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