Top Headlines
Black Knight Launches New Solution To Combat Minority Appraiser Bias
Planet Home Lending & Xactus Recognized in Progress in Lending's 2022 Innovation Award Winners
Sales Boomerang Releases Q1 2022 Mortgage Market Opportunities Report
Freddie Mac First Out of the Gate with Plans for Targeted Lending Programs
Black Knight: Forbearance Plan Volumes Edge Higher Mid-Month
Freddie Mac March 2022 Volume Summary & Q1 Financial Results

Thought Leadership
Black Knight Origination Technology President, Rich Gagliano: Automated Process Scalability Offers Antidote to Market Volatility 
OptiFunder CEO, Michael McFadden: Move From LIBOR Further Complicates Warehouse Funding Decisions
SimpleNexus EVP & General Manager, Lori Brewer: The Evolution of Business Intelligence in the Mortgage Industry
Verity Global Solution's Elizabeth Michael: Thinking Outside the Box - Outsourcing Mortgage Accounting & ICE Encompass Support
Black Knight's Ravi Desai: Taking Loan Pricing from Reactive to Proactive with Real-Time Data
​
Personnel Announcements
Vice Capital Markets Promotes Shawn Ansley to from Managing Director to CIO
​
Blogs
Fannie Mae Quality Insider Newsletter - April 2022
Maxwell: 10 Ways LO's Can Build Strong Referral Relationships with Real Estate Agents
Verity Global Solutions: 5 Key Tips to Increase Profit with Labor Outsourcing & Automation
​
Events
(Webinar): MGIC & CUNA: Financial & Mortgage Trends - Mon., 5/9 @ 3 pm ET
(Conference): MeridianLink User Forum LIVE from Huntington Beach, CA - May 2nd - 5th

Despite the continuing ascent in mortgage rates, March was a significantly better month on both the closed loan and new application fronts for The Mortgage Collaborative's national network of lender member companies.

Closed loan production (in units) was up 25% month-over-month for the network. While refinances fell off by 3%, purchase closings saw a 41% increase. Accordingly, the share of closed loans that were purchases ascended to its highest level in the 5+ year history of TMC Benchmark, coming in at 71% in March.

Here's the purchase share we've seen in TMC Benchmark over the last six months:

October 2021: 61%
November 2021: 62%
December 2021: 66%
January 2022: 61%
February 2022: 63%
March 2022: 71%

We also saw the % of conventional closings come in at a TMC Benchmark all-time low in March, falling from 73% to 70% month-over-month. Government loan closings ticked up from 20% to 21% and the "Other" category (all other products) rose from 7% to 9%.

New applications written were up 22% month-to-month. Of note inside that number was the same trend we saw in closings, with new conventional apps falling (by %) and "Other" increasing. Conventional apps dropped from 72% in February to 68% in March with "Other" rising from 6% to 10%. Government apps stayed steady by share at 22% from last month.

Operational efficiency improved in most areas in March after waning throughout the winter amidst the mortgage rate-fueled volume slowdown. The number of closed loan units closed per full-time processor increased by 28% in March to 9.2 and closed loan units per full-time closer increased by 26% to 31.0. In a strange anomaly, closed loan units per full-time underwriter dropped to 19.8 from 21.6 the month prior. The average loan originator closed 4.7 units in March, up from 3.9 in February. LO comp came in at an average of 94.1 bps, down 1.3 bps from last month's 95.4 total.

Average annual compensation paid to operational staff was very flat month-over-month, with average annual comp paid to FTE processors coming in at $51,900 this month. Underwriter annual comp ticked up slightly to $84,800. Average annual comp paid to closers rose slightly to $53,400.

The average "app date to clear to close date" stayed identical month-over-month at 39.6 days. Let's take a look at how this number trended throughout the course of 2021 and now into 2022:

January '21 - 47.9
February '21 - 43.1
March '21 - 42.8
April '21 - 45.7
May '21 - 43.8
June '21 - 41.8
July '21 - 43.2
August '21 - 42.5
September '21 - 42.3
October '21 - 42.6
November '21 - 41.0
December '21 - 34.0
January '22 - 40.1
February '22 - 39.6
March '22 - 39.6

The average cost per closed loan unit our members paid for their loan origination system (LOS) fell slightly to $129 in March after seeing a big rise ($116 to $131) the month prior. The average cost per closed loan unit for our members point-of-sale (POS) system was up $6 to $60 in March and came in flat month-over-month at $89 for their CRM.

Average non-third party lender fees continues to trend slightly upward on conventional loans, coming in at $1,153. Government lender fees fell from $1,109 to $1,062 for this most recent month.

51% of this month's participants in TMC Benchmark were depositories and 49% were IMB's. 38% originate under $500M a year in annual volume, 25% originate between $500M-$1B, and 37% originate over $1 billion per year in annual production.

Rich Swerbinsky
President & Chief Operating Officer
The Mortgage Collaborative

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Optimal Blue, a division of Black Knight: Weekly Market Update

Thought Leadership
SimpleNexus Founder, Matt Hansen: Rally for RON with MBA
MPA Leadership Profile: Robert Senko, President - ACC Mortgage
Optimal Blue Sales Solutions Specialist, Justin Roddel: Trusting Your Hedge System in Today's Volatile Marketplace
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Personnel Announcements
Xactus Appoints Kevin Ryan as Chief Financial Officer

Blogs
Create More Value for Your Real Estate Agent Referral Partners with MGIC's 'More Options. More Sales Opportunities' Program
Optimal Blue, a division of Black Knight FREE Whitepaper: 5 Key Components of a Successful PPE
Triserv Lender Resources: What Do Triserv's Various Order Statuses Mean?

Media
(Video) NMN Demo - Arch MI: Buy Down Your Borrower's Monthly MI Premium with the Only Buydown Tool Available
(Video) NMN Demo - Docutech: Close Loans Faster: Make Each Transaction as "e" as it Can Be with Solex Orders & Solex eClosing

Events
May 2 - 5: MeridianLink User Forum Live From Huntington Beach
TMCSuccessStories: Wed., 4/27 @ 2 pm ET –– How University Bank Utilizes Venture Lynk’s Risk Solutions to Create Streamlined Efficiencies
TMConnect: Thurs., 4/28 @ 3 pm ET – Get More First-Time Homebuyers Approved, featuring Fannie Mae & Thrive Mortgage

Forbes released its annual America's Best Banks and World's Best Banks list and we are proud to highlight our lender members who placed!

America's Best Banks were chosen and ranked according to balance sheets and profit and loss statements. World's Best Banks were determined by a survey conducted by Statista of more than 45,000 customers in 14 languages around the globe for their opinions on their current and former banking relationships. Banks were rated on general satisfaction as well as key metrics such as trust, fees, digital services and financial advice.

Congratulations to each of our lender members in the TMC Family that placed in Forbes 2022 Best Banks! For the full list of rankings, click the list title below.

America's Best Banks
6) Prosperity Bancshares
7) Capital Bank
8) Glacier Bancorp
10) WesBanco
18) United Community Bank
65) First Interstate Bank
89) F.N.B
92) Fulton Bank
100) Associated Banc-Corp

World's Best Banks
2) Gate City Bank
3) United Community Bank
7) Bangor Savings Bank
15) Glacier Bancorp
20) Arvest Bank
27) First National Bank of Omaha
30) WesBanco
32) Centennial Bank
34) Prosperity Bancshares
36) Fulton Bank
44) Capital Bank
50) First Commonwealth Bank
55) First Horizon
63) F.N.B

February was a startlingly similar month to the month prior for The Mortgage Collaborative's national network of members that submit data to TMC Benchmark.
 
New applications written were down 4.5% month-to-month. Of note inside that number was an uptick in government loan apps, up from 19% in January to 22% in February. That's the highest % of government apps in any month we've seen in TMC Benchmark in over three years. This was the 5th straight month we've seen total apps decline from the month prior as higher interest rates continue to choke off refinance business and restrict new home purchases.
 
Closed loan production (in units) was down 3.8% during the month of February when compared with the month prior. The mix of products was 73% conventional, 20% government, 7% other.
 
The purchase/refinance mix trended slightly more purchase month over month. Here's the purchase share we've seen in TMC Benchmark the last six months:
 
September 2021: 61%
October 2021: 61%
November 2021: 62%
December 2021: 66%
January 2022: 61%
February 2022: 63%
 
Operational efficiency continued to fall off in February to new all-time low levels as lenders try to make sense of how to handle overstaffed operational units amidst a volume slowdown while still trying to pursue initiatives to bring in new production. The number of closed loan units closed per full-time processor dropped to 7.2 in February from 7.3 in January. Closed loan units per full-time underwriter dropped to 21.6 from 22.5 the month prior. Closed loan units per full-time closer fell to 24.7 from 26.7 last month. The average loan originator closed 3.9 units in February, down from 4.3 in January. LO comp came in at an average of 95.4 bps, up 3.1 bps from last month's 92.3 total.
 
Average annual compensation paid to operational staff was very flat month-over-month, with average annual comp paid to FTE processors coming in at $51,200 this month. Underwriter annual comp ticked up slightly to $83,700. Average annual comp paid to closers stayed consistent at $52,600.
 
The average "app date to clear to close date" shot up 6 days in January after plummeting to 34.0 days in December, which is by far the lowest we've seen this number in the six-year history of TMC Benchmark. And came in at 39.6 days for this most recent month. Let's take a look at how this number trended throughout the course of 2021 and now into 2022:
 
January '21 - 47.9
February '21 - 43.1
March '21 - 42.8
April '21 - 45.7
May '21 - 43.8
June '21 - 41.8
July '21 - 43.2
August '21 - 42.5
September '21 - 42.3
October '21 - 42.6
November '21 - 41.0
December '21 - 34.0
January '22 - 40.1
February '22 - 39.6
 
The average cost per closed loan unit our members paid for their loan origination system (LOS) shot up to $131 in February, up $15 from the month prior. The average cost per closed loan unit for our members point-of-sale (POS) system was $54 in February and $89 for their CRM.
 
Average non-third party lender fees continues to trend slightly upward with conventional coming in at $1,133 and government at $1,109.
 
52% of this month's participants in TMC Benchmark were depositories and 48% were IMB's. 38% originate under $500M a year in annual volume, 27% originate between $500M-$1B, and 35% originate over $1 billion per year in annual production.

Rich Swerbinsky
President & Chief Operating Officer
The Mortgage Collaborative

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Thought Leadership...
​Black Knight Managing Director, Sean Dugan: "Setting Tech-Spectations" - 4 Questions You Need to Ask About Loan Origination Software Pricing
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Blog...
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Fannie Mae Quality Insider - March 2022
Freddie Mac March 2022 Loan Product Advisor Releases
MGIC LO Hub: How to Skyrocket Referrals From Your Borrowers?
Fannie Mae Appraiser Update - March 2022
​Sales Boomerang Case Study: Bank of England Mortgage Adds $222 MM in Annual Closed-Loan Review with Sales Boomerang
ICYMI: MQMR - 8 Tips for Ensuring A Successful MERS Annual Report

Media...
​​ (On-Demand Podcast) Lykken on Lending - Hot Topic: 3 Consecutive Weeks of TMC Partner Thought Leaders Including: Briana Ings - Snapdocs, Lori Brewer - SimpleNexus & Joe Welu - Total Expert
(Video) FinLocker President & COO, Brian Vieaux: FinLocker Integrates Total Expert Journeys Into Its Financial Fitness App
(On-Demand Podcast) Certified Credit: Talk Data to Me Episode 1 Now Available