Podcast
Lykken on Lending
Hosted by David Lykken · EN
Created by mortgage professionals for mortgage professionals,
Lykken on Lending is a weekly 60-minute podcast hosted by mortgage veteran, David Lykken, and co-hosted by Marc Helm.
Joining the program each week is Adam DeSanctis with his weekly MBA Mortgage Minute, Les Parker with his Macro Market Update, Matt Graham with a weekly Market Update, David Kittle with Originations Update, Alice Alvey providing a Legislative Update, Allen Pollack with his weekly Tech Update.
The weekly updates are followed by the Hot Topic segment, which is an in-depth discussion about one of the hottest topics related to the mortgage industry.
The program can be heard live each Monday at noon central or downloaded as a podcast.
Each week thousands of industry professionals have found this to be an effective way to stay up on all that is happening in the mortgage industry.
This broadcast is provided to the mortgage industry as a public service compliment of Transformational Mortgage Solutions.
We invite you to join us to listen and learn.
22episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
BREAKING: UWM’s $409M Hedging Loss Raises Big Questions
6d ago00:18:28Tap to summarizeA major financial development at United Wholesale Mortgage is sending ripples through the mortgage industry after UWM reported a staggering $409 million hedging loss, raising significant questions about the company’s capital markets strategy and the circumstances surrounding its proposed Two Harbors transaction. In this special breaking-news edition of Lykken on Lending, David Lykken is joined by Pavan Agarwal and David Pahwa to examine what is known, what remains unanswered, and what the situation could mean for UWM, Oaktree’s investment, and the competitive landscape of wholesale mortgage lending. The conversation also takes a broader look at the importance of disciplined hedging and risk management when hundreds of millions—or even billions—of dollars are at stake.
Transcribe →The Bond Market Challenges the Fed: Why Mortgage Rates Could Stay Higher - 08/04/2026 Weekly Mortgage Update Commentary
6d ago00:16:40Tap to summarizeThe bond market is sending a message to the Federal Reserve, and mortgage professionals should be paying attention. In this week’s mortgage commentary, the panel examines why uncertainty surrounding Fed policy and its commitment to controlling inflation is putting pressure on longer-term Treasury yields and mortgage rates. With geopolitical conflict continuing to influence oil prices, inflation expectations remaining critical, and global markets facing an unusually high degree of uncertainty, the path toward meaningfully lower mortgage rates remains complicated. The discussion explores why the bond market may increasingly be calling the shots, what it could take to restore confidence in the inflation outlook, and why lenders need to remain alert and adaptable as volatility creates both risk and opportunity.
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The AI Strategy Mortgage Lenders Need: Flexibility Over a Single Platform - Tech Update by Allen Pollack
6d ago00:14:10Tap to summarizeThis podcast segment explores why mortgage lenders should embrace AI innovation now while establishing strong governance to manage Shadow AI, protect borrower data, and navigate an evolving regulatory landscape.-----------------------------------------------------Allen Pollack, Tech ConsultantAllen Pollack, a Mortgage & Financial Services Technology Advisor, is a subject matter expert in the mortgage origination process along with software product management and software development.In today’s financial services push to all things Digital, Allen has been helping lenders and financial services solution providers align their digital transformation and technology strategies by removing the human element of risk, and automating processes that drive efficiencies and margins into profits.Over the course of his career, Allen has co-created and developed technology business models that have birthed highly successful, innovative solutions and companies.Allen co-founded and served as CTO of New York Loan Exchange (NYLX), a loan product eligibility and pricing engine (PPE) that made an immediate impact on the industry, scaling the company quickly and forming partnerships with multiple mortgage and financial lending companies. In 2012, Allen was a co-founder of a merger between NYLX and Aklero Risk Analytics that created LoanLogics, A Mortgage Loan Quality and Performance Analytics company. Allen served as CTO where he continued to bring new and innovative product solutions to the market that made a significant impact to mortgage lenders that reduced risk, scaled business channels, and grew profits in a very competitive and highly regulated market.Allen is also is mortgage and finance technology contributor on a weekly live industry podcast, Lykken on Lending, and is launching a new podcast soon to be released, TechStack Radio, dedicated to technology and innovation in Financial Services.
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Higher Mortgage Rates, Resilient Pipelines: Why Buyers Are Still Moving - Originations Update by David Kittle
6d ago00:01:47Tap to summarizeThis podcast segment explores why purchase mortgage demand remains resilient despite elevated interest rates, while rising homeowner's insurance costs and property taxes create new affordability challenges for borrowers.-----------------------------------------David G. Kittle, CMB is a highly respected leader in the mortgage industry, with over 45 years of experience. He is the Co-Founder and Chairman of The Mortgage Collaborative (TMC), a mortgage lending cooperative providing members with access to resources and tools to improve their business operations.Kittle began his mortgage banking career with American Fletcher Mortgage Company as a top-producing loan officer in 1978 moving to the management side in 1986 with Southmark Mortgage. He opened Associates Mortgage Group, the first of his three lending companies in 1994.Kittle served as MORPAC Chairman for MBA, from 2004-2006. He is past President of both the Louisville and Kentucky Mortgage Bankers Associations, as well as leading the industry through its most tumultuous period as Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, Washington DC in 2009. Kittle has testified before congress 14 times.Kittle has been a driving force behind the growth and success of TMC, working to bring together mortgage lenders from across the country to share best practices and collaborate on key industry issues. Kittle has also been a vocal advocate for innovation and technology adoption in the mortgage industry, urging lenders to embrace new tools and strategies to improve their operations and better serve their customers.Kittle is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences, sharing his expertise on a variety of topics related to mortgage lending.He resides in Louisville, Kentucky, he has four children and two grandchildren.
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CFPB Could Rewrite the Rules on Mortgage Refinance Disclosures - Legislative Update by Alice Alvey
6d ago00:05:40Tap to summarizeThis podcast segment examines the CFPB’s potential overhaul of mortgage refinance disclosures, including proposals to eliminate the three-day post-closing rescission waiting period, standardize waiver forms, and reduce unnecessary delays for borrowers and lenders.------------------------------------------------------------------Alice Alvey, Master CMBVice President Partner Education and Training at Union Home MortgageShe handles development of their World Class Training program designed to support UHM partners and organizational effectiveness.Prior to UHM, Alice served as Senior Vice President at Indecomm leading the Indecomm-Mortgage U division, Internal QA and Compliance and SaaS technologies. Indecomm acquired Mortgage U in 2013, where Alice was President/Co-founder, providing training and consulting since 1996. Prior to MU she served as SVP of Operations at a national bank overseeing operations for wholesale, retail and correspondent from underwriting through servicing, and compliance.She has been in the trenches of mortgage lending operations from application through servicing for over 30 years. Her authoring work in training content, policies and procedures and the FHA/VA Practical guides illustrates her ability to bridge regulatory requirements with day-to-day operations.Alice has been a weekly contributor to the Lykken on Lending show since its beginning in April 2009 and has made her weekly contributions to 450+ episodes!
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Why Mortgage Rates Rose After the Fed Held Steady - Market Update by Matt Graham
6d ago00:05:10Tap to summarizeThis podcast segment examines why mortgage rates moved higher despite the Fed holding steady, as uncertainty over Fed policy, inflation, Treasury selling, oil prices, and global market volatility pushed rates near their highest levels in more than a year.-----------------------------------------------------Matt began as an originator in 2002. He fell in love with the idea of following MBS in real-time but felt that existing products were only scratching the surface. Thus was born MBS Live in 2007, the first-of-its-kind platform with real-time market data/analysis, and live chat with analysts, traders, and originators around the country. He is currently the Founder and CEO of MBSLive!He's been covering bond/mortgage markets, writing commentary, alerts, and chatting with the live community every business hour of every business day ever since.Matt also serves as the Chief of Operations for mortgagenewsdaily.com, where he is one of the industry's most respected mortgage rate experts, frequently quoted in the media. Mortgage News Daily's rate index is used as the definitive resource on day-to-day mortgage rate averages.He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and son, where he enjoys skiing, fishing, coaching youth sports, playing the guitar, and more DIY projects/hobbies than he'd care to admit.
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The Fed Takes a "Magical Mystery Tour" - Macro Market Update by Les Parker
6d ago00:00:58Tap to summarize08-04-2026 The Fed Takes a "Magical Mystery Tour"-------------------Fed Warsh’s mystery tour is hoping Bonds take their own way. Hoping they don’t go astray.TMSpotlight SoundBites is brought to you by PowerSeller and Adam Quinones' DataQollab.Bonds continued to show their disapproval of the Fed’s not tightening. Alternatively, the short end acknowledged the Fed’s magical mystery tour creates less hawkishness. So, the curve steepened.Expect an Iranian deal to restore the path to free-flowing oil, pushing down Oil prices and Bond yields. Regardless, the 10-yr yield remains stuck between 4.80 and 4.20.Rates GO up. These views are mine. Fed’s new mystery tour. Join TMSpotlight. You got everything you need. Satisfaction guaranteed.-------------------Song: Magical Mystery Tour (1967) The Beatles
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FHA Removes a Key Barrier to Financing Existing Homes - MBA Mortgage Minute by Adam DeSanctis
6d ago00:01:26Tap to summarizeThis podcast segment highlights FHA’s decision to ease property standards for existing homes, removing outdated well-distance requirements that could expand access to FHA financing in more communities.-------------------------------------------------------------Adam DeSanctis, VP of Communications at Mortgage Bankers AssociationAs a strategic public affairs and communications executive with nearly two decades of experience, Adam has deep expertise in strategy, management, and media relations. He is widely considered to be an expert in a variety of communications, including advocacy, brand, executive, crisis, grassroots, and social media. In his career, he has been the MBA spokesperson on a wide variety of real estate research and advocacy-related issues, promoted MBA research and advocacy efforts to financial, political, and trade industry media and on MBA's social media channels, and secured media opportunities for MBA leadership on key real estate trends and issues, generated media coverage for MBA's research and data on mortgage applications, credit availability, homebuilder applications, mortgage forbearance/delinquencies, commercial real estate originations, and forecasts, and other industry analysis, developed key strategic initiatives for MBA's organizational public affairs plan, media relations and member communications support for mPower, MBA's Opens Doors Foundation and MBA's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program.
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Weekly AI Update: The AI Gold Rush: Why Most Companies Are Digging in the Wrong Place
1w ago00:19:40Tap to summarizeThe AI gold rush is in full swing, but many organizations are chasing the latest tools while overlooking the asset that will determine long-term success—their own data. In this episode of the Weekly AI Update, David Lykken and AI innovator Pavan Agarwal break down the biggest insights emerging from the AI4 Conference, discuss why enterprise AI strategy matters more than isolated AI deployments, and explore how AI agents are transforming the way businesses operate. They also examine the growing importance of proprietary AI patents, intelligent automation, and trusted data as the foundation for competitive advantage. If you're looking to move beyond AI hype and build a sustainable strategy that delivers real business value, this conversation provides practical insights into where AI is headed and how forward-thinking leaders can position themselves for the future.
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TRUE Releases Industry Guide to Help Mortgage Lenders Prepare for Fannie Mae AI Governance Requirements
1w ago00:23:11Tap to summarizeAs Fannie Mae's new AI governance requirements take effect on August 6, mortgage lenders face growing pressure to ensure their AI strategies are compliant, transparent, and audit-ready. In this episode of Lykken on Lending, David Lykken sits down with Steve Butler, CEO of TRUE, to discuss what these new requirements really mean, the misconceptions many lenders have about AI governance, and why deterministic AI is becoming essential for reducing risk. Steve also introduces TRUE's new Industry Guide, offering practical insights that help lenders build trust, improve compliance, and prepare for the future of AI-powered lending.
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