Eye on the Industry: Updates on National MI, Pavaso, and More

From new appointments to digital advances, get the pulse of the mortgage industry in this weekly update.

NMI Holdings, Inc. the parent company of National Mortgage Insurance Corporation (National MI), has promoted Claudia Merkle, COO of National MI to President. In her new role, Merkle will oversee sales, marketing, underwriting operations, servicing, and information technology. “Claudia has been with National MI from the beginning. She developed and led our operations team in the early stages,” said Bradley Shuster, Chairman, and CEO of NMI Holdings, Inc. “Claudia was also instrumental in building our sales organization, which has become a model for the industry. Our continued success after her promotion to COO in 2016 is just as I expected. Her promotion to President is well-deserved and I look forward to our continued work together for the success of our employees, customers, and shareholders.” Merkle joined National MI in 2012 as SVP of underwriting fulfillment and risk operations was promoted to EVP of insurance operations in 2013, and appointed COO in 2016. Merkle has over 25 years of experience in mortgage banking, mortgage insurance, business development, and operations. She has held leadership positions at PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., Meridian Mortgage, and Wachovia, among others.

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Pavaso, headquartered in Plano, Texas, will collaborate with MBH, Virginia’s largest settlement services provider, to offer digital closings. Pavaso is the developer of the industry’s only digital closing platform that brings lender, title, and borrower together in one single digital portal. MBH has been rated as the top title insurance company in the Washington, D.C., metro area for three consecutive years by the Washington Business Journal. The company has been serving clients since 1994 and boasts the largest service footprint in Virginia, with 18 offices stretching from McLean to Front Royal and Fredericksburg. “The Pavaso platform will help MBH give the lenders and real estate agents we work with a competitive advantage with faster, more convenient, and more secure closings,” said Fred Westerlund, CEO of MBH. “Our relationship with Pavaso is just the latest example of how MBH is utilizing technology to provide superior service to all of our clients across all of our markets.”

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Minneapolis-headquartered Wolters Kluwer, a risk and compliance consultant, has released the 2017 HMDA (Home Mortgage Disclosure Act) aggregate data of U.S. lenders’ mortgage lending transactions, collected from individual lenders by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and analyzed by Wolters Kluwer for use by its customers. The release shows lending practices in the aggregate as well as by individual institutions, allowing viewers market insights that are ahead of the federal government’s aggregate data report. The Wolters Kluwer data marks the earliest view that lenders have ever witnessed into an aggregated HMDA data set for the prior year’s lending. “We are very supportive of the Bureau having shared individual lender data so soon after the initial March 1 submission,” noted Heather Gentile, Senior Director, Compliance Analytics for Wolters Kluwer. “It allowed us to analyze, aggregate and package that data in a manner that provides our customers an early view into how they are performing compared to peers. The earlier that lenders have such data, the more effectively they can compare against market peers, make adjustments as needed, and fully implement those lending strategies.”

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Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions, a wholesale and correspondent provider of non-qualified mortgage loans, has added seven new Account Executives (AEs) to help brokers grow their business. Adding coverage across the country, Mary Moehring came on-board in Sacramento, Reginald Ross in Dallas, Peter Ronga in New Jersey, Mike Dattorre in Connecticut, Rudy Pineda in inside sales and both Laurie Cullen and Mel King in Missouri. “With each passing month, more brokers looking to expand their product offering to include non-QM. These new AEs will help expand our footprint, and educate brokers and correspondents on the value of working with the leader in the non-QM space,” said Tom Hutchens, SVP of Sales and Marketing for Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions. With aggressive growth plans for 2018, Angel Oak is continuing to hire AEs in markets across the country and underwriters/support staff in Atlanta and Dallas.