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The Big One
By Jeff Walton & Kelly Guest
The biggest industry event of the year - MBA Annual – is just around the corner. Even though it’s all over the news, FHFA DirectorBill Pulte is expected to make the announcement at the conference that GSEs will be able to use a bi-merge vs. a tri-merge credit report going forward. Credit has made a lot of news this year, and National Mortgage News has an excellent take on what the issues really are facing consumers and the lending industry seeking to serve them. If you’re headed to Chicago, join us at The Industry party to kick off annual and look for the InGenius team!
Table of Contents
CHATTER
Fed Might Hold: MBA on Jobs Report
· “The job market was somewhat weaker in September, with the payroll increase at only 29,000, and the prior 2 months revised down by 60,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%, largely due to a higher participation rate as more people actively looked for work. Wage growth slowed further to a 3% rate.
· “The three sectors that have contributed most of the job growth in recent months, health care, hospitality, and government, showed slower growth in September. The financial sector continues to lose jobs at a slow pace, while construction jobs are increasing, particularly in nonresidential construction.
· “With inflation still too high, the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut rates anytime soon. However, these data showing a softer job market may be enough to keep the Fed on hold at their October meeting. Wage growth continues to run below the pace of inflation, which will hamper consumer spending over time.”- MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni
More expensive to inspect?
16% Compared to 2%? FHFA Wants its OIG Budget to Align with Peer Agencies
The OIG for the FHFA asked for 8x the amount of money that peer agencies get for oversight and Director Bill Pulte hit X to slam critics trying to keep him from reigning in the spending.
Crossing Over: Rocket Announces Switch to VantageScore
· Rocket says it will use VantageScore 4.0 as its preferred credit scoring model for all eligible loans.
· So far this year, the company obtained 1.4M credit reports using both VantageScore and FICO. Rocket Mortgage did an extensive study that helped the company determine VantageScore 4.0 opens access to some clients who wouldn't be served otherwise, and many are able to secure a mortgage on better pricing terms.
· For those who saved money with VantageScore 4.0, the savings was an average of $1,600 at closing. FHFA and Director Pulte are encouraging competition and innovation in pilot programs.
The Buck Stops in 2029: TransUnion Extends .99 VantageScore 4.0 Pricing Through 2028
VantageScore 4.0 will continue to be available for $0.99 per mortgage origination score when ordered on a standalone basis
The canary perseveres…
Despite Issues HouseCanary Announces Big Partnership:
HouseCanary has signed a national agreement with Google that expands the program that puts MLS listings with prominent broker and agent attribution at the top of Google mobile search.
“We want to democratize the listing. A national footprint puts agents in front of buyers at the moment they start searching, in every market rather than a handful.” - HouseCanary CEO Chris Rediger
Listings are available for display on Google mobile search only through participating MLSs via an agreement with HouseCanary. The listings displayed on Google in the program feature prominent broker and agent branding.
Motor home, motor loan?
Mobile HELOCs? Aven & Forest River Intro Fast Equity Loans for RV Buyers
More Connectivity: Experian Integrates with Workday for Payroll Verification
AI Helps with Approval Gap? - AngelAi White Paper
The 2025 comparison between national HMDA decline rates and AngelAi outcomes provides
a striking benchmark: Across every declared ethnicity group, AngelAi reports materially
lower decline rates than the national benchmark: 4.01% versus 32.98% for Asian applicants, 18.55% versus 44.32% for Black applicants, 13.73% versus 39.10% for Hispanic applicants, and 9.24% versus 33.31% for White applicants. The breadth of the gap suggests that the underlying issue is not confined to one demographic group; it is consistent with a system-level process effect.
MOVING & SHAKING
Planet Home Lending has tapped mortgage veteran Derek Vandlen as regional sales manager, putting him in charge of expanding the lender’s retail presence, and recruiting loan originators in his territory
SingleSource Property Solutions has hired 25-year mortgage and title veteran Holly Wilson as SVP of operations.
Experian Integrates with Workday for Payroll Verification
STRATMOR Group announced Coby Hakalir joined as Managing Director.
Lindsay Barbera will lead Atlantic Bay's first branch in LA.- NMP
The Loan Storerebranded as Averra Financial.
MARKET/INDUSTRY
Crazy stuff: Growth is higher and inflation is lower than expected, but everything's subject to change. Bill Bodnar breaks down last week and what to expect in his latest Master the Markets segment.
Mortgage Rates Average 7.28%: Freddie 10-1-26
Mortgage Applications Decreased 6.0% from One Week Earlier: MBA Weekly for the week ending 9-25-26.
Pendings Plunge: From HWi Real Time
Nationally, new pending sales fell to 59,316 for the week ending Sept. 25, down 4.8% from the prior week and 9% from a year ago.
At the same time, 42.5% of active listings had taken a price cut, up from 41.6% a year ago.
“This is the first real noticeable hit on our weekly demand all year not tied to a holiday.” - HousingWire Lead Analyst Logan Mohtashami
Flipping not for faint of heart
Decline Continues: Q2 Home Flipping Report - ATTOM Data
Home flipping profits continued their gradual two-year decline in Q226, with the typical profit margin falling to 21.5% and gross profit dropping to $60,526.
Flips accounted for 6.2% of all home sales, as profitability declined both quarterly and annually.
Flipping rates declined quarter-over-quarter in 87.1% of the metro areas analyzed.
Returns were strongest on homes purchased between $100,000 and $300,000, with typical margins of 26% or higher.
The typical flip took 161 days from purchase to resale, down from 165 days the previous quarter.
Great Background on the Credit Battles: NMN
“Director Pulte has been sucked into the endless political fight between Fair Issac and Vantage Score, which is jointly owned by the three major credit reporting bureaus; Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Yet the real issue is that most credit scores are wrong because of errors in the underlying consumer data files.
If US lenders treated consumer data with the same carelessness and lack of care that is routine in the world of consumer data aggregation, they would face severe regulatory sanctions and plaintiff litigation. But instead, the lobbyists for Experian have successfully portrayed this as an issue over scores instead of inaccurate data. There is only one correct answer to the question of a borrower's credit score, regardless of which credit model is used.”
“The problem is that the underlying credit data files maintained by Experian, Equifax and Transunion can be incomplete or in error. As a result, the FHA and HUD require lenders to buy all three credit reports from all three data depositories to ensure that an incomplete file doesn't result in an error.
The resulting "tri-merge" underwriting process is the true monopoly in the mortgage market, not the FICO or Vantage score models.” - David Battany of Guild Mortgage
