Tag: AP

Mortgage and Finance News: (SEATTLE, Wash.) Friday Harbor, an AI-powered platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, today announced that Waterstone Mortgage has implemented its AI pre-underwriting platform to strengthen file quality and expand underwriting capacity across the lender's nationwide retail operation.

Mortgage and Finance News: (HOUSTON, Texas) Hann Builders and Collaborative Design Group Architecture and Interiors will open the doors of the Ivanhoe Modern Home, located in Houston's Afton Oaks neighborhood, on March 28 as part of the 2026 Houston Modern Home Tour, a self-guided showcase of five of the city's most compelling contemporary residences.

Mortgage and Finance News: (JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter®), an innovative leader in mortgage technology, today announced a new integration between its Empower® loan origination system (LOS) and Snapdocs, the mortgage industry's leading digital closing platform. Through the seamless, two-way integration, closing teams can generate orders, track transaction progress with real-time status updates and automate key closing and funding workflows, all without leaving their system of record.

Mortgage and Finance News: (NEW YORK, N.Y.) Vertyx, a provider of intelligent mortgage servicing technology built for enhanced portfolio performance, today announced Homeowner Navigator, a platform providing AI-driven homeowner insights and omnichannel engagement with borrowers. The platform is designed to help mortgage servicers maintain visibility into borrower needs after closing, when opportunities to support retention, recapture and broader relationship growth are often harder to identify.

Mortgage and Finance News: (AUSTIN, Texas) The Texas Bankers Association (TBA), the nation's largest state-based banking trade organization, today announced its endorsement of Ascribe, a leading national provider of valuation, evaluation, property inspection, and REO (real estate owned) services. Approved by the TBA Services Company, Inc. (TBASCO) Board of Directors, the endorsement gives Texas banks access to high-quality valuation services, competitive pricing, and fully insured support for both commercial and residential properties.

Mortgage and Finance News: (LA MESA, Calif.) Pat Wright, a California resident and advocate for ferret legalization, and founder of LegalizeFerrets.org, has filed a Petition for Writ of Mandate in Sacramento County Superior Court against the California Fish and Game Commission and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Mortgage and Finance News: (GILBERT, Ariz.) Evergreen Development has construction well underway on Parkview at Morrison Ranch, a Mountainside Fitness-anchored neighborhood center at the northeast corner of Higley Road and Warner Road in Gilbert, Arizona. Completion of the approximately 15-acre development is targeted for Fall 2026. Sitework began in November, with vertical construction starting in February 2026.

Mortgage and Finance News: (FERNDALE, N.Y.) La Belle Farms, a fourth-generation, family owned and operated duck farm located in Ferndale, N.Y., announced today it will appeal the recent decision by the Appellate Division, Third Department, which ruled that the State Department of Agriculture and Markets misapplied state law when it blocked New York City's 2019 ban on the sale of foie gras (Local Law 202).

Mortgage and Finance News: (PORTLAND, Ore.) Diode, the leader in blockchain-defined networking, today announced a collaboration with CleanConnect.ai to strengthen the integrity and traceability of oil and gas production certificates. The initiative integrates Diode's zero trust networking technology, Oasis' privacy preserving blockchain, and CleanConnect.ai's ProveZero multi-certification pathway system to deliver authenticated production proofs with source level provenance.

Mortgage and Finance News: (PLANO, Texas) Optimal Blue today announced key results of an independent analysis by consulting advisory firm MarketWise Advisors LLC quantifying the operational and financial efficiencies of its end-to-end capital markets platform and the significant value it generates per loan. The study found that mortgage lenders using Optimal Blue technology are more efficient and competitive. Optimal Blue mortgage lenders report an average net financial benefit of $1,006 per loan, reflecting measurable gains in execution quality, error reduction, automation and operational efficiency

Mortgage and Finance News: (DENVER, Colo.) ACES Quality Management® (ACES), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, announced that Brock Miller, CMQ/OE, senior director of business development, and Sharon Reichhardt, EVP of operations, will attend and participate in CU:REALM Live 2026, March 30-31 in Atlanta.

Mortgage and Finance News: (NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.) Argyle today announced the launch of its 3-in-1 Verification Suite, a unified verification product that brings verification of income (VOI), verification of employment (VOE) and verification of assets (VOA) together in a single, consumer-permissioned workflow. The consolidated Verification Suite enables mortgage lenders to manage multiple verification types through one interface, reducing the operational complexity of working across multiple vendors, integrations and contracts.

Mortgage and Finance News: (BOULDER, Colo.) Floify, the mortgage industry's leading point-of-sale (POS) solution, today announced that Timberline Bank has selected its platform to power its recently launched mortgage division. Founded in 2004, Timberline Bank is a Colorado-based community bank serving customers across western Colorado.

Mortgage and Finance News: (SAN DIEGO, Calif.) The Mortgage Collaborative (TMC), the nation's largest independent cooperative network for mortgage lenders, announced enhancements to its benchmarking platform and a rebrand from Benchmark to TMC Insight, delivering expanded dashboards and peer performance analysis for mortgage lenders.

Mortgage and Finance News: (AUSTIN, Texas) FirstClose™, a leading fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for mortgage and home equity lenders nationwide, today announced the rebrand of its point-of-sale (POS) experience as XpressEquity, along with a refreshed Encompass® by ICE Mortgage Technology® integration that delivers a streamlined, end-to-end digital workflow for home equity originations.

Mortgage and Finance News: (DES MOINES, Iowa) iEmergent, a forecasting and advisory services firm for the financial services, mortgage and real estate industries, today announced a new webinar series, "From Gaps to Growth: A Data-Driven Roadmap to Increase Production." The free, multi-episode series will help mortgage lenders navigate an increasingly complex mortgage environment and translate market intelligence into practical strategies for sustainable origination growth.

Mortgage and Finance News: (BOULDER, Colo.) Floify, the mortgage industry's leading point-of-sale (POS) solution, today announced the release of Dynamic Apps 2.0, a major platform enhancement that allows lenders to create fully customizable loan applications tailored to specific loan purposes, borrower scenarios and business workflows without relying on engineering resources or third-party integrations.

Mortgage and Finance News: (PLANO, Texas) Optimal Blue today released its February 2026 Market Advantage mortgage data report, showing a meaningful improvement in lock activity as lower mortgage rates helped bring purchase borrowers back into the market. Total rate-lock volume rose 9% month over month (MoM) and was nearly 40% higher year over year (YoY).

Mortgage and Finance News: (LAKE ZURICH, Ill.) Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc. (DMI), a leading mortgage subservicing company, announced today that Fannie Mae has again honored the company with their Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards™ (STAR™) Servicer Award for outstanding servicing performance during the 2025 program year. This is the seventh occasion Fannie Mae has recognized DMI for servicing excellence.

Mortgage and Finance News: (DENVER, Colo.) ACES Quality Management® (ACES), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, today announced its ACES ENGAGE Regional Workshop Series. In 2026, ACES will take a regional approach, delivering two in-person workshops that expand access, increase interaction and provide practical, hands-on learning in a focused setting.

Mortgage and Finance News: (GARDEN GROVE, Calif.) Informative Research (IR), a leading technology provider of data-driven credit and verification solutions for the lending industry, today announced the appointment of Senior Vice President of Partner Success Mark Jones. In this role, Jones will develop and scale a strategy to expand IR's market reach and strengthen partnerships across the mortgage and fintech ecosystem.

Mortgage and Finance News: (TROY, Mich.) Class Valuation, a leading real estate appraisal management company (AMC), announced that it is one of the first AMCs to receive access to Collateral Underwriter® (CU®), Fannie Mae's proprietary appraisal risk assessment tool, marking a significant milestone for appraisal review and risk management.

Mortgage and Finance News: (PLANO, Texas) Optimal Blue today announced it will host its 2027 Optimal Blue Summit February 1-3 at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona. The annual event convenes Optimal Blue clients, integration partners and capital markets leaders from across the mortgage industry for three days of insight, collaboration and forward-looking strategy.

Mortgage and Finance News: (JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter®), an innovative leader in mortgage technology, today announced the launch of a new capability on the Dark Matter Developer Platform, enabling lenders to use AI agents securely within the regulated mortgage environment.

Mortgage and Finance News: (SEATTLE, Wash.) Friday Harbor, an AI pre-underwriting platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, today announced the launch of Income and Asset Sandbox, a new set of capabilities that allows lending teams to structure income and asset decisions in real time without committing changes prematurely or stepping outside program guidelines. The capabilities are designed to help loan officers structure deals that qualify and close earlier in the origination process.

Mortgage and Finance News: (PLANO, Texas) Optimal Blue today announced Virtual Economist, the first on-demand forecasting tool for mortgage capital markets leaders powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), as the centerpiece of nine platform advancements unveiled at the company's 2026 Summit. Together, the innovations further unify the capital markets profitability experience by connecting forecasting, pricing, hedging, competitive benchmarking and workflow execution within a single, end-to-end platform.

Mortgage and Finance News: (BANNOCKBURN, Ill., and NEW YORK, N.Y.) Vertyx, a provider of intelligent mortgage servicing technology built for enhanced portfolio performance, today announced it has partnered with Great Lakes Credit Union (GLCU), through its CUSO holding company GLCU Holdings LLC, to launch Vertyx CUSO LLC, a newly formed credit union service organization (CUSO) dedicated to transforming mortgage servicing with a member-first philosophy and shared, credit union focused technology.

Mortgage and Finance News: (ATLANTA, Ga.) Down Payment Resource (DPR), the housing industry's leading technology for connecting homebuyers with homebuyer assistance programs, today announced that 40-year industry veteran Merri Jo Cowen, CEO of Stellar MLS, is the recipient of the 2025 Beverly Faull Affordable Housing Leadership Award.

Mortgage and Finance News: (LAKE ZURICH, Ill.) Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc., a leading mortgage subservicing company, today announced it has successfully completed its 2025 Service Organization Control (SOC) 1® Type 2 and SOC 2® Type 2 audits. The independent examinations, conducted by public accounting and business advisory firm Plante Moran, PLLC, confirm that Dovenmuehle's internal controls, operational processes and information security practices meet stringent standards for financial reporting integrity and the safeguarding of client data.

Mortgage and Finance News: (ADDISON, Texas) Click n' Close, a multi-state mortgage lender, today announced that mortgage industry veteran Rachel Fatino has joined the company as director of correspondent operations. In this role, Fatino will lead pipeline strategy, operational performance and partner engagement initiatives to support continued growth across the correspondent channel.