Freddie Mac / Wednesday, May 5, 2021 By: The Single-Family Team, Freddie Mac Up to now, the mortgage industry has been fairly slow to adapt to the digital environment, but outside factors – such as, say, a pandemic – have sped up digital adoption in ways previously unanticipated. At the

Freddie Mac / Wednesday, May 5, 2021 By: The Single-Family Team, Freddie Mac How did Legend Lending, a Texas-based lender, realize greater pricing benefits and gain operational efficiencies that ended up changing the way they do business? It took a bit of trial and error and – most importantly –

While there is a tremendous benefit to adding Ginnie Mae specified (spec) pools as part of a diversified execution strategy, lenders cannot continue to operate as if it’s business as usual when faced with the current volatility in the mortgage-backed securities market. Instead, speed must become of the essence, and

By Scott Colclough There are some names or phrases that when uttered strike fear into the hearts of many due to the misconceptions surrounding them. Bloody Mary. Beetlejuice. Mandatory Execution. Unlike Bloody Mary and Beetlejuice, mandatory execution isn’t an urban myth, and saying it three times in a row is

By Christopher Bennett The mortgage industry is notorious for its use of acronyms and even acronyms inside acronyms (TRID, anyone?). However, there is an acronym that is highly relevant to the current rate environment: ZIRP, for zero interest rate policy. As its definition implies, this term describes the Federal Reserve’s current

“Unprecedented” was the word of the year in 2020, and with the unpredictable and unimaginable events of this past year, adaptability became the name of the game as everyone adjusted and changed how and why we did things. Working/learning from home while eating every meal at home made us become

By Christopher Bennett While community banks have typically enjoyed a steady, but smaller, share of the overall mortgage origination business as compared with their independent lender counterparts, record-low interest rates have skyrocketed both purchase and refinance volume across the board. Increased demand translates into higher profits — a welcome sight on

NOVI, Mich., Sept. 1, 2020 — Vice Capital Markets, a leading mortgage hedge advisory firm for independent lenders, banks and credit unions, announced today that its Managing Director Shawn Ansley has been named a 2020 HousingWire Insiders Award winner. In its fifth year, the HousingWire Insiders program recognizes individuals for vital

Over the last year, Shawn Ansley has automated many of the firm’s day-to-day processes to improve operational efficiency and eliminate opportunities for human error. He is also responsible for several recent LOS integrations, including last year’s integrations with Lending QB and OpenClose, that allow information to seamlessly flow back-and-forth between

By Chris Bennett and Jeff Bode There is much to celebrate regarding Ginnie Mae’s recent announcement that it will begin accepting eNotes (or digital collateral) from its approved issuers. Even though the program is initially being limited to a handful of applicants for a limited number of transactions, the move

Mortgage applications are up, but investors aren’t purchasing loans. Interest rates are at historic lows, but the credit box has gotten smaller. These are just a few of the extreme statements being made in and around the mortgage industry these days. While some of them are based on facts, these

Capital markets Liquidity continues to be the name of the game! Chris Bennett from Vice Capital sent, “GNMA 2.0s have struggled from a liquidity standpoint without any support from the Fed like UMBS 2.0s or GNMA 2.5s have, but there is real end-buyer interest there. We recently put out a larger pool of GNMA

Capital markets Vice Capital Markets reported an increase in trade volume over the past 90 days, “shattering” many of its internal company records. Since March, the monthly totals [have] reach[ed] $13.4 billion, and Vice saw a 13% increase in its client base. Read the full announcement here. This item originally appeared in Rob Chrisman’s Daily Mortgage

Vice Capital Markets announced today that the company has more than doubled its monthly trade volume over a 90-day period, setting several internal records. Trade volume totals reached during this period include $11.5 billion in March, $13.4 billion in April and $12.4 billion in May. “Despite the market chaos brought

By Christopher Bennett In Detroit, several of the local hospitals have been broadcasting the Beatles hit, “Here Comes the Sun,” throughout the hospital every time a COVID-19 patient comes off of the ventilator. There is no equating life and death with the bond and mortgage markets, of course, but as

By Scott Colclough As lenders and independent mortgage companies aggressively attempt to attract consumers, credit unions must be ever mindful to optimize all competitive advantages they possess. Generally, credit union members are a loyal bunch and want to keep their business in-house. However, as members, they also expect lower fees

By Bonnie Sinnock Additional mortgage-backed securities purchases by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will address private investor skittishness about the asset class, but it will not necessarily lower rates. “Right now the only meaningful end buyer is the Fed and while they’ve been in the market every day

By Christopher Bennett “New year, new me” seems to be the popular slogan for 2020. While this may not be a completely apt description of the mortgage market outlook for the coming year, the market can expect to see some changes, particularly in the specified pool and to-be-announced markets, alongside

Shifting from best effort to mandatory execution marks a significant achievement in the evolution of a mortgage lending organization, as it represents a more sophisticated (and more profitable) secondary strategy. However, lenders are not always clear on the particulars to making this transition and, as a result, may be slower

By Troy Baars Digital is today’s mortgage lending watchword. Stem to stern, every aspect of the mortgage process has felt either a direct or ripple effect of an intense, industry-wide focus on automation, including its most esoteric element: hedging. However, even as the benefits of going digital in origination, closing and servicing

Many believe that if you talk long enough about a recession, eventually we’ll see one. Chris Bennett, Principal at Vice Capital Markets, Inc. sent out a note to clients back last Friday the 13th on proverbial blood in the streets in the town of Chicago. (“There’s blood in the streets, it’s

Moving from best execution to mandatory represents a significant milestone in the evolution of a mortgage lender’s secondary marketing department, but the growth doesn’t stop there. Adding custom, or specified, pools helps lenders diversify their execution strategy, thereby maximizing profitability and adding additional cash flow to secondary activities. What’s more,

Vice Capital Markets President Troy Baars today urged lenders to explore custom Ginnie Mae pools as part of their overall execution strategy in light of recent increases in Ginnie Mae security volume, along with renewed investor interest in custom pools. “Refinancing of existing mortgages has been driving an uptick in

OpenClose has completed its integration with Vice Capital Markets resulting in advanced hedging automation. The integration takes loan-level lock data from OpenClose’s LenderAssist™ LOS and securely transmits it directly to Vice Capital’s hedging platform. This eliminates multiple manual steps and potential “break-points” in the overall process thus saving time, reducing errors, and increasing visibility that

OpenClose has announced the completion of an integration with Vice Capital Markets Inc., an established mortgage hedge advisory firm. Focused on maximizing hedging efficiencies, the new interface reduces the time to prepare and deliver loan data and eliminates the manual intervention that occurs today, automating an ongoing seamless delivery of data. In

OpenClose®, an industry-leading multi-channel loan origination system (LOS) and digital mortgage fintech provider, announced the completion of an integration with Vice Capital Markets. Focused on maximizing hedging efficiencies, the new interface reduces the time to prepare and deliver loan data and eliminates the manual intervention that occurs today, automating an ongoing

OpenClose announced an integration with Vice Capital Markets that will maximize hedging efficiencies and reduce preparation and delivery time for acquired loan data. The integration utilizes loan-level lock data from OpenClose’s LenderAssist LOS and embeds it directly into Vice Capital’s hedging platform. According to the company, this will eliminate multiple manual steps and