Blogs

Each year, the release of HMDA data provides new insight into how the mortgage landscape is evolving. The 2024 data reveals early signs of recovery from the challenges of 2023, with a notable rebound in refinance activity and continued shifts in market leadership. For credit unions, these trends offer both a reality check and a strategic opportunity: competition is rising, but there is room to grow by leaning into mission-driven lending and deepening service to members. Loan Volumes Are Rebounding, but Affordability Pressures Remain In 2024, U.S. lenders originated 4.9 million purchase and refinance loans totaling $1.67 trillion in volume, a modest increase ...
By Wes Horbatuck, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Dark Matter Technologies Credit unions have long been recognized for their member-first approach, community focus, and commitment to trust and transparency. But in today’s lending landscape, those values must be supported by modern, efficient technology, especially when it comes to your loan origination system (LOS). Whether you're upgrading your current system or exploring LOS options for the first time, the selection process can be overwhelming. You’re not just picking software — you’re choosing a core partner that will impact your lending efficiency, compliance, member experience and bottom ...
Hi there! I’m Tammy Parks, Business Relations here at LOGS Legal Group (and a proud non-lawyer!) I work hand-in-hand with our legal team to make sure our clients—especially credit unions—feel supported, understood, and equipped to navigate today’s complex world. We know credit unions wear a lot of hats—member service, compliance, risk management, and more. That’s where we come in. We’re not just outside legal counsel—we’re your behind-the-scenes partner to help: ✅ Stay compliant – From lending and collections to foreclosure and consumer protection, we help you avoid the pitfalls. ✅ Recover faster – Need help with charge-offs, replevin, ...
The term “redlining” may seem like a relic of the past, but its legacy lives on—less visible, perhaps, but still deeply embedded in lending patterns and practices today. While historic redlining policies systematically excluded entire communities from homeownership opportunities, modern redlining often emerges in more subtle forms: a lack of marketing in specific neighborhoods, branch locations concentrated in affluent zip codes, or business models that overlook the needs of lower-income or majority-minority borrowers. The impact of these patterns is real—and so is the opportunity for lenders, including credit unions, to rewrite the narrative. By proactively ...
By Blake Gibson If you're a credit union leader, you may be exploring options for artificial intelligence (AI) for loan origination and thinking, “That sounds like something we could use to boost efficiency; let’s build it in-house.” That would be an unwise leap of faith. Implementing AI for loan origination is far from a quick or simple task. In fact, it’s a sophisticated and expensive endeavor. And there’s a lot of risk involved: AI regulation was listed as a “risk factor” in the annual reports of 137 Fortune 500 companies. This is a field that demands strategic planning, significant investment and specialized expertise. Success with AI in lending ...
Fifty-seven years ago, the Fair Housing Act became law. A cornerstone of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, it outlawed housing discrimination based on race, religion, and national origin. Over the decades, its protections expanded to include sex, disability, and families with children. But even after all this time, access to homeownership still isn’t equal across the board. Fair Housing Month is a moment to reflect, yes - but also a prompt to act. Expanding access to credit can be a smart business move when done thoughtfully. It opens doors to new customers, builds loyalty, and drives growth by tapping into underserved markets. Lenders have been looking ...
In a world of incomplete and closed-off mortgage data, HMDA stands apart - transparent, comprehensive, and essential for smart strategy and fair lending. Why Today’s Annual HMDA Data Release Matters More Than Ever Picture a Gartner Magic Quadrant-style graph, charting transparency on one axis and completeness on the other. If you're a lender, servicer, investor, fintech, or advocacy group, you want your data sources to land squarely in the upper-right quadrant: transparent and complete. That’s where you’ll find the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data. Why HMDA is the Benchmark Today marks the release of the annual HMDA dataset, and ...
Who is Midwest Loan Services and Why Did We Become a Member of ACUMA Services ? Midwest Loan Services has been a proud member of the American Credit Union Mortgage Association (ACUMA) Services network since its inception , and we remain committed to our established partnership. For over 30 years, we have been dedicated to one mission: providing credit unions with exceptional loan servicing solutions that help their members achieve their homeownership dreams. As longstanding members of ACUMA, we continue to bring our expertise , passion, and commitment to the credit union community without expanding our current relationship. This ...
Homeownership is one of the most powerful tools for building generational wealth, yet Black households continue to face systemic barriers that limit their access to mortgage credit. Earlier this year, iEmergent conducted in-depth research on Black homeownership trends , highlighting key disparities in mortgage lending and the steps the industry can take to create a more inclusive housing market. Addressing the racial homeownership gap requires year-round commitment from lenders, policymakers, and financial institutions—including credit unions. Understanding the Homeownership Gap Despite representing 12.2% of all U.S. households, Black households ...
The game-changing " Attention Is All You Need " paper marked the beginning of the Transformer model movement, which introduced a new way to handle sequential data. This architecture is the foundation for many of today’s advancements in AI, particularly in natural language processing (NLP). Unlike older models, which used Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) or Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Transformer models rely exclusively on attention mechanisms. These mechanisms allow the model to focus on the most important parts of data, whether it’s translating text, classifying documents, or understanding complex language patterns. These advances have ...
iEmergent , a forecasting and advisory services firm for the financial services, mortgage and real estate industries, today announced that its CEO, Laird Nossuli, will present at the 2025 CU: REALM Live! April 14–15 in San Diego, California. Nossuli will lead the day one session on “Utilizing Market-level Mortgage Data to Increase Referrals and Grow Originations,” offering credit union leaders actionable strategies for leveraging localized mortgage data to expand their member base and grow lending volume. CU:REALM Live! is an annual event that brings together credit union professionals, industry experts and thought leaders to share insights, strategies ...
💥Mortgage Loan Originators & Companies💥 Are YOU ready to take control of YOUR business? I’m excited to introduce the Kairos Sales Group Prospecting Bootcamp Series. These events are designed specifically with the audience in mind-MLOs. NO generic or watered down material 🎯 If you or your team need to- 💪🏻Take control over your pipeline 📈Increase your volume 🚀Elevate your closed loans to the next level 🔪Sharpen essential skills ➕Add to your referral base 🥷Become a prospecting ninja Then the MLO Prospecting Bootcamp is for you! Don’t leave success to chance. If you’re ready to close more, do more ...
iEmergent is not only an ACUMA affiliate member, we’re also part of the ACUMA Services Program , a strategic partnership that brings valuable products and services to ACUMA members at a substantial discount. Credit unions face increasing pressure to navigate an evolving mortgage market. From growing market share to recruiting top-performing loan officers to identifying high-impact referral partners, success depends on access to r eal-time, actionable data . To simplify this process, iEmergent has launched four new market intelligence dashboards that deliver instant insights into loan production, competitive positioning, and referral ...
By Brian Swanson How AI-Powered Solutions Can Strengthen Credit Union Operations Managing loan and member documents is a critical function for credit unions, but manual document review can be time-consuming and prone to errors. That’s why AI-powered tools, like AIVA® Docs by Dark Matter ® , are transforming how financial institutions handle document classification and data extraction — ensuring greater accuracy, efficiency and consistency at scale. Why This Matters for Credit Unions Your lending and member services teams deal with thousands of documents daily, from mortgage applications to verification forms. Junior staff and new hires often ...
When a member struggles to keep up with their loan payments, the focus should be on finding a resolution that works for all parties. Unfortunately, workout solutions don’t always go as planned and when a member defaults and faces bankruptcy, foreclosure, or other significant loss mitigation challenges, it’s crucial to have experienced legal guidance. That’s where a trusted law firm can step in to help navigate the complexities of these situations. McCarthy & Holthus, LLP is known for our expertise in mortgage default and financial services law, providing high-quality legal advice and representation in the following states: Arkansas, Arizona, California, ...
Mortgage and real estate lenders face a multitude of transactional issues with closing agents, leading to a high risk of wire & title fraud in the closing process. This high frequency of issues outlines the need for proper closing agent vetting and compliance management systems as well as decision ready source verified data. Quarterly Data During Q4 2024, 45.5% percent of transactions on a $84.1 billion portfolio being processed by FundingShield had issues leading to risk/errors/inaccuracy/non-compliance in which embedded solutions were required in identifying, prevention, and remediation . On average, problematic loans had 2.2 issues per ...
By Sean Dugan Navigating fluctuations in the mortgage market is a constant challenge. During market booms, credit unions may struggle to hire and train enough personnel to handle surging demand. Conversely, in slower markets, reducing operational scale quickly enough to protect margins can be equally difficult. Operational scalability is a key competitive advantage, but achieving it can be challenging without modernizing processes. Relying on manual workflows and outdated systems often leads to inefficiencies and limits flexibility. The Role of Automation in Achieving Scalability By streamlining operations, automation addresses these pain points, ...
In recent years, financial institutions have faced mounting pressure to adapt to dramatic shifts in the mortgage market. Rising interest rates, soaring home prices, and changing borrower demographics require lenders to rethink their strategies. For BECU, Washington’s largest not-for-profit credit union, these challenges became an opportunity to reimagine its mortgage lending approach. By leveraging iEmergent’s Mortgage MarketSmart platform, BECU has closed market gaps and accelerated growth in multicultural lending. From Challenges to Opportunities As refinance activity declined and interest rates rose at the close of 2022, BECU shifted its focus to ...
By Boaz Reisman Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have come a long way—from powering self-driving cars to advancing scientific exploration. For credit unions, the practical benefits are closer to home: reducing costs, improving staff productivity, streamlining operations and enhancing the member experience. When applied strategically, AI/ML platforms can automate repetitive tasks, such as document analysis and data validation, and help mortgage teams focus on higher-value activities. Unlike traditional rules-based systems, AI/ML tools use advanced algorithms to process and analyze massive amounts of data, continuously ...
The Citadel redlining settlement is a landmark moment for credit unions that highlights the need to align lending practices with the diverse needs of their communities. As the first U.S. credit union to face such a settlement, Citadel’s case reveals the potential for unintentional disparate consumer impacts when institutions fail to proactively assess their sales and marketing outreach strategies . Between 2017 and 2021, Citadel operated 24 branches in the greater Philadelphia area, but only one was in a majority-minority neighborhood. And despite the existence of a significant Hispanic population in Citadel’s market area, marketing materials were exclusively ...