opportunity set remains limited but still provides a targeted source of production for lenders. Modestly faster prepayments are expected this month primarily due to calendar effects rather than any fundamental change in refinancing dynamics.

Treasury and MBS prices sold off sharply after oil prices jumped late in the session, reinforced by the release of firmer June consumer inflation expectations, sending the 10- and 30-year Treasury yields to their highest levels in nearly four weeks despite a well-received 3-year Treasury auction. While today’s FOMC Minutes and ongoing dollar roll activity should keep markets active, yesterday’s late-day hedging may make today’s results harder to interpret by blurring the impact of normal loan activity with the effects of defensive hedge adjustments.

Even with geopolitical tensions briefly rattling markets, investors remain focused on next week’s consumer prices report, Treasury auctions, and the release of minutes from Chair Warsh’s first FOMC meeting, which could offer important insight into the Fed’s evolving policy approach after removing much of its forward guidance. With softer labor market data, easing energy inflation, and expectations that the Fed will remain patient, expectations of the next realistic opportunity for a rate move have shifted to September, leaving Treasury yields driven more by positioning (the trades and risk exposures they are holding before new information arrives), supply, and incoming inflation data than by geopolitical developments.

Today’s economic calendar kicked off with mortgage applications from MBA, which fell 2.2 percent for the week ending July 3, with refinance applications down 4 percent and purchase applications down 1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, reflecting relatively muted activity around the Fourth of July holiday. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate edged up to 6.58 percent, while purchase applications remained 5 percent higher and refinance applications 8 percent higher than the same week a year ago. Mortgage rates have been essentially unchanged into the summer, and the MBA refinance index remains near historically depressed levels, pointing to little prospect of a meaningful refinance wave.

Later today brings May Wholesale Inventories, weekly crude oil inventories, the aforementioned June FOMC Minutes, May Consumer Credit, and a Treasury auction of $39 billion 10-year notes. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices worse about .125 from Tuesday’s close, the 2-year yielding 4.20, and the 10-year yielding 4.56 after closing yesterday at 4.53 percent.