Blend, a leading provider of cloud banking services, announced today that it supports Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) early assessment enhancement with a direct integration from Blend’s soft credit pull functionality. Blend’s soft credit pull feature enables lenders to reduce the costs associated with the early stages of the mortgage origination process, as well as help educate borrowers earlier in their home buying journey.
Starting in 2023, the cost to pull a hard credit file has increased and comes during a difficult time for an industry already dealing with significantly high costs to originate.
Traditionally, early in the origination process, where buyer fallout is highest, lenders will qualify borrowers by using a “tri-merge” hard credit pull. If the borrower does not move forward with that lender, the lender will typically absorb the cost as a loss. As a result, the mortgage industry is moving towards using a soft credit data file early in the origination process for qualifying and assessment in the pre-qualification and pre-approval phase.
Blend first piloted its soft credit functionality for lenders in July 2022 and announced its general availability in May 2023. As the first and only digital banking platform to support soft credit pulls in the mortgage pre-qualification process, Blend has helped its customers – including Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, U.S. Bank, and PNC Bank – unlock significant cost savings, optimize their pre-qualification process, and ultimately provide their borrowers with a better lending experience. According to initial data from Blend, lenders who have adopted soft credit pulls have the potential to save up to 71% compared to utilizing all hard inquiries.
With the availability of Fannie Mae’s DU early assessment, more lenders will be able to leverage the benefits of soft credit functionality within Blend’s digital platform.
“Early assessment in Desktop Underwriter can provide lenders with increased certainty during their pre-qualification process, which benefits borrowers as well,” said Mark Fisher, Vice President of Single-Family Credit Risk Solutions at Fannie Mae. “We’re pleased this offering is now available to enhance the experience for both lenders and borrowers at the beginning of the mortgage process, in particular allowing them to get an early look at eligibility for our mission-oriented options for credit-worthy borrowers.”
For more information on Blend’s soft credit pre-qualification, please visit https://blend.com/products/mortgage-suite/originations.
About Blend
Blend is the infrastructure powering the future of banking. Financial providers— from large banks, fintechs, and credit unions to community and independent mortgage banks—use Blend’s platform to transform banking experiences for their customers. Blend powers billions of dollars in financial transactions every day. To learn more, visit blend.com.
Forward-Looking Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements generally relate to future events, future performance or expectations and involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, but are not limited to, our expectations regarding our product roadmap, future products/features, the timing of new product/feature introductions, market size and growth opportunities, macroeconomics and industry conditions, capital expenditures, plans for future operations, competitive position, technological capabilities and strategic relationships, as well as assumptions relating to the foregoing. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes to differ materially from the outcomes predicted. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “would,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology that concern Blend’s expectations, strategy, plans or intentions. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by which such performance or results will be achieved, if at all. Further information on these risks and uncertainties are set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Blend and assumptions and beliefs as of the date hereof. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Except as required by law, Blend does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240104641539/en/