Nearly one month after Pennymac launched a new tech offering for its broker channel, the California-based wholesale lender revealed it’s once again beefing up its broker division.
PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE: PFSI), one of the largest publicly traded residential mortgage companies in the country, announced Thursday it has partnered with Silicon Valley-based Tavant, a provider of intelligent digital lending products for the mortgage industry.
Under the new partnership, Pennymac has integrated its POWER portal for broker partners with Tavant’s FinDecision platform, giving the lender access to FinDecision’s dual Automated Underwriting Systems (AUS) and other core processes.
“We’ve received positive feedback from our broker partners related to the dual AUS functionality,” said Kim Nichols, senior managing director of Pennymac TPO. “Its intuitive features and clear side-by-side presentation of AUS findings enable brokers to thoughtfully select the most efficient path to loan closing.”
FinDecision also provides the ability to validate AUSs – both Desktop Underwriter and Loan Product Advisor – and equivalently review their findings. It also identifies potential avenues to improve operational efficiency, i.e. how to make it faster and cheaper for its broker divisions.
“We constantly strive to invest in technology that enables a better mortgage lending experience for our customers,” said Mohammad Rashid, Senior Vice President and Head of Fintech Innovation at Tavant. “Leveraging FinDecision provides Pennymac’s brokers with more transparency, allowing them to identify the most favorable loan for their borrowers, often cutting costs and closing loans faster.”
The tech-centered developer has a long standing list of previous partnerships and integrations with big market players including Equifax, CoreLogic, Finicity, Experian, Opendoor and Realtor.com.
There is no word yet as to whether the lender also integrated the FinDecision tech with its newest platform POWER+, the amplified version of its POWER offering.
Friday’s news also arrived on the heels of its recent rebranding – altering PennyMac Broker Direct to Pennymac TPO. Kim Nichols, senior managing director of Pennymac TPO, said that the rebrand announcement was more than just a name change, calling it “a stake in the ground for our partners.”
However, recent Q4 earnings from Pennymac revealed its servicing segment brought more returns to the company than production. Broker direct IRLCs declined (32%) more than government correspondent IRLCs (21%).
The company estimates its market share in the consumer direct channel at 1.4%, compared to 2.3% in the broker channel and 16.8% in correspondent production, where it is the market leader.