Banks, lenders, and fintechs have been on a path toward digitizing the mortgage process from end-to-end — long before the term coronavirus entered our daily lexicon. How has the pandemic affected progress?

HUD Deputy Secretary Brian Montgomery questioned "whether we could ever totally accept desktop-only appraisals" at the Mortgage Bankers Association conference this week.

There will be no cocktail parties, breakfasts, lunches and dinners at this year's annual convention for the Mortgage Bankers Association. Instead of industry folks traveling to Chicago as was planned, arranging meet and greets in the exhibit halls, participants will sit in front of their computers in homes scattered across the country, thanks to the precautions created by the pandemic.

Mortgage companies contended with an average of 1,316 fraud attempts per month in 2020, up from 1,280 in the previous year, according to the latest study by LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

The pandemic has exacerbated delays and inefficiencies in loan manufacturing, while adding to security risks.

Earnings increased by 81% year-over-year as its gain-on-sale margins grew nearly 2.5 times.

Record-low interest rates, high origination volumes and social distancing created a perfect storm for mortgage fintechs like SnapDocs and LoanSnap to score a cash infusion.

The recent decrease in the rate at which current loans became impaired could further encourage the cautious return of the non-QM market currently underway.

The expanded relief on tax income data will become accessible this fall, according to a press release LoanBeam issued this week during Freddie Mac's Connect client conference.