TPO, Marketing, Workflow, Tax Service Products; MWF Shifts Wholesale Gears, Reali Gone

Abraham Lincoln famously stated, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.” There are always rumors out there. The latest to cross my desk, given the student loan forgiveness news, is that Nancy Pelosi (very distantly related to California’s Gavin Newsom through a marriage of his aunt) is leading the charge for the Biden Administration to forgive bar tabs. Not true! But speaking of the partial student loan forgiveness, which critics say does nothing to stop the real culprit of skyrocketing college cost inflation, the credit community seems to think that we won’t see the “Settled for less than agreed” typically that is associated with Charge Off accounts, and probably won’t impact credit scores. But don’t quote me on that. What is more factual is lenders continuing to try to turn fixed costs into variable costs. And why not? The MBA tells us that total loan production expenses (commissions, compensation, occupancy, equipment, and other production expenses and corporate allocations) increased to a study-high of $10,937 per loan in the second quarter, up from $10,637 per loan in the first quarter of 2022. From the third quarter of 2008 to last quarter, loan production expenses have averaged $6,902 per loan. Personnel expenses averaged $7,371 per loan in the second quarter, up from $7,113 per loan in the first quarter. And some companies are saying, “No mas.” More below. (Available here, this week’s podcast is sponsored by Richey May, a recognized leader in providing specialized advisory, audit, tax, technology and other services in the mortgage industry and in banking.