Digital mortgages

As the industry shuffles closer to completely digital mortgages, the next wave of technology aims to usher in total automation and uniformity.

Radian and Essent will make their "black box" mortgage insurance pricing methods live on Jan. 21, leaving MGIC as the only company yet to announce its adoption.

The mortgage industry faces myriad questions and challenges in 2019. Here's a look at 12 executives who will be behind the waves being made this year.

Mr. Cooper Group is buying servicing rights on $24 billion in mortgages, a subservicing contract for an additional $24 billion in home loans and the Seterus platform from IBM.

A new marketing tool lets consumers start the mortgage prequalification process by sending a text message, providing would-be borrowers with credit and loan program details and offering lenders a low-cost source of leads.

The expected decline in conventional mortgage volume may open the door for more non-qualified mortgage lending as secondary market investors seek new opportunities to deploy capital, says Tom Millon, CEO of Capital Markets Cooperative.

Mortgage technology is rapidly advancing, with incumbents and new entrants scrambling to take advantage of developments in artificial intelligence and automation. The goal? Beat the customer expectations set by Amazon and Uber, not just other lenders, says KPMG Managing Director Teresa Blake.

As the mortgage industry braces for even more market uncertainty in 2019, emerging technologies that improve the borrower experience and streamline back-office tasks may provide a glimmer of hope to beleaguered lenders.

Mortgage servicing assets are poised for gains in 2019. But as higher average mortgage rates spur lenders to sell servicing rights and diversify their loan offerings, servicers' work will also get more complicated and costly.

A year ago, National Mortgage News made five predictions regarding how the mortgage industry would fare in 2018 — and we got four of them right.