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February 2026

FHFA VantageScore savings sized up, FICO expands in mortgage

Credit scores, Secondary markets /

Plans to expand competitive use of VantageScore in the mortgage market could save the industry hundreds of millions of dollars, potentially offsetting concerns about rising credit score costs. Processing Content VantageScore estimates that full adoption of its 4.0 version under a “competitive use” scenario could cut more than $600 million in the first 12 months, […]

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Renting vs. Buying: The Numbers Might Surprise You

Renting vs. Buying: The Numbers Might Surprise You

Affordability, First-Time Buyers, For Buyers, Rent vs. Buy /

Renting can feel like the easier choice right now. There’s no big down payment. No dealing with surprise repairs. And no long-term commitment. But then your rent goes up again. And again. And suddenly the thing that seemed flexible starts looking… expensive, especially considering you’re not building any equity. And once that happens, it’s easy

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Mortgage applications rise slightly as rates move closer to 6%

Data & Visuals, HWmember, Mortgage, Mortgage applications, Mortgage Bankers Association, Mortgage Rates, Origination, Purchase Applications, Refinancing, Xactus /

Mortgage applications increased 0.4% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending Feb. 20. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 2% compared with the previous week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased 5% from one week earlier. The unadjusted purchase index

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Let’s be real. We can do better when it comes to using AI in marketing.

Artificial Intelligence, Contributors, HWmember, Marketing, Mortgage, Opinion, Origination, Real Estate Marketing /

So, you finally discovered ChatGPT, Claude or whatever shiny AI toy your nephew told you about. Congrats! You’re officially part of the future of marketing! Ok. Not really. Not the way you’re doing it. Here’s a scene being played out way too often lately. Someone types “write me a LinkedIn post about title insurance” into

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Why eNotes are moving from optional to operational

Contributors, Digital, Digital mortgage, HWmember, Opinion /

For years, electronic promissory notes occupied an awkward middle ground in mortgage lending. The concept was sound, the infrastructure was in place, and early adopters demonstrated that the model could work. Yet adoption remained uneven, often stalled by questions about investor acceptance, warehouse lender readiness and operational complexity. That hesitation is becoming harder to justify.

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Trump State of the Union offers few housing details

Affordability, Congress, Donald Trump, Housing Market, Housing Policy, HWmember, Politics, Trump administration /

President Donald Trump delivered the annual State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night and touched on a wide variety of economic topics. But he barely mentioned ways to make housing more affordable for everyday Americans. Housing professionals expected the speech to include subjects like mortgage rates, affordable homeownership and a slew of

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Can Trump fire nearly all CFPB staff? Appeals court isn’t sure

Can Trump fire nearly all CFPB staff? Appeals court isn’t sure

Law and regulation, Litigation, Trump administration /

Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget and acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.Bloomberg News Processing Content What’s at stake: The appeals court judges questioned whether various actions taken by the CFPB last year constituted a final agency action that is reviewable by a district court.   Key insight: The

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Mortgage rates reach lowest since 2022, boosting refinancing

Housing markets, Originations /

US mortgage rates slipped last week to the lowest level since 2022, generating more refinancing activity. Processing Content The contract rate on a 30-year mortgage dropped 8 basis points to 6.09% in the week ended Feb. 20, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Wednesday. The rate on five-year adjustable mortgages fell to 5.23%, also

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Trump talks housing, affordability at State of the Union

Donald Trump, Housing, Politics, Politics and policy /

Key insight: President Donald Trump urged Congress to pass legislation restricting institutional investors purchasing single family homes, following up on his executive order that the legislature would need to codify.  What’s at stake: Banks generally favor rhetoric that promotes housing availability and funding, since it helps produce more mortgages, but the institutional investor rhetoric is

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Builders engineer payments, not prices — LGI results highlight why

First-Time Homebuyers, Homebuilders, Leadership, Residential Real Estate, The Builder's Daily /

We intended to dig into LGI Homes’ fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings last week. Then the National Association of Home Builders’ International Builders’ Show happened in Orlando, and the days became a blur of conversations, walking meetings, and on-the-fly triangulation among builders, capital partners, manufacturers and operators trying to answer the same question in different

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