Tag: Business

Mortgage and Finance News: (JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter®), an innovative leader in mortgage technology, today announced the appointment of Vikas Rao as chief executive officer. Rao, who has served as chief technology officer since 2025, succeeds Sean Dugan and will lead the company's next phase with a focus on translating its technology leadership into stronger growth.

Mortgage and Finance News: (TROY, Mich.) Class Valuation, a leading real estate appraisal management company (AMC), announced today that it has acquired Lauritano Appraisal Services (LAS), a highly respected New York-based residential appraisal firm with more than 30 years of experience delivering high-quality valuation services.

Mortgage and Finance News: (PLANO, Texas) Optimal Blue today released its March 2026 Market Advantage mortgage data report, reflecting resilient mortgage activity as purchase demand strengthened despite higher rates. Total rate-lock volume rose 13% month over month (MoM) and 26% year over year (YoY). Purchase activity led the month, with purchase lock volume up 38% from February and 20% from March 2025. Cash-out refinance volume increased 9% MoM and 21% YoY, while rate-and-term refinance volume declined 34% from February but remained more than 66% higher YoY.

Mortgage and Finance News: (SAN DIEGO, Calif.) The Mortgage Collaborative (TMC), the nation's largest independent cooperative network for mortgage lenders, will engage with members and industry partners across a series of key mortgage conferences and events nationwide throughout the second quarter.

Mortgage and Finance News: (NOVI, Mich.) Vice Capital Markets, a leading mortgage hedge advisory firm for independent lenders, banks and credit unions, announced today that it now supports new 30-year fixed-rate specified-cash payup commitment grids from Fannie Mae, which became effective April 9, 2026.

Mortgage and Finance News: (ADDISON, Texas) Click n' Close, a multi-state mortgage lender, today announced the appointment of Delores Lopez as chief operating officer, effective April 6. In this role, Lopez will lead operations, drive scalable growth initiatives and implement operational strategy across the organization, reporting to Ian Kimball, president.

Mortgage and Finance News: (NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.) Argyle, the leading provider of direct-source income, employment and asset verifications, today announced that its Director of Sales Thomas Rasmuson has been named a 2026 Rising Star by HousingWire. The annual HousingWire Rising Stars award recognizes standout professionals under 40 who are making a significant impact on the housing industry through leadership, innovation and measurable business results.

Mortgage and Finance News: (TROY, Mich.) Class Valuation, a leading real estate appraisal management company (AMC), today announced that Amanda Standley, vice president of business development for Bluebird Valuation, a Class Valuation company, has been named a 2026 HousingWire Rising Star. The HousingWire Rising Stars award recognizes emerging leaders under 40 in mortgage and real estate who are leading change and making a meaningful impact on their organizations. This year, 75 young professionals were named to the list.

Mortgage and Finance News: (BOULDER, Colo.) Floify, the mortgage industry's leading point-of-sale (POS) solution, today announced that Sydney Barber, 33, head of product, has been named a 2026 HousingWire Rising Star. Barber joins 74 other young professionals on this year's list.

Mortgage and Finance News: (JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter®), an innovative leader in mortgage technology, today announced Ask Aiva®, a conversational AI assistant natively embedded within the Empower® loan origination system (LOS) that allows lenders to query their origination environment in plain language, receive instant answers to see how those answers were derived.

Mortgage and Finance News: (SEATTLE, Wash.) Friday Harbor today announced a new integration with the Calyx Path Platform that brings AI-powered pre-underwriting directly into the flow of the loan. Instead of waiting until underwriting to uncover issues, lenders can now review borrower documents, surface potential problems and resolve them earlier while maintaining consistent, reliable loan data throughout the lifecycle.

Mortgage and Finance News: (ATLANTA, Ga.) This Financial Literacy Awareness Month, kids and families are invited to meet the Money Buddies, a lovable and irreverent cast of puppet characters on a mission to make learning about money fun, memorable, and easy to understand. Created and powered by Alliance Group, Money Buddies officially debuts the first two episodes of its seven-episode educational series on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.

Mortgage and Finance News: (NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.) Argyle, a leading provider of direct-source, consumer-permissioned income, employment and asset verifications, today announced a new integration with Vesta, an AI-native loan origination system (LOS) and agent platform built to automate and accelerate mortgage operations.

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: (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: (TORRANCE, Calif.) DocMagic, Inc. announced today that Chief Operating Officer Lori Johnson has been named a 2026 National Mortgage Professional (NMP) Women of Inspiration award winner. The awards program recognizes women who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, made significant contributions to the mortgage industry and inspired others through mentorship and advocacy.

Mortgage and Finance News: (NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.) Argyle, the leading provider of direct-source income, employment and asset verifications, today announced that Shelby Bohannon, Vice President of Customer Success, has been named a 2026 Woman of Inspiration by National Mortgage Professional (NMP). The annual recognition celebrates influential women in mortgage lending who are driving meaningful progress across the industry.

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: (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).