While most mortgage industry participants believe the tri-merge limits competition among the three credit reporting companies, some say it’s a critical tool to maintain the credit quality of mortgages.

The Trump administration plans to reduce certain capital requirements to encourage bank involvement in the mortgage market, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Better Home & Finance launched a wholesale lending platform for second liens.

Most industry participants don’t think the GSEs have the tools necessary to accelerate construction by big homebuilders.

Certain mortgage companies are comfortable using AI voice bots to interact with borrowers, seeing gains in efficiency. Others are using the technology in non-customer-facing activities.

Chase increased its production by 3.7% during the third quarter, helped by correspondent lending. BofA posted an even more modest increase and production was down at other large banks.

Fifth Third believes mortgages are key to establishing long-term customer relationships that include multiple financial services.

The new option allows tri-merge resellers to calculate and deliver FICO scores directly to customers, bypassing the big credit bureaus. Experian countered with a move involving VantageScore 4.0.

Originations of home equity loans in 2025 are on track to top HEL production in 2022, which was the post-2008 peak. The HELOC share of home equity lending is down somewhat from 2022 but still dominates. (Includes three data tables.)

Housing legislation with strong bipartisan support could move forward in the Senate as soon as this month.