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Mortgage shoppers submitted 1.1% more applications for the week ending May 9 than they did at the end of April, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group's Refinance Index also fell 0.4%, as volatility driven by economic uncertainty appears to fade. Consumers watched rates for all but 15-year fixed-rate and jumbo mortgages rise, led by the average contract interest rate for 30-year FRMs rising two basis points to 6.86%. Rates stabilized last week on small market movements in reaction to the Federal Open Market Committee's inaction, said Mike Fratantoni, senior vice president and chief economist at the MBA. "The news for the week was the growth in purchase applications, up 2.3 percent and almost 18 percent higher than last year's pace," said Fratantoni in a press release. Refinance activity is also 44% higher than the same time a year ago, when the average 30-year FRM sat around 7.08%. Additionally, government-sponsored purchase loan application volume was up 40% from the year ago period.The overall activity suggests the traditionally busier homebuying season is chugging along, although some other data points to a muted pace. Optimal Blue recently found lock activity for April rising from both the month and year ago periods, but purchase locks lagging on an annual basis, despite lower rates. Government-backed lendingSimilar to another Optimal Blue finding, borrowers are migrating toward Federal Housing Administration-backed loans, with those mortgages making up an increasing 17.4% of total applications. The average 30-year FHA rate however rose 3 basis points last week to 6.59%.The share of Department of Veterans Affairs-insured loan applications also ticked up a basis point to 13.4%. Among the MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, the seasonally-adjusted VA Refinance Index however was the lone government index to fall backwards.Government-backed adjustable-rate mortgage applications climbed, although their 7.4% share of all home loan applications was down weekly. The rate for 5/1 ARMs grew the most this week, from 5.97% last week to 6.09%.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson.Bloomberg News The Federal Reserve's second-in-command is looking for solid evidence of the impact of tariffs before throwing his support behind changing interest rates.In a Wednesday morning speech, Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said the central bank's current monetary policy stance gives it the flexibility needed to respond to either a resurgence in inflation or a sharp dropoff in economic activity. But until either outcome manifests, he's happy to stand pat."With respect to the path of the policy rate going forward, I will carefully assess incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks," Jefferson said. "Various measures of consumer and business sentiment have declined sharply this year, and I will be watching very carefully for signs of weakening economic activity in hard data."With his comments, delivered at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Annual Conference of Second District Directors and Advisors, Jefferson became the latest Fed official to endorse a wait-and-see approach to policy. Fed Chair Jerome Powell endorsed this approach after last week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting.Jefferson added that economic data from recent weeks has not given a clear signal about where things are heading. He pointed to the most reading on gross domestic product, which showed a 0.3% contraction during the first quarter, as being particularly misleading."That change, however, overstates the deceleration in activity," he said. "A surge in imports apparently ahead of anticipated changes to trade policy did not seem to be reflected fully in inventory or spending data."Similar nuances in recent inflation readings also make it hard to decipher the degree to which trade restrictions are impacting the real economy. While overall inflation readings have continued toward the Fed's 2% target, specific price categories have trended in different directions, Jefferson said, noting that while housing services have been coming down steadily, recent months have shown a slight uptick in core goods inflation."If the increases in tariffs announced so far are sustained, they are likely to interrupt progress on disinflation and generate at least a temporary rise in inflation," he said. "Whether tariffs create persistent upward pressure on inflation will depend on how trade policy is implemented, the pass-through to consumer prices, the reaction of supply chains, and the performance of the economy."The most recent Consumer Price Index report showed annualized inflation continued to fall in April, coming in at 2.3% for headline inflation, down from 2.4% in March, indicating that the sweeping tariffs implemented on April 2 did not lead to an immediate jump in prices. Core CPI, which factors out food and energy prices, was 2.8% last month.While the Fed awaits a clearer indication of where the economy is headed, Jefferson said it has one key metric in its favor: consumer expectations. Despite an uptick in near-term inflation expectations in various measures, he said longer-term expectations have remained anchored to the Fed's 2% target."Short-term inflation expectations have increased in both survey- and market-based measures, but I think it is notable that most measures of longer-run inflation expectations have been largely stable, suggesting that the American people understand the Federal Reserve's commitment to return inflation to our 2% target," he said.

The former headquarters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with signage removed.Catherine Leffert The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has dismissed or withdrawn more than half of its pending enforcement cases as the Trump administration clears the docket of work it inherited from the Biden era. Since February, acting CFPB Director Russell Vought has dismissed 17 lawsuits and three civil investigative demands — 20 cases out of a total of 38 pending enforcement actions. Of those 20 dismissals or withdrawals, 18 were brought by former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra.While there appears to be no clear pattern among the dismissed cases — aside from their dating from the prior administration — some lawyers said the CFPB appeared to favor banks and payday lenders. The reversals also are inconsistent with the CFPB's priorities under Vought that were outlined in a memo last month by Mark Paoletta, the bureau's chief legal officer."The dismissal of litigation muzzles the CFPB," said Jared Tully, partner and practice group vice chair at Frost Brown Todd. "The obvious immediate implication is that banks will have to deal with fewer enforcement actions, which should allow banks to focus on banking, but it will not alleviate the need for banks to comply with regulations — even with the muzzle, the CFPB still has teeth."Many of the lawsuits were filed last year in the waning days of the Biden administration. Vought and Paoletta delivered a major victory to three large banks — JPMorganChase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America — which were sued by Chopra in late December for failing to protect consumers from fraud perpetrated on Zelle, the bank-owned digital payments network run by Early Warning Services. In addition the CFPB also dropped separate lawsuits against Comerica Bank and Capital One. "It's like Chopra launched a thousand ships only to have this hurricane come through and wipe out half of the fleet," said a partner in a law firm that regularly practices before the bureau, who requested anonymity to protect their clients. "I don't think anyone expected the extent and speed of the dismissals so far."It can take years for federal regulators to construct and file an enforcement case. It's not uncommon for an investigation to be closed without any filing of an administrative or federal court proceeding. CFPB enforcement attorneys, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said the cases should have been permitted to continue to their rightful end:  whether the CFPB wins, the defendant wins or the court dismisses them. If a federal complaint is not grounded in law or fact, the legal system will bring it to a close, the attorneys said.The Paoletta memo of the CFPB's new priorities stated that going after consumer abuses in the mortgage industry would be a top priority. Yet Vought, who had to sign off on all the lawsuits, dismissed those against two mortgage lenders: Rocket Homes, which was alleged to have provided kickbacks to real estate brokers; and Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance, which was accused of risky lending practices in loans for manufactured homes. Vanderbilt is a unit of Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary Clayton Homes.Chopra had sued Rocket in December and Vanderbilt in January in the rush of cases filed before the Trump administration took over. Dropping so many lawsuits and investigations is a stunning reversal with no historical comparison, lawyers said. Some criticized Chopra for filing so many cases in the last two months of his tenure before he was fired by President Trump in February."There's no doubt that many of these cases should never have been brought," the lawyer who asked to remain anonymous said. "So it's no surprise that new leadership is dismissing some of them." The Trump administration has tried to dismantle the CFPB and fire 90% of its employees, but its efforts have been thwarted by a federal court that has twice prohibited Vought from issuing mass layoffs, known as reductions in force. Several attorneys said that Paoletta's memo of priorities was written primarily for the legal battle with the bureau's union rather than as an earnest expression of the bureau's new direction. The National Treasury Employees Union sued Vought in February to halt mass firings. Paoletta said in the memo that the CFPB will focus going forward on fraud perpetrated against consumers. Yet, in one example that CFPB enforcement attorneys called egregious, the bureau in March dismissed a lawsuit filed last year against Acima Holdings and its founder and CEO Aaron Allred. Under Chopra, the CFPB had alleged that Acima disguised credit agreements as "leases" to circumvent the Truth in Lending Act and allegedly used deceptive marketing to lock consumers into high-cost financing arrangements. Christine Chen Zinner, senior policy counsel at the nonprofit Consumer Financial Justice, said the CFPB is sending a signal to bad actors that they can get away with ripping off vulnerable and low-income consumers. The lawsuits that were dropped against Capital One, Early Warning Services, TransUnion and Vanderbilt, she said, send a signal to companies that the CFPB will not take action against large companies. At the same time, Zinner pointed to another dismissed lawsuit against Heights Finance Holding, a high-cost installment lender that operates mostly in Southern states, as an example of bad actors "facing no accountability.""Dropping cases like this against Heights Finance, where a predatory lender was picking the pockets of working class people, signals that it's okay to pick on the little guy," Zinner said. The bureau has also had some major wins.Last week, a federal judge ordered a now-defunct debt relief provider, FDATR Inc. and its owners, to pay roughly $43 million in restitution for deceiving student borrowers. That lawsuit was filed in the first Trump administration under former CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger. In addition, last year, the CFPB and the Massachusetts Attorney General obtained a $50 million judgment against Commonwealth Equity Group, known as Key Credit Repair, for making false claims about its ability to improve credit scores and requesting upfront payments. The company was shuttered permanently. The CFPB also continues to litigate against MoneyLion, a so-called challenger bank that the bureau alleged had violated the Military Lending Act by charging service members interest rates and fees that collectively exceed the law's 36% interest rate cap. MoneyLion has said the CFPB's allegations are false and has defended itself against them since the case was filed in 2022.The CFPB's memo states that defending service members is a priority for the Trump administration. But Zinner noted that the bureau has been referring to military personnel as "servicemen," and has not used the term "servicemembers," which includes women."They're basically saying they will only protect servicemen — not women," she said. "It's not a coincidence that they've changed the language and it's part of the broader pattern of concern about word choices and what they're choosing to focus on. They're walking everything back."More dismissals are expected. On Thursday, the CFPB dismissed a lawsuit against Google Payment and on Friday dismissed another suit against PayPal. Both cases were supervisory actions, rather than enforcement actions, and the main point of contention was the CFPB's authority to supervise the tech companies. The bureau sought to put Google Payment under supervision due to concerns about how they handled user reports of payment errors and fraud on their platform, even though the Google Payment app had been discontinued. Similarly, the lawsuit against PayPal involved the CFPB's attempt to regulate digital wallets and payments apps through "proactive examinations."

April's increase in rate lock activity does lend some support to the optimistic views on Spring's market, according to Optimal Blue.Its Market Volume Index, a measurement of rate lock activity, was at 109 for April. This was up from 105 in March, a gain of 3.2%, and 103 for April 2024, 5.9% higher.This follows the release of March's pending home sales index from the National Association of Realtors showing its biggest gain since December 2023. It also supports anecdotal comments on open title orders for April that the four largest players made during their first quarter earnings call.But the data for purchase locks tells an interesting tale. While those were up 7.5% compared with one month ago, versus April 2024, they were down by 5%.Refinancings edge lower compared with MarchRefinance volume, for both rate-and-term and cash-out varieties, on the other hand, were lower than in March, likely because of the volatile rate environment following the April 2 tariff announcements. But both were up compared with one year ago, the Optimal Blue Market Advantage Report said.Refis, for any purpose, made up 21% of April's volume, down from 25% in March. Rate-and-term locks were down 15.4% versus the prior month, but up 172.9% compared with April 2024.Meanwhile, cash-out locks were 3.2% lower versus March but up 34.5% over a year ago.Optimal Blue's own mortgage rate data found the 30-year conforming fixed moving during the first 10 days of April between 6.48% and 6.98%, ending the month near the middle of that range at 6.71%.What product the rate shift is driving borrowers toThe product type that benefitted most from the rate roller coaster were Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages, whose market share rose 57 basis points from March to 20.2%."Last month's report showed early signs of spring homebuyer activity, and April confirms the season is underway with a solid increase in purchase locks," said Brennan O'Connell, director of data solutions at Optimal Blue, in a press release. "We also saw a shift toward FHA loans, often used by first-time or credit-challenged buyers, and away from non-conforming products, possibly reflecting investor caution in response to broader economic uncertainty."Rates for FHA loans ended the month at 6.44%, while jumbo loans were at 6.84%, the Optimal Blue data noted.Conforming mortgages made up 51% of all locks, almost even with the prior month, while nonconforming mortgages saw their share fall to 16.4%, a decline of 46 basis points. But when compared to one year ago, the conforming share was 583 basis points lower and the nonconforming was 270 basis points higher.How loan product mix changes compared with MarchSeparately, the Mortgage Bankers Association's Mortgage Credit Availability Index, which measures product offerings, was unchanged in April from March at 102.9. The main components, conventional and jumbo, also did not change month-to-month.However, the jumbo subindex was 0.1% lower than March, and the conforming was 0.2% higher."Overall levels of credit supply remain tight but have generally grown since 2023, as lenders continue to offer cash-out refinance loan programs as well as jumbo and non-QM loans," Joel Kan, the MBA's deputy chief economist, said in a press release. "Lenders remain positioned for potential refinance opportunities as mortgage rates continue to fluctuate."

The year 2025 has been all about mortgage and real estate linkups and vertical integration.Two of the biggest were announced in the month of March, when Rocket acquired Redfin and a few weeks later, Mr. Cooper too.Those moves could propel Rocket back to #1 on the top mortgage lender ranking list, a position it ceded to United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM).And it appears smaller lenders are taking note of this strategy, with Lower Mortgage announcing today it would acquire Movoto, a top-5 real estate portal in the U.S.Like the others, it’s looking to create an end-to-end homeownership platform while taking advantage of valuable top-of-funnel web traffic.Lower’s Acquisition of Movoto Will Make It the Portal’s Preferred LenderSimilar to how Rocket will likely inject ads into the Redfin platform once the merger is complete, Lower is looking to be the preferred lender for Movoto.The real estate portal apparently received 150 million visits during 2024, making it the 5th largest real estate portal in the United States.Zillow is the leader in the space thanks to its popular Zestimate home valuation tool, followed by Redfin, Realtor, and then Trulia.Homes.com is reportedly fifth, followed by Remax, but it depends how it’s measured and what’s considered a portal I suppose.Movoto is 7th on that list, but that’s for all real estate websites, so it’s still a relative heavyweight any way you slice it.And once Lower closes on the acquisition, the plan will be to grow the brand even more while incorporating its team of loan officers with visitors of the site.Their goal is also to be the lender of choice for real estate agents on the platform, via a so-called “super-team.”In the process, they’ll likely replace current third-party lender ads with their own, thereby eliminating one of the biggest pain points to growth, which in their own words is customer acquisition.The Real Estate Portals Are Now Tied Up with Mortgage LendersLower, which calls itself one of the fastest-growing mortgage lenders in the country, is following in the footsteps of the bigger players like Rocket Mortgage and its pending Redfin acquisition.They want access to an endless stream of prospective home buyers, and snagging a real estate portal rich with content seems to be the move these days.It’s not enough to simply partner with a real estate company, though Lower is also the exclusive mortgage provider for Opendoor.The lender is well aware that Movoto has the ability to deliver “a steady stream of high-intent buyers looking to get pre-approved.”And that’s the perfect formula to scale in a low-volume environment, while also enjoying synergies like access to tons of content to incorporate their home loan services.The other top real estate portal, Zillow, operates Zillow Home Loans, so that’s the lender of choice over there, despite them still operating a third-party lender search tool called the Mortgage Marketplace.They also own Trulia. That leaves Realtor and Homes as the only major portals without an associated mortgage lender (keep an eye on that!).It’s unclear what Lower is paying to acquire Movoto, but the company will be integrated into the Lower brand immediately after closing.The combined companies will consist of 1,000+ employees across two locations in Columbus, Ohio and Austin, Texas.Chances are that could push Lower up the mortgage lender rankings in short order. They funded more than $5 billion in 2024, per HMDA data, and could well land in the top-25 once the merger begins to bears fruit. Before creating this site, I worked as an account executive for a wholesale mortgage lender in Los Angeles. My hands-on experience in the early 2000s inspired me to begin writing about mortgages 19 years ago to help prospective (and existing) home buyers better navigate the home loan process. Follow me on X for hot takes.Latest posts by Colin Robertson (see all)

The expiration of the Department of Veterans Affairs loss-mitigation program drove an overall rise in foreclosures to start 2025, with the jump among VA loans the highest in decades, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The share of mortgages in foreclosure relative to total volume increased to 0.49% in the first quarter, up 4 basis points from 0.45%  three months earlier. The latest percentage is also up 3 basis points from 0.46% year over year, MBA said in its latest national delinquency survey.At the same time, new foreclosure starts climbed up to 0.2% from 0.15% during the fourth quarter of 2024. "Foreclosure inventories increased across all three loan types, and particularly for VA loans," said Marina Walsh, the trade group's vice president of industry analysis, in a press release.  "The percentage of VA loans in the foreclosure process rose to 0.84%, the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2019. The increase from the previous quarter marks the largest quarterly change recorded for the VA foreclosure inventory rate since the inception of MBA's survey in 1979," she added.Numbers among VA borrowers took a turn upward to start the year following the expiration of a voluntary foreclosure moratorium tied to the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase program. Initial data at the start of the year in several reports showed a noticeable spike in foreclosure starts as well as auctions. Against that backdrop, MBA and other mortgage industry groups are sounding the alarm about the need to introduce new relief for distressed veteran homeowners, with VASP no longer available for new applicants as of May 1. Successor VA loss-mitigation measures have yet to be  enacted, but a new partial-claim proposal is currently making its way through Congress.While the rise was more muted elsewhere, the share of Federal Housing Administration-guaranteed loans in foreclosure also climbed upward to 0.92% during the quarter. Forborne conventional mortgages made of 0.38% of the outstanding volume. Why this report paints a mixed pictureAlthough trends show reasons for concern, Walsh pointed out that current delinquency and foreclosure rates both sit under historical averages, with first-quarter numbers offering a mixed picture of borrowers' standing.The total delinquency rate increased for the second quarter in a row to 4.04% and was also up year over year, driven by conventional mortgage activity. The share rose from 3.98% three months earlier and 3.94% a year ago. Numbers were adjusted for seasonality. The delinquency rate, however, does not include loans that rolled over into foreclosure. Compared to the previous quarter, the delinquent share among conventional loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increased 8 basis points to 2.7% from 2.62%. The FHA segment saw a 41 basis point drop to 10.62% from 11.03%, while delinquency share among VA loans slid 7 basis points to 4.63% from 4.7%.Current delinquency rates are 8 basis points higher for conventional mortgages on an annual basis. Among government-backed loans, the FHA share increased 23 basis points year over year, with the percentage falling 3 basis points for VA loans.By delinquency stage, the portion of loans 30-days past due rose a seasonally adjusted 11 basis points to 2.14% from the previous quarter. The share shrank to 0.73% for payments 60 days late, down 3 basis points. The 90-day delinquency rate similarly fell 2 basis points to 1.17%.Is the uptick in mortgage delinquencies the start of a trend?MBA's findings largely align to data regarding seriously distressed loans and foreclosures noted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in its first quarter report. New foreclosure filings leaped by almost 50% on a quarterly basis to approximately 61,660 from 41,220 in the fourth quarter, according to New York Fed's calculations.The number of mortgages flowing into the seriously delinquent stage of 90 days or more past due similarly accelerated 13 basis points to 1.22% from 1.09% of total loans outstanding in the prior quarter. On a year-over-year basis, the share rose from 0.92%.Meanwhile, the new seriously delinquent rate of home equity lines of credit accelerated to 0.88% from 0.56% three months earlier and 0.52% in the first quarter 2024.Delinquency upticks in recent months might serve as a flashing caution light for servicers in the months ahead if trends hold. While VA policy changes played a significant role in the foreclosure spike to start the year, New York Fed noted warning signs appearing across the board, with the latest activity catching up to quarterly delinquency growth rates . "It looks like it's a pattern of increasing delinquency leading to increasing foreclosure across all types of mortgages," researchers at the New York Fed said.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has responded to the Office of Management and Budget's request for information on "unnecessary, unlawful, unduly burdensome and unsound rules" with several origination and servicing policy suggestions.There already has been pullback from some of the policies the association is calling for the Office of Management and Budget to rescind, with the suggestions aimed at putting a more definitive end to these where the OMB has the authority to do so. The MBA also has some suggestions for revising certain rules.The OMB has the authority to rescind rules in some cases but others are governed by the Administrative Procedures Act and would need to go through a different process for alterations.Some rules the MBA would like to see rescindedFirst on the MBA's list is the full removal of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's nonbank registry, citing its overlap with one the states have, according to the letter Pete Mills, the association's senior vice president of residential policy and strategic industry engagement, wrote to OMB.The bureau, which just withdrew 70 guidance and enforcement documents, said last month it was considering issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking that would rescind the regulation or "narrow its scope" and would not be enforcing compliance with previous Biden administration rules around it. The CFPB also said in a staff memo that it plans to shift several aspects of enforcement to the states and stop nonbank oversight, according to NMN affiliate American Banker.The MBA also called for rescinding some Department of Housing and Urban Development rules, including one aimed at modernizing required contact with borrowers in default."While intended to provide servicers with the flexibility to deploy alternative methods to conduct meetings with borrowers before foreclosure, this rule preserves a duplicative regulatory environment that HUD has previously recognized as unnecessary to help borrowers maintain homeownership," the letter said.Another HUD rule the association is recommending for rescission calls for minimum property standards for structures in areas identified as having high levels of flood risk. The Federal Housing Administration issued a waiver for the requirement earlier this year."HUD's reliance on an undeveloped climate-informed science approach and costly elevation requirements threatens affordable housing production by introducing unclear, burdensome challenges," Mills wrote in the letter.Furthermore, the letter calls for the full rollback of energy-efficiency standards for new-construction single- and multifamily homes financed through either HUD or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These standards call for compliance with 2021's International Energy Conservation Code."With over 30 states still operating under the 2009 code and a shortage of inspectors trained on the 2021 standards, this policy creates unnecessary disruption and restricts the already-limited housing supply available to renters and first-time homebuyers," Mills said.What the MBA would like to see revisedThe association also indicated it's interested in seeing the following rules changed:Mortgage servicing rules under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act requiring modernizationAspects of RESPA's Section 8 that aren't in line with "the current state of technology"Loan originator compensation requirements under the Truth in Lending Act that are "too complex"Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements for multifamily loans that do not involve consumersUnfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices oversight at Federal Housing Finance Agency that are "inappropriate" given the Federal Trade Commission's traditional oversight (FHFA Director Bill Pulte has withdrawn an advisory bulletin on UDAP.)Aspects of the FHFA's enterprise regulatory capital framework that are too complex or have had unintended consequences related to their impact on loan pricingFHA claims curtailment policies that require modernization Department of Veterans Affairs servicing and claims procedures for modifications requiring face-to-face interviews, which impose "significant logistical and compliance burdens" Reg AB II disclosures the Securities and Exchange Commission requires for private-label residential mortgage bonds, which the MBA said could be better "harmonized"

Mortgage lender Lower is acquiring Movoto, a home search website, from prior parent company OJO Labs, the companies announced Tuesday.The combination of the two firms will create "an end-to-end homeownership platform" connecting consumers, originators and real estate agents. The vision echoes a similar one pursued by Rocket Companies through its acquisition of Redfin, announced weeks ago.Dan Snyder, CEO and co-founder of Lower, said the purchase of Movoto strengthens the firm's position "as the challenger platform" and gives it a chance to capture "significant market share." "The future of our industry lies in blending the best technology with the irreplaceable expertise of local agents and loan officers," Snyder said in a statement. "Movoto is the perfect platform to accelerate this vision, allowing us to create a simpler, smarter path to homeownership." Financial details of the Lower-Movoto deal were not disclosed. Movoto, ranked among the top five U.S. real estate platforms, received more than 150 million visits in 2024, a press release claims.The combined company will have more than 1,000 employees, with offices in Columbus, Ohio, and Austin, Texas. Immediately after the closing, the teams will integrate Movoto into the Lower brand. John Berkowitz, current CEO of Movoto, will transition to Lower and serve as the president of real estate at the multi-channel mortgage lender. The purchase will connect Lower's almost 500 sponsored loan officers with "thousands of motivated homebuyers and top-performing agents in their markets," the firm said."Modern technology should work for the local loan officer, not replace them," said Craig Montgomery, chief strategy officer at Lower, in a statement. "Movoto arms originators and agents with real-time opportunities and puts them at the center of the homebuying journey – right where they belong. It's the kind of innovation that puts originators in a position to win consistently."This is Lower's second acquisition in 2025, with the first being the purchase of software firm Neat Labs in January.Combined with the acquisition of Neat Labs and the launch of the LowerOS mortgage platform last fall, the purchase of Movoto will position Lower for rapid growth into a broader fintech organization, the company said in a press release.

Better Home & Finance is offering numerous reasons to believe better days are ahead despite its struggle to reach profitability.The digital lender Tuesday morning disclosed a $51 million net loss in the first quarter, in line with net losses of $59.2 million and $50 million in the prior and year ago periods, respectively. Since going public 21 months ago, the company has yet to post a quarterly profit.Depending on the mortgage market, Better could achieve profitability in the second half of 2026, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Ryan said in an interview. During Tuesday morning's earnings call, founder and CEO Vishal Garg suggested loan origination expenses would rise as the lender leans into growth, but eventually it could lead to greater operating leverage. Executives are bullish on the company's artificial intelligence prowess, including its Tinman platform and voice assistant Betsy, and its new retail effort, to lead them into the black. The mostly direct-to-consumer lender recorded $868 million in funded loan volume in the first quarter, up 31% from the year ago period. Home equity mortgages accounted for $157 million, or 18% of that volume. In the final months of 2024, the mortgage shop closed $936 million across 3,300 originations. Neo Home Loans updateAlso within that first quarter period was $163 million of funded loan volume from Better's Neo Home Loans retail team, which began originating loans in January. The company expects Neo to approach $450 million in origination volume this spring.Ryan in an interview said Neo loan officers quickly grasped the Tinman platform and were more productive on it in a short learning period than they were when using Encompass and other loan origination systems."That gives us a lot of confidence that the technology is real," said Ryan. Neo is the subject of a theft of trade secrets complaint between Better and Luminate Home Loans; the complaint is pending in a California federal court. Tinman, Betsy and lowering the cost per loanBetter in its earnings report also announced an agreement for an unnamed bank, a former Encompass customer, to use Tinman for its mortgage operations including wholesale and non qualified mortgage originations. Garg during the call emphasized the success of Tinman and Betsy, revisiting Better's goal to get loan production costs down to $1,500 per origination, or around six times cheaper than the industry average. "You can't deploy an AI agent on any of these old, broken systems," said Garg, referring to other industry technologies. "So I think it's sort of like a seminal 1995 to 1999 moment, where now AI is a thing, and none of these systems are AI-equipped."The lender reported $33 million in revenue for the first quarter, for a 50% year-over-year increase and 32% gain over the prior quarter. In the recent period however, Better's expenses approached $83 million. Better's restructured financingTuesday's results came a few weeks after Better restructured a $530 million convertible note arrangement with financier Softbank, the Japanese conglomerate. The transaction is expected to create approximately $200 million of positive, pre-tax equity value for the company, it said. "It just gives partners confidence that when they're entering in a partnership, it's going to be a long-term partnership with a company that's got the financial stability to see through what's been a very difficult cycle for everybody," said Ryan. The company's stock was trading at $14.08 a share around 1 p.m. Eastern Tuesday, a penny higher than its opening.

Former Churchill Mortgage employees moved one step closer to getting a $850,000 settlement approved by a federal court in Tennessee over claims that their employee retirement accounts were mismanaged. The proposed settlement would dole out approximately $850 per class member and over $200,000 would be paid to attorneys representing plaintiffs.If approved, the deal would resolve a certified class action lawsuit lodged in 2023, which accused Churchill Mortgage's CEO, Mike Hardwick, and others associated with the company's employee stock ownership plan of using annual dividends made from company profits from 2013 to 2019 to financially prop up the company.Members in the class action suit also claim that in 2020 their ESOP bought Churchill's stock from Hardwick for close to $74 million, which was nearly three times the fair value. The deal left the retirement plan and the company deeply in debt, while Hardwick walked away with a big profit, the suit alleged. Both issues represent an alleged violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Bloomberg Law first reported on the suit. Contingent on the approval of a Tennessee federal court, the plaintiffs will in turn agree to not refile similar litigations against defendants in the future.Though the settlement received its first green light May 8, both parties will convene Sept. 17 for a hearing before a final order is issued. The class action, per estimates, has close to 300 members. A legal document filed April 17 outlined that both parties had issues coming to a mutual understanding."Defendants vigorously denied all of the allegations, asserted affirmative defenses, and otherwise defended its actions with respect to the 2020 transaction and its fairness to the plan," the document filed in April said. "Plaintiffs and defendants also strongly disagree on the proper measure of damages. That core dispute had not been resolved at the time the parties reached their Settlement, and the uncertainty put both parties at great risk," that same legal filing added.Litigation was kicked off in 2023 by three underwriters that launched litigation against Churchill Mortgage's CEO and individuals affiliated with the company's ESOP.The filing from two years ago outlines that Hardwick in 2013 started "cashing out his equity in Churchill," via the creation of the ESOP for employees. Each year, $2.4 million in dividends was deposited into the plan, but in most years a significant portion of the dividends were used to offset corporate obligations, like ESOP contributions, instead of being used for the benefit of the plan and its participants.In 2020, Hadwick sold his remaining equity in Churchill, amounting to 510,000 shares of common stock to the ESOP for $74 million."Each share of ESOP-held preferred stock had been valued at $52.25 as of December 31, 2019. But only a few months later, the plan paid Hardwick $145.90 per share of common stock in the 2020 Transaction," litigation read. "Thus, the plan paid Hardwick almost three times what Churchill preferred stock had been valued less than a year earlier.""The 2020 transaction allowed Hardwick to unload his stake in Churchill above fair market value, for the reasons explained herein, and saddle the plan and Churchill with tens of millions of dollars of debt to finance the transaction," original litigation filed said.It is uncertain how the three underwriters became privy to what was happening to their retirement accounts. The information was not disclosed in the three filings viewed.Churchill Mortgage could not immediately be reached for comment.