For the second year in a row, Forbes has partnered with Statista, a market research firm, to produce their list of World's Best Banks. It may not surprise anyone that COVID changed the game on how many customers had to turn to online banking practices, forcing banks around the world to raise the bar on the quality of their service. Equally unsurprising: several of our TMC Members made the cut! These banks are rated by key attributes such as trust, fees, digital services, and financial advice, and we couldn't be prouder of our TMC Family once again representing the Power of the Network on an internationally respected listing.

Glacier Bank
Fulton Bank
First National Bank of Omaha
United Community Banks
Centennial Bank
First Commonwealth
WesBanco
Arvest Bank

​We saw record participation this month in TMC Benchmark, with our members eager to measure their May performance against their peers with everyone's operational infrastructure being put to test during these times of record volumes. While May closed loan production (units) was down 9% from April, May was still the second biggest closing month ever in the 3.5 years we've been analyzing data through TMC Benchmark. And May new applications taken were up 6% over April, evidence that closings will not slow at all as we head into the heart of summer.

The mix of volume stayed remarkably consistent for our members in May. 75% of all May closed loan units were on conventional loans and 20% were on government loans, the exact same totals as April. May new applications also came in at that same 75% conventional, 20% govie, 5% "other" mix. After bottoming out at an all-time TMC Benchmark low of 18% in March, government loan production seems to now be settled in at the 20% mark. As expected, purchase activity represented a slightly higher % of production on May closings, rising from 41% in April to 44% for this most recent month.

NEXT recently announced the winner of their inaugural NEXT Powerhouse Awards, women who are marking the most of technology, new ideas, and modern advance to keep their companies moving forward in our ever-changing industry. No one on our team was surprised to find that we have over a dozen members and partners that were recognized. Congratulations, everyone!

​Preferred Partners: 
Beth Johnson, Senior Consultant, Loan Vision
Kerri Milam, President, Depth PR
Lori Brewer, CEO, LBA WARE
Pamela Faulkner, Director of Mortgage Solutions, SimpleNexus, LLC
Deborah Robertson, Regional Vice President, Wholesale Sales, Plaza Home Mortgage
Cathleen Schreiner Gates - Board of Directors, SimpleNexus

Lender Members:
Barbara Voytek, Chief Compliance & Audit Officer CrossCountry Mortgage
Gloria Fillmon, Chief Risk Officer, American Pacific Mortgage Corporation
Kellie Hodges, Brand Manager, Apex Home Loans
Kerry Fitzpatrick, President, AnnieMac Worx
Laura LaRaia, Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel, First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation
Laurie Sullivan, Chief Compliance Officer, First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation
Loralynne Ball, Senior Vice President of National Sales, VanDyk Mortgage
Patty Arvielo, President & CoFounder, New American Funding
Sue Meitner, President, Centennial Lending Group, ​a division of Success Mortgage Partners

HousingWire recently recognized 50 young innovators that are actively moving the housing industry forward as their 2020 Class of Rising Stars. The selection for this recognition has gotten to be more and more competitive as each year goes on, but they were finally able to narrow it down to the industry's top up-and-coming leaders. Unsurprisingly, the list features several member of our TMC Family:

Lender Members
⭐Karen Kreutziger, CEO – Flat Branch Home Loans
⭐Brittany Whitmire, SVP of Marketing – FGMC

Preferred Partners
⭐Jordan Wild, Senior Software Developer – SimpleNexus
⭐Mike Yu, Product Manager – Blend
⭐Adam Stern, Chief Product Officer – Docutech
⭐Tim McCallum, VP of Customer Management – Fannie Mae
⭐Ajita Atreya, Senior Economist – Freddie Mac

Congratulations to everyone who was recognized. We can't wait to see what you do next in tyour already notable careers!

The pandemic changed how we work, live and play in an instant.  What’s equally dramatic is how the mortgage industry shifted gears quickly and effectively in midst of the market volatility and drastic volume spike, to deploy a massive work from home effort.  Over the past two months, TMC has held a series of discussions to support our members on issues such as effectively managing remote employees, dealing with cyber security, and now preparing businesses to transition back to in-office work hours. 
 
This week we surveyed our members on when they plan to bring their employees back to the office and when things like business travel will resume for them.  Not surprisingly, our members are cautious about “business as usual” for now and certainly concerned about the health and well-being of their employees during the post-quarantine period.  Based on our survey's results, we see that some of our members are cautiously optimistic about bringing some of their employees back to their physical workspace, and many others are exercising a "better safe than sorry" approach and plan to bring employees back in the next few months. 

by Jim Park, CEO

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.