We recently had the chance to talk with Jeffrey Cassetta, EVP, Chief Capital Markets Officer at Ruoff Mortgage, who is leveraging MCT’s Rapid Commit technology to add efficiency to his loan sales.
Mr. Cassetta’s goal is to drive profitability for Ruoff while providing a seamless and pleasurable mortgage experience to the consumer. He relies on the efficiency of MCT’s Rapid Commit integration to commit loans efficiently to Fannie Mae.
In this case study, Mr. Cassetta describes how MCT’s Rapid Commit enables him to sell loans to Fannie Mae five times faster than his previous manual process. His use of the tool also helps Ruoff keep up with periods of increased volume like increases seen during the Spring of 2020.
Jeffrey Cassetta
EVP, Chief Capital Markets Officer at Ruoff Mortgage
Mr. Cassetta runs the secondary department for Ruoff Mortgage and is always careful to ensure his best execution practices are generating the most profitability for Ruoff. To do this, he relies on MCT’s technology and expertise to optimize his best execution strategy.
Featured Quote: “I load it up, push a button, and within minutes they’re all committed. 54 loans, 12 different commitments, less than 3 minutes. Before Rapid Commit this process would have taken me 15-20 minutes.”
How MCT Adds Efficiency Through Technology
To ensure Ruoff Mortgage was successful adding efficiency to their loan sale processes, MCT equipped Ruoff with MCTlive!®, the award-winning best execution loan pipeline management software. MCTlive! includes access to Rapid Commit and Bid Auction Manager®.
MCTlive! – A powerful platform available for day-to-day loan pipeline management, trade positions management, and loan sale best execution. MCTlive! automates repetitive tasks and frees your time for other high-value functions.
Bid Auction Manager (BAM) – MCT’s digital whole loan trading platform within MCTlive! that integrates with existing lender and investor processes to increase the speed and security of bid tape management while achieving true best execution.
Rapid Commit – New integrations that automate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan pricing and commitment with intelligent best execution capability. This integration is adding efficiency to loan processes of mutual clients.
Contact us for a sneak peek at the technology leveraged by Ruoff Mortgage.
Case Study Benefits Summary: Ruoff Mortgage
MCTlive! and Rapid Commit are helping Ruoff Mortgage improve their best execution strategy while boosting efficiency in their loan sale process. MCT also works closely with Mr. Cassetta to ensure his experience with the technology meets the goals of the company. Below are the highlights of the most impactful experiences for Cassetta and Ruoff.
Efficiency
“I load it up, push a button and within minutes they’re all committed. 54 loans, 12 different commitments, less than 3 minutes. Before Rapid Commit this process would have taken me 15-20 minutes.”
Times faster loan sales to Fannie Mae through Rapid Commit
Technology
“The functionality allows me to commit large quantities of loans and best ex them in a timely and efficient manner to where I generally sell 30-50% of daily production at the same time we’re pulling pricing for our internal rate sheets. To be able to do that knowing that my guys are doing pricing and I’m selling at the same time is critical.”
Customer Service
“MCT has the most experienced secondary people than any company I’ve done business with. I’ve found it’s run by all secondary people that know what secondary people need and they get their technology people to make it happen. I was up and running within an hour – not even. As quick as I could read the emails. Ok it works! I was just amazed at the speed.”
Best Execution
“Always having accuracy in your execution is key to profitability. I’m sure Joel or Paul would attest, I can be somewhat of a bear because I double and triple check everything to make sure the executions are correct. For me to get a good comfort level with something is saying a lot and I’ve got a good comfort level with MCT’s best ex.”
Setup
“He (Paul Yarbrough, MCT) gave me the step-by-step screenshots to get it set up, and I was done. It was so easy and the efficiencies were immediately there.”
Full Interview:
Ruoff Mortgage Adds Efficiency with Rapid Commit & Fannie Mae
Read our question / answer style format with the full responses from our conversations with Jeffrey Cassetta.
- What was the process like getting up and running with Rapid Commit?
- Would you say there’s operational risk minimized by using Rapid Commit Functionality?
- Is there anything else you’d like to mention on Fannie Mae’s Pricing & Execution – Whole Loan® through Rapid Commit?
- Will your retain-release strategy change as MSR pricing improves?
- Has your team experience efficiency gains using this technology?
- Have you been able to increase the number of loans you’ve been able to commit to Fannie Mae over time?
- How has the Rapid Commit integration affected your profitability?
- Have you been able to increase the number of loans you’ve been able to commit to Fannie Mae over time?
- Is there anything else you would like to say about how these tools have helped your company work more efficiently during the COVID-19 pandemic?
- Have these products helped you mitigate risk and safely connect to data?
- Are there any examples of lessons or best practices you’d like to share with others as you start to use these tools?
- Have you set and reached any specific goals by using the integration?
- Case Study Summary: Ruoff Home Loans
What was the process like getting up and running with Rapid Commit?
“It was seamless. As soon as they rolled it out the best execution was already there. It made the execution process so much quicker.
Especially for a company like ours, which 70% production as far as units fit in the spec pool. When you’re taking out multiple commitments with all the specs it’s great that it can happen in minutes.
Today I’ve sold Fannie Mae $8.1 million in 12 different commitments.”
“I went out with 160 loans totaling $27.5 million. I had it all best-exed and knew accurately where each loan was going. I could have committed it all within 15 minutes. ”
Would you say there’s operational risk minimized by using Rapid Commit Functionality?
“I’ve got checks and balances built in to make sure that you’re committing loans that can go to Fannie Mae. When I go in and load my loans into MCT, I’ve already done a daily best execution. Not on individual loans, but I know who’s winning each note rate in each bucket between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
I’ve been doing that since the beginning of time. That model is already built for me in-house. My secondary guys shoot it over to me. I look at it with my list of loans and already have an idea of which loans are going where. And then as soon as pricing is available, I hit the pull pricing from the agencies and dump it into my spreadsheets.
It’s showing me where the loans are best exing to within MCT. I compare that to what I already know, reconcile any differences and then start firing off loans. Like today, I went out with 160 loans totaling $27.5 million. I had it all best-exed and knew accurately where each loan was going. I could have committed it all within 15 minutes.”
Is there anything else you’d like to mention on Fannie Mae’s Pricing & Execution – Whole Loan® through Rapid Commit?
“With margins where they are still and interest rates being at all-time lows, we just made the election to retain servicing. We weren’t going to give away the best product that’s been originated in history. I’ve been in this for 30 years and I’m not going to give away 2.85 for 80 bps.“
Software Spotlight – MCTlive! is an Award-Winning Best Execution & Loan Pipeline Management Software
Built specifically for Secondary Marketing by secondary marketing professionals, MCTlive! is the most powerful platform available for day-to-day loan pipeline management, trade positions management, and loan sale best execution. The platform was engineered to put the capital markets function we provide in the hands of our customers, allowing them to build their capital markets competency inside their own shop.
Will your retain-release strategy change as MSR pricing improves?
“Now that we’re getting somewhat back to normal levels, we’ve got a $6 billion servicing portfolio we decided we’re going to start monetizing some of it.”
Has your team experience efficiency gains using this technology?
“In the past year it would have been much more difficult to do the volume without the technology. I would have had to put more resources to it.
Especially during last year’s volatility, it would have been crushing if you had to spend so much time doing a lot of this without the technology.
To get a real true best ex you have to pull pricing at the exact time. With MCT’s technology, because it can pull pricing so fast, it makes the best execution more reliable.”
Have you experienced any unforeseen challenges with this integration?
“No, my technical liaison, Paul Yarbrough, just says “Jeff, here it is.” He gave me the step-by-step screenshots to get it set up, and I was done. It was so easy and the efficiencies were immediately there. No complaints.“
FURTHER READING – Additional Case Studies
MCT has had the opportunity to sit down with Mountain West Financial, First Bank and Eustis Mortgage to discuss how MCT’s offerings improved their loan sale efficiency and profitability. View their case studies below.
How has the Rapid Commit integration affected your profitability?
“Always having accuracy in your execution is key to profitability. I’m sure Joel or Paul would attest, I can be somewhat of a bear because I double and triple check everything to make sure the executions are correct.
For me to get a good comfort level with something is saying a lot, and I’ve got a good comfort level with MCT’s best ex. Anytime I find something that’s a little off or needs to be tweaked they’re right on it, researching it and making corrections as needed.“
“He gave me the step-by-step screenshots to get it set up and I was done. It was so easy and the efficiencies were immediately there.”
Have you been able to increase the number of loans you’ve been able to commit to Fannie Mae over time?
“Yes, very much so. I mean, it’s the accuracy of the execution and the ease of committing.“
Is there anything else you would like to say about how these tools have helped your company work more efficiently during the COVID-19 pandemic?
“Great technology allows me to do my job from anywhere.“
Have these products helped you mitigate risk and safely connect to data?
“Very much so, efficiencies and time is critical when you’re talking about trading. Pricing can change within a two to three-minute span.
You want to be able to sell your $8 million in loans in 12 different commitments as quickly as you call your broker-dealer saying give me a bid. I’m going to hit this price right now. You want that type of efficiency and quickness, especially if it’s acting as your hedge for the day.
I’ve got my initial hedges on that add, remove and roll, but my basic hedge each day is the loans that I’m selling at the time that my rate sheet goes out. That’s pretty much counterbalancing the loans that I’m going to take in that day and generally the next couple of hours easily. Generally, the first couple hours of locks is the busiest for us during the day.“
Are there any examples of lessons or best practices you’d like to share with others as you start to use these tools?
“Best practices are you need confidence in the tools you are using. Make sure you tested it you reconciled, you have something to compare it to then, run with it.“
Have you set and reached any specific goals by using the integration?
“The integration just came to us. MCT has the most experienced secondary people, moreso than anyone I’ve met running these other platforms posturing themselves as technologically driven. You’ve got tech people trying to anticipate what secondary people need. MCT is run all by secondary people that know what secondary people need and they get technology people to make it happen.
When the integration was offered, Paul just sent me an email and said here’s the screenshots of how to do it, and I was up and running within an hour – not even. As quick as I could read the emails. Ok it works! I was just amazed at the speed.“
Case Study Summary: Ruoff Mortgage
MCT’s integration with Fannie Mae through Rapid Commit has enabled Ruoff Mortgage to improve efficiencies in its loan sale process. MCTlive!, Bid Auction Manager and Rapid Commit continue to ensure Mr. Cassetta’s best execution is accurate and profitable.
- MCTlive! – A powerful platform available for day-to-day loan pipeline management, trade positions management, and loan sale best execution. MCTlive! automates repetitive tasks and frees your time for other high-value functions.
- Bid Auction Manager (BAM) – MCT’s digital whole loan trading platform within MCTlive! that integrates with existing lender and investor processes to increase the speed and security of bid tape management while achieving true best execution.
- Rapid Commit – New integrations that automate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan pricing and commitment with intelligent best execution capability. This integration is adding efficiency to loan processes of mutual clients.
