The numbers are all in for our members that submit data to TMC Benchmark and April was the biggest month ever for closed loan volume in the three years we've been analyzing data as part of it. Not a surprise after we saw record application totals in last month's report of March data. TMC members saw a 22% increase in April closed loan units over March, which was an incredibly strong closing month in its own right. The boost in closings was due to more refinances, with refi's accounting for 59% of all closed loans in April, up from 46% in March. As expected, conventional loans continued to account for a higher % of closed loan units (74%) as the FHA secondary market continued to be uneven due to perceived credit risk from investors. Government loans accounted for just 18% of all closed loan units in April, the lowest % we've ever seen as part of TMC Benchmark.

We also saw our members post record breaking efficiency numbers in April, despite the fact nearly all of them moved their entire staffs remote on next to no notice in late March. Closed loans per FTE processor jumped from 13.3 in March to 16.1 in April. Closed loan units per underwriter rose from 42.1 to 51.4 and closings per closer increased from 51.3 to 63.2. Over the past three months, closed loans per originator has gone from 4.0 to 5.9 to 7.3 in April. The "app to clear to close" timeframe dropped from 33.3 to 32.8 days.

Application volume was down 35% (units) in April off of March's ridiculously high totals, but was still a very strong application month historically. The product mix on new applications stayed consistent at 76% conventional, 18% government, 6% other.

The average LO comp on April closings rose pretty significantly in April, up to 101.4 bps from 95.7 bps in March. We also saw our lenders pretty significantly lower their non-third party lender fees, from $1,389 in March to $1,119 in April on conventional loans and from $1,196 to $1,082 on govies. 

Average salaries paid to processors ($52,952), underwriters ($86,661), and closers ($52,638) all increased again in April, up 2-4% from the month prior, mirroring the same level increase we saw in those salary levels from February to March. We saw reductions (likely volume based) on the average cost per closed loan our members paid for their LOS ($100) and POS ($48), but the average cost per closed loan our lenders paid for their CRM skyrocketed from $108 to $211, likely related to add-on campaigns targeted at refinance opportunities.

49% of companies that submitted April data to TMC Benchmark were IMB's and 51% were depositories. 37% originate $500M or less annually, 26% originate between $500M-$1B, and 37% originate $1 billion per year or more in total volume.

7 years ago, Jim Park, Gary Acosta, John Robbins & David Kittle met at the MBA secondary to discuss the challenges they were facing and what they thought the industry needed. Instead of hoping that an existing organization would  provide the answers, they asked - "Why not us?"

Here at TMC we know that small to mid-sized lenders are essential to providing access to mortgage finance in America, but face some real obstacles in terms of scale, resources, competition from large players, and unique regulatory challenges. We wanted TMC to help level the playing field, finding new ways to support our lenders so that they can thrive in our ever-changing industry. We know that none of what we've accomplished in the past few years would have been possible without you, our TMC family, and all that you do to keep the Power of the Network alive. 

Cheers to you, and cheers to many more years of innovation, inspiration, and collaboration!🥂

Want to give TMC a little love?

Take to LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to wish TMC a happy birthday and share your favorite TMC memory (#happybdaytmc). Bonus points to anyone that shares photos from our previous conferences or gatherings! 👍 ​

Keeping our members informed over the past few months has been a family effort. Since mid-March, we've coordinated 70+ TMConnect webinars, led by over 140 of our best-in-class, front-line-working Lender Members, Preferred Partners, and friends of TMC in order to keep the rest of our membership up to date on the nearly constant change that our industry has been experiencing.

Needless to say, we have a LOT of people to be thankful for, and couldn't even begin to imagine how we would have made it so far without their combined efforts. 

Kyle Johnson of 1st Security Bank of Washington
Jason Madiedo of Alterra Home Loans
Wes Costello & Stephanie Zinsmeister of AnnieMac Home Mortgage
Eric Gates of Apex Home Loans
Sean Dugan & Andy Walden of Black Knight
Jim Fraser of Built Technologies
Lisa Lang of Capital Bank
Rob Chrisman of Chrisman, LLC
Sandra McDowell of CLM Mortgage
Rob Kessel of Compass Analytics
Michael Dresden of Dart Appraisal
Harry Gardner of Docutech
Rob Branthover of ED&F Man Capital
Tony Butler of The Equitable Mortgage Corp.
Eddy Perez, CMB of Equity Prime
Kate deKay & Stephen Barton of Eustis Mortgage
Shane Hartzler, Ed Hohman, Maria Vergara, Tammy Trefny, Rebecca Perkovich, Ridaa Chippa, Niels Poulsen, Jason Carter, David Ellenberger & Erich Ludwig of Fannie Mae
Kelley Hailstone & Vinay Miglani FBC Mortgage
Sarah Gonzalez of First Guaranty Mortgage Corp.
Rob Henger of First Bank
Stan Foraker & Amanda Altenburger of First Commonwealth Bank
Keith Canter of First Community Mortgage
Feliks Viner of First World Mortgage
Mike Ondrovich of First National Bank of Omaha
Keith Paich, Jeff Scheuren, & Beth Bossert of Fulton Mortgage
Bob Hamilton of Glacier Bancorp
Jackson Brown of Harbor View Lending
Dave Holland & Marie Pietropaolo of Holland Mortgage
Brian Montgomery of HUD
Bernard Nossuli & Laird Nossuli of iEmergent
Brad Ketcher of IGNITE Integration Solutions
Ted Kramer of Innovient
Robert Moore of Inventiv Technologies
John Williamson of Johnson Bank
Don Gallo of Keystone Funding
Eric Burgoon of Lake Michigan Credit Union
Jack Thompson of Legacy Mortgage
Khash Saghafi of Liberty Home Mortgage
Pat Begg, CMB of M/I Financial
Anita Padilla-Fitzgerald & Pierre Burris of MegaStar Financial
Ron Kiuttu of Members Mortgage Services
Liz Barnicle of MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. | The Intercontinental Exchange
Matt Dunbar of Midland States Bank
Dean Brown of Mortgage Capital Management
Tycho Rosenfeld & Dave Olchek of MortgageEducation.com
Dave Stevens of Mountain Lake Consulting
Mike Barone, Kyle Lerner & Dayna Silver of MQMR
Jim Collier, Rebecca Gleffe & Eric Roman of Nations Lending
Jodi Hall of Nationwide Mortgage Bankers
David Burner of Notarize
Dean DeMeritte, Kelton Carter & Brian Cerise of PHOENIX
Julian Sado of Pivot2Change
Mike Modell of Plaza Home Mortgage
Kevin Peranio of PRMG
Melissa Langdale & Chris Robertson Right By You Mortgage
Tim Pascarella of Ross Mortgage
Scott Gillen & Dr. Ted Jones of Stewart Title
Victoria DeLuce of Success Mortgage Partners
Tawn Kelley of Taylor Morrison
Dottie Hackett-Cole of Trident Mortgage
Jim Jendzurski & Mark Walser of Triserv Appraisal Management
Raquel Borras of True To You Branding
Marc Silvera of US Mortgage Corp
Chris Bennett of Vice Capital Markets
And last but certainly not least, Michael Metz of VIP Mortgage

Thank you all once again for the time, insights, energy, and passion that you have shared with our TMC Family.

Mortgage Coach introduces the first of its kind "gamification" for mortgage technology. Just in time to meet the challenge of balancing the current refinance wave and the spring homebuying season. The Mortgage Coach platform, training, and community turns the average loan originator into black belt mortgage advisors. With the addition of gamification elements like badges, awards, and recognition built into the Mortgage Coach Advice Engine, mortgage professionals are incentivized to elevate their mortgage advisor skills faster and have competitive fun in the process.

“Loan officers are, by nature, competitive, and adopting technology is challenging for many reasons,” explained Mortgage Coach CEO, Dave Savage. “We built gamification into our advice engine to make it fun and competitive to learn new skills and grow professionally. Mortgage Coach has the best advice platform for loan officers to create and deliver loan comparisons. With the addition of gamification, we now help branch managers, mortgage executives, and lending institutions accelerate digital transformation and technology adoption throughout their organization faster and more effectively.”

“The Mortgage Coach Total Cost Analysis has been key to my personal success and I love this new gamification upgrade. It speeds the adoption of the platform by all of my loan officers, which in turn will increase the value they provide to our clients,” said Jeremy Forcier, branch manager at CrossCountry Mortgage in Petaluma, California. “I highly recommend that every mortgage leader use the gamification features across their entire organization. I know I will.”
 
“I’ve been wanting a solution that could help everyone in my branch improve their mortgage advice skills,” said Denise Donoghue, AKA The Mortgage Nerd in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. “Mortgage Coach’s gamification is exactly what I’ve been looking for. I’m confident we will see relevant improvements in conversion and production.”

​Mortgage Coach gamification introduces a unique incentive for each loan originator to master the Mortgage Coach skills that separate the average loan originator from the very best. Mortgage lenders with a team of Mortgage Coach Black Belts are guaranteed to boost their production and profitability. Contact sales@mortgagecoach.com to learn how our new gamification platform can help you modernize your sales force faster.

We're thrilled to share that over a dozen of our TMC Family members were recently recognized on SocialSurvey's  '2019 Top Performers' for customer satisfaction rankings of Loan Officers and Mortgage companies! Data from 1+ million reviews across 30,000+ loan officers and 200+ companies was used to compile the results - check out the other top performers here!

Top 10 Jumbo (400+ users)
AmCap Mortgage
New American Funding
Paramount Residential Mortgage Group

Top 10 Large (199 - 399 users)
# 1 Large Company: The Mortgage Firm
Nova Home Loans

Top 10 Medium (80-199 users)
# 1 Medium Company: Mason-McDuffie Mortgage
Assurance Financial
Castle & Cooke Mortgage
First Community Mortgage
Inlanta Mortgage
Mutual Mortgage
Thrive Mortgage

Top 10 Small (Less than 80 users)
Essex Mortgage
Priority Mortgage

Top 10 Performers in Customer Satisfaction (LO's)
Jonathan Reichenberg - FM Home Loans
Kurt McClearen - Nova Home Loans
Drew Dodds - VIP Mortgage

​Congratulations to everyone that was recognized for their hard-earned accomplishments!

With many of our members coming off of record closing months, a cloud of uncertainty still looms in the air as lenders continue to assess what the new normal will be when America puts the pandemic in the rearview mirror. What will be the long-lasting impact of the employment disruption and in forbearance loans that dominated the vernacular in April? Should I return my staff back to the office once able? If not, what are the adjustments I must make to accommodate a more remote workforce on a go-forward basis? How will the economy recover and how will it affect my business? And while refinance business is nice, it is not a long term strategy – what can I do now to increase my market share of purchase transactions this summer.
 
These are all things we will hit on these next couple of weeks on TMConnect. We appreciate you, we are here for you.

All registered attendees will also be emailed copies of the recordings at the conclusion of each session.

​The numbers are all in for our members that submit data to TMC Benchmark and March was the biggest month ever for new application volume in the three years we've been analyzing data as part of it. Other highlights from this month's report were a reduction (as a % of total business) in government lending as lenders tightened the credit reigns, as well as sharp increases to operational productivity despite lenders moving their staffs totally remote mid-month. We also saw big increases to the non-third party lender fees charged to borrowers.

Application volume was up 54% (units) in March from February, which was a strong app month in its own right. Equally as notable was the drop off in government lending to just 18% of total apps taken, down 6% from last month and down 12% from last year's %.

Closed loan production in March was also up, increasing 28% (units) over February. 46% of March closings were refinances, up from 40% in February.

Operational efficiency skyrocketed in March. Closed loans per FTE processor in March increased from 8.7 to 13.2 (versus the month prior), closed loans per underwriter rose from 28.3 to 41.8, and closed loans per closer increased from 34.8 to 50.8. The average loan originator closed 5.8 loans in March after closing 4.0 loans on average in February. Loans closed fairly quickly in March, with the average "app to clear to close" time frame coming in at 33.3 days, up slightly from February's TMC Benchmark record low total of 31.7 days.

The average LO comp on March closings came in at 95.7 bps, down from 99.3 bps on February closings. We also saw our lenders substantially raise their non-third party lender fees, from $1,213 in February to $1,389 in March on conventional loans and from $1,132 to $1,196 on govies. 

Average salaries paid to processors ($51,944), underwriters ($84,107), and closers ($52,749) all increased in March, up 2-4% from the month prior. We saw reductions (likely volume based) on the average cost per closed loan our members paid for their LOS ($110), POS ($60), and CRM ($104).

53% of participants this month were IMB's and 47% were depositories. 45% of February participants originate $500M or less in annual production, 18% are in the $500M-$1B annual originations range, and 37% of March TMC Benchmark submissions were from companies that originate more than $1B/year. 

One of our favorite submissions that we received last week was from Jodi Hall, President of Nationwide Mortgage Bankers.

"Good morning,
 
I am writing in response to Rich’s call for positivity.
 
Being headquartered out of one of the hardest hit areas of the country, Long Island, NY, our team not only seamlessly moved to nearly 100% remote, they have thrived.  The leadership of our managers is greater than we have ever seen.  Our employees are more compassionate toward each other and have increased communication across departments to help makes someone else’s day better.  Everyone understands that loan officers don’t get paid if they can’t close loans and they do everything in their power, no matter the hour, to get the doable loans done.  It is literally a love fest between underwriting and sales.  Who would have thought that was possible!
 
Our executive management team is closer than we ever have been before, communicating many times a day.  Any time on our calendars without meetings, we make rounds and call individuals on our teams to see how they are doing.  We join departmental meetings and  happy hours to  say thank you and stay engaged with them.
 
There are many projects we have had to fast forward operationally to do business as normal as possible.  And management has worked very long hours, sometimes 7 days a week, to compress the completion to make virtual work and application through closing processes easier remotely.
 
We also have given back more than usual!  Police, fire, first-responders and healthcare works are plentiful on Long Island and many commute into NYC.  Many are the loved ones of our employees.   We have not only offered them no junk fee loans at below industry average rates,  but have donated  over 15,000 masks, 5,000 personal hand sanitizers, 2,000 thermometers, 2,000 gloves, 500 disposable caps, 300 shoe covers, and 150 face shields nationwide,  and feed departments within hospitals, police precincts, and firehouses several times per week  in our neighboring communities.
 
This week  we started  offering online continuing education courses for local realtors.  We will continue to do these around the country to help realtors get this completed while stay at home orders continue.
 
I have never been more proud of an organization and how everyone’s passion and perseverance is bubbling to the top.  We haven’t had a guidebook on how to deal with a pandemic in our industry but I would be willing to document how our team has performed to have it for the next go around.   We are Nationwide Strong!
 
Thank You & Stay Safe!

Jodi Hall
President
Nationwide Mortgage Bankers"

Wow, thank you so much for sharing, Jodi! If you have something positive to share, email Gabriela at GMendicino@mtgcoop.com for a chance to be featured on our site.  

In light of the current market and the various stimulus programs being implemented by our government, matchbox & IGNITE have created a set of Encompass-based ”stimulus packages” to help their clients make better use of Encompass and their data to increase productivity, better navigate the dynamic Secondary execution landscape, and provide insight into managing the business changes needed to be successful in this environment.

Stimulus Package Series:

• Encompass Remote Assistant Package:This collection of tools works to improve communication within your team, allow progress to continue with multiple users are in a loan file, automatic file updates, file change tracking, and reports to track and manage your team’s Encompass productivity while working remotely.
• IGNITE Liquidity Package: Designed to provide automated tools and integrations to jump-start your ability to automate warehouse funding processes, improve delivery to the agencies, boarding loans to sub-servicers, and reporting on warehouse aging and loan purchases.
• IGNITE Rebound Package: Created to increase the efficiency and productivity of your Closing and Post-Closing departments with automated tools that replace manual tasks, save time from having to open and save files, and increase overall production from these departments.
• IGNITE Rescue Package​: Highlighted by a new “On Hold” classification in Encompass for loans that may have fallen out but have a high likelihood of coming back prior to having to be adversed. Also part of this package is a Pipeline Optimizer reporting tool that allows a user to easily query their pipeline for a specific reason code (employment, investor, loan program) and see exposure to a change in the market within seconds.