2020 has been crazier than a fly living in a bass drum. Time to have a little fun.

Back, by popular demand, I bring to you ... The 20 Best Names in the Mortgage Industry.

Many of these are submissions! Keep them coming to me at rswerbinsky@mtgcoop.com.

1. Robert Fightmaster, First State Bank - I do not know Robert, but if I am Quicken, Guaranteed Rate, Loan Depot … I am hiring him to run business development on his name alone and pairing him with a genius marketing professional to do nothing but create social media content and graphics for him.
   
   
2. Harry Glanz - Capital Mortgage Funding - Some sort of tie in here with Manscaped.com.
   
   
3. Pierce Outlaw, Patriot Home Funding - One of the main characters from Days of Our Lives or As The World Turns had to have this name at one point.
   
   
4. Chuck Chill, Flagstar Bank - This guy has to be cool.
   
   
5. Rusty Wigglesworth, Raymond James - Rusty has great “best names list potential” as a first name, being paired with Wigglesworth makes it a top five greatest name in the industry.
   
   
6. Prince Aurora, Aurora Financial - Great name for a good guy in an action movie.
   
   
7. Von Ringger, Comerica - Great name for a bad guy in an action movie. Extra points for the double g.
   
   
8. Richard McCool, Merchants Bank of Indiana - If in person conferences ever return I have to go get a beer with Chuck Chill and Richard McCool.
   
   
9. Monroe Thrower, GBC Funding - Great name for a baseball player. Or a bouncer at a bar.
   
   
10. Riley Spear, Simple Nexus - If you can’t sell Simple Nexus’s great product with that name ...it’s time to get out of sales.
    
    11.  Baird Marble, New Rez Correspondent
    12. Cameo Gillette, Wells Fargo
    13. Fobby Naghmi, First Option Mortgage

          The world needs a vaccine. And more people with the first names Baird, Cameo and Fobby.

          14.  Flisadam Pointer, REMN Wholesale
          15.  Shirleen-Queenie VonHoffmann, Homebuilders Edge
          16.  Zeke Wolfgang - Freddie Mac

           These are the names that pop stars Katherine Hudson (Katy Perry), Peter Gene Hernandez (Bruno Mars), and
           John Stephens (John Legend) SHOULD have gone with.

         17.  Scott Beer, Hallmark Home Mortgage
         18.  David Sober, LRES Corp

          Another duo I’d like to go get a beer with.

        19.  Matt Mullet, 1st Security Bank of Washington
        20. Shadi Taylor - Huntington Bank

        Matt does not have a mullet. Shadi is not shady. But both have great names.

HONORABLE MENTION

Aspasia Chamoun - Bank Fund Staff Federal Credit Union
Dave Savage, Mortgage Coach
Scotty Pickle, Celebrity Financial
Don Salmon, TBI Mortgage
Dionisia Bejarano Coffman, Chase
Carmel York, Western Alliance Bank
Taylor Stork, Developer’s Mortgage Company
Feliks Viner, First World Mortgage
Cola Galvin - Homespire Mortgage
Geri Glixman, First Integrity Mortgage
Johnny Margarini, Point Mortgage
Freddy Casanova, The Money Source
Harry Holder - Veritas Funding
Rusty Creel - Crescent Mortgage

Rich Swerbinsky
COO - The Mortgage Collaborative

​July was another huge month for TMC's national network of lender members that submit data to TMC Benchmark. While closed loan production and new applications taken during the month were down slightly from June, July was the second strongest month ever for our members in those two key production metrics. The network closed loans on average one day faster in July than June, but were slightly less efficient, as purchases transactions comprised 58% of July closings, up 7% from June's 51% purchase mix.

Closed loan production was down 6.3% (units) in July, but again, that is compared against June's eye-popping totals. For some perspective, our members closed 8.5% more units in July when compared against May, which was the biggest closing month ever for our members before being eclipsed by June's totals. The mix of closed loan business in July stayed nearly identical - 74% conventional, 21% government, 5% other (jumbo, portfolio, etc.). Closings continue to become more purchase-heavy. Purchases were 41% of closings in April, 44% of closings in May, 51% in June, and represented 58% of all closings in July.

New applications taken were down 4% month-over-month, but like with closings, July was the second biggest new app month ever for our members behind June and July new apps taken were up 16.8% over May's strong totals. The mix of new app business in July trended slightly more towards conventional production. 78% of new apps in July were on conventional production and 18% were government loan programs versus a 76%/20% mix in June. 

After seeing our members set new productivity records in June, operational efficiency was still very strong but just a bit off in July. Here's the closed loan unit totals per FTE (full-time employee) for the last three months (May/June/July):

Processor - 15.2/17.5/16.9
Underwriter - 49.1/54.9/52.2
Closer - 61.0/64.8/62.5
Loan Originator - 7.0/8.1/8.1

The average LO comp on May closings came in at 101.9 bps in July, up from June's 97.1 total. We've seen this number vacillate between 95-105 bps these last six months. We saw an increase in the average non-third party lender fees per loan our members charge their customers, with conventional loans coming in at $1,154 and government at $1,097.

For the first time in six months, underwriter annual comp leveled off, coming in at an average of $94,294, up almost $10,000 from before the pandemic. Average annual comp paid to processors ($56,790) and closers ($54,212) both continues to increase though. We saw fairly significant month-over-month decreases in the average cost per closed loan our members paid for their LOS ($97, down from $115), POS ($49, down from $76), and their CRM ($86, down from $134). 

51% of companies that submitted June data to TMC Benchmark were depositories and 49% were IMB's. 35% originate $500M or less annually, 26% originate between $500M-$1B, and 39% originate $1 billion per year or more in total volume.

Top Headlines...
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac CEO's Address Industry on Refinance Fee Grievances
iEmergent Releases 2020-2022 U.S. Mortgage Origination Update
Business Insider Recognizes Built as Breakout B2B Star
LBA Ware Adds Fintech Data Expert Matt Semrad to Build Predictive Analytics for LimeGear BI
Independent, 3rd Party Analysis Shows SimpleNexus Digital Mortgage Platform Delivers 9X - ROI
Fannie Mae Promotes Jeff Hayward to Chief Administrative Officer to Focus on Diversity & Inclusion

Thought Leadership...
HW Pulse: Vice Capital Markets Principal, Chris Bennett: How eNote Acceptance Impacts Secondary & Servicing Operations for GNMA Issuers

Blog...
Black Knight Blog: Ernst Fee Service - Helping Mortgage Lenders Solve Cure Fees
Maxwell Blog: 5 Ways an LO Can Build Relationships with Real Estate Agents in COVID Era
Request Your Custom ROI Report to See the Operational Impact SimpleNexus Can Deliver
MGIC Connects: Dispelling an Old Mortgage Myth - 15 is Greater than 20
MeridianLink: How COVID-19 Revealed the Flaws of Many Lenders
MQMR Weekly FAQ: Advertising & Social Media - Policies & Procedures
LoanLogics B-Logics: Digital Labor is a Workforce Waiting to be Exploited
VirPack Blog: Setting Expectations for Employees

Media...
FOX Business - Blend CEO, Nima Ghamsari: COVID Accelerated Need for Digitizing Mortgage Experience

HW Daily Download: iEmergent's Chief Analytics Officer, Mark Watson - Mortgage Lending Reaching as High as $3.21 Trillion in 2020
Maxwell Clear to Close Podcast: Mortgage Tech Adoption in the COVID Era
Customers Are Talking About the Power of Arch MI​

Top Headlines...
The ICE to Acquire Ellie Mae for $11B
Blend Obtains Unicorn Status with $75M Series F Capital Raise
Black Knight's Expedite Close Intelligent Processes to Help Determine Fully Paper or Hybrid Closings
Built Technologies & ABA Release Construction Lending Report
New SimpleNexus eClosing Feature Allows For Speedy & Convenient  Hybrid Closings
Fannie Mae Survey Confirms: It's A Sellers Market
Docutech Announces Kind Lending to Leverage ConformX & Solex Platforms to Streamline App to Close Process  
Growing Business & Shaping Culture: SocialSurvey's New Nashville Team is Hitting the Ground Running

Thought Leadership...
MQMR Co-Founder & President, Michael Steer: Playing Defense - How to Side-step Common Social Media Mistakes to Maintain Compliance
LBA Ware Strategic Sales Specialist, Chris Gassel: Unmatched Power of Strong Relationships

Blog...
Black Knight: Micro Efficiencies in Pricing with Macro Benefits
LendingQB: 8 Questions to Ask Your LOS Vendor
Docutech: The Evolution of URLA 
Triserv: Dodd-Frank: Another Compliance Pitfall
Case Study: Plaza's Certified Loan Program - Reduce Repurchase Losses
Credit Plus Fast Facts: Are Your Supplement Requests Taking Longer Than Usual to Complete?
Arch MI 90-Day Promise Protect Your RateStar Quotes
LoanLogics - B-Logics: “C” MERS® Compliance Differently
Blend: 5 Factors Influencing Digital Self-Serve App Submission Rates
Capacity: Top 25 Leaders in Efficiency & Time Management to Follow

HousingWire's 2020 Women of Influence winners represent 100 of the most influential women in leadership in the housing industry, and it was no surprise to us that we had so many of our lender members and preferred partners honored this year. These are women that have risen through the challenges of this year to provide guidance and inspiration for their organizations and communities, and foster the next generation of women in leadership.

Preferred Partners:
Charlotte Catalfo, SVP of Enterprise Operations – Freddie Mac
Chao Cong, VP of Business Strategy, Data & Analytics – Black Knight
Riham El-Lakany, VP & Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Single-Family Division –
Freddie Mac
Pam Faulkner, Director of Mortgage Solutions – SimpleNexus
Amy Keyser, SVP & Chief Human Resources Officer of Global Mortgage – Arch MI
Terri Merlino, SVP & Chief Credit Officer, Single Family Business – Freddie Mac
Cecelia Raine, Senior Director, Reimagine Servicing Integrations & Adoption, Single Family –Freddie Mac
Anna Ratanawan, VP of People Operations – SimpleNexus
Leanne Spies, SVP of Multi-Family Asset Management & Operations – Freddie Mac
Crystal Sumner, Head of Legal – Blend
Jacqueline Welch, Chief Human Resources Officer & Chief Diversity Officer – Freddie Mac

Lender Members:
Patty Arvielo, President & Co-Founder – New American Funding
Annie Gotch, AVP, Wholesale Branch Manager – PRMG
Tawn Kelley, President – Taylor Morrison Home Funding
Lisa Fenske, SVP of Marketing & Communications - Waterstone Mortgage
Laura LaRaia, Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel – First Guaranty Mortgage Corp.
Chrissi Rhea, CEO, Founder & President – Mortgage Investors Group
Marilyn Richardson, President & CEO – Mason-McDuffie Mortgage Corp.

America's Homeowner Alliance presents ForbearanceReport.org as a resource tool for all members of The Mortgage Collaborative. Designed to educate and empower Lenders, Realtors, Mortgage Practitioners, Housing Counselors and the 35,000 city Managers and Mayors about homeowners impacted by COVID-19.  ForbearanceReport is the only resource that provides comprehensive, rational, real-talk information with video explanation in English and Spanish. It is not intended to provide legal advice – just common sense explanation.
It is the comprehensive collection of public information and mentoring particular to forbearance and loans in distress housed in one centralized location. Highlights include:

• Video explanation of Forbearance in English and Spanish
  
• FAQ section for loans in distress in English and Spanish
  
• All top mortgage servicer forbearance related resource links to information prepared by each organization
  
• Loan Lookup Tool resource links from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac & MERS (to find the current mortgage servicer for nearly every property in the US) and so much more...

​Also, in support of protecting and promoting  sustainable homeownership for all segments of America, America's Homeowner Alliance is currently offering all TMC Member employees and customers a FREE lifetime membership to AHA when entering promo code 'aha2020' when you click to join on AHA's website. Or – simply use the BROWSER on your phone by entering -  aha.rocks.