MCT was fortunate to have the opportunity to sit down with Tom Bradley, Trader & Senior Correspondent Product & Pricing Analyst at Gateway Correspondent Lending to discuss his experience with MCT’s AutoBid functionality, which uses cutting-edge technology to automate the process of pricing bid taps as well as other tools located within MCT Marketplace.
In this case study, Mr. Bradley speaks to the benefits of time savings, targeting specific loan characteristics, reporting, and the ability to find new sellers as an investor on MCT Marketplace. Leveraging AutoBid within MCT Marketplace has removed the need for manual processes in Excel, increased efficiency in the bidding process, and reduced the amount of training needed for new hires.
Tom Bradley
Secondary Marketing Trader and Senior Correspondent Product & Pricing Analyst, Gateway Correspondent Lending
Tom Bradley is a seasoned finance professional with over two decades of experience in secondary marketing, capital markets, and product pricing analysis. Currently serving at Gateway Correspondent Lending, Tom holds a dual role as a Senior Correspondent Product & Pricing Analyst and a Secondary Marketing Trader. In this capacity, he expertly manages hedge strategies for the Capital Markets team while simultaneously optimizing product pricing for the Correspondent Lending Team.
Gateway Correspondent Lending Uses MCT Marketplace for a More Efficient Buying Process
Gateway Correspondent Lending has taken full advantage of the MCT services and integrations to ensure they increase bandwidth, find new sellers, and improve efficiency. Advanced technology systems and actionable data insights have become a prominent catalyst for the success and ease of their business development.
MCT Marketplace is the world’s first truly open mortgage loan exchange, where buyers can bid regardless of approval status, and sellers receive automated live pricing from every buyer on the platform. MCT Marketplace connect buyers and sellers in a unique, digital auction regardless of counterparty approval status. Through patented technology, sellers have access to the most robust set of take-outs, while buyers are seamlessly connected to the largest community of sellers in the U.S.
AutoBid automates the process of pricing bid tapes and accepting commitments. No more organizing, normalizing, pricing, or returning bid tapes and commitment requests via spreadsheets and email. With full support for spec pay-ups and MSR values, whether utilizing MCT’s MSR group or another third party, investors can ensure they’ll be generating the most accurate bid at any point in time. Investors can also choose from several common loan characteristics to margin & restrict by or leverage the multifactor functionality to set up more complex rules.
AutoShadow allows investors to shadow bid tapes of prospective MCT sellers with whom they have not yet approved. Bid tapes are anonymized and scrubbed of all NPI, but reporting on market share a client would have won and missed profit opportunity is provided to the seller.
Gateway Correspondent Lending: Summary of Software & Metrics
AutoBid has changed Gateway Correspondent Lending’s day to day tasks by cutting down time spent on spreadsheets and manual work to process bid tapes. Leveraging MCT’s AutoShadow has also allowed Gateway Correspondent Lending to source new sellers.
We asked Mr. Bradley to further explain what some of the main benefits of working with MCT:
Time Spent Submitting a Bid:
- Before MCT – 10 Minutes
- After MCT – 10 Seconds
Time Savings
Data Granularity
Finding New Sellers
Automated System
Full Interview: Gateway Correspondent Lending
Describe your experience working with MCT Marketplace?
We have been using MCT Marketplace for the past 2 years and overall, it’s been quite effective for our needs. We primarily use Marketplace to actively bid our approved clients. For active Gateway clients, it gives us the ability to either automatically bid the tapes or to actively price, bid and review the tapes. When reviewing the bids it allows us the flexibility to improve our price to win business if we are looking for a specific loan characteristic that day. Marketplace also has a great shadow bid feature that we utilize to automatically process and bid MCT clients who are not currently Gateway clients. The automation has streamlined our workflow significantly. The built-in reports are also very helpful so we can review where our pricing is compared to others who are bidding the same tapes.
How does Gateway Correspondent Lending leverage reporting within MCT Marketplace?
The system helps me stay on top of things. I regularly run reports to check where our pricing is compared to the other investors. We are able to see where we ranked price wise as well as where the loan sold at vs. where we priced. Reports are also provided to our sales managers, so they are aware of which clients are sending in bid tapes each week.
How does MCT Marketplace allow Gateway Correspondent Lending to target specific loan characteristics?
One of the great things about MCT Marketplace is that it lets you customize what you do and what you do not want to bid on. The attribute restrictions allow you to get very granular restricting specific states, LTVs, FICOs, Aged Loans, Min/Max Rates, Occupancy, etc. We have restrictions built to disqualify specific buydowns that we don’t purchase as well as state restrictions for those states we are either not approved in or are not currently looking to purchase loans from.
We have really been using it a lot for the spec margin hold back feature. It’s great that we can control how much of the spec pay-ups we include in our pricing. We update this at least weekly to try and drive more business in the lower loan amounts. We are really seeing a lot of production in the lower loan amounts, so it has been really helpful in facilitating that business.
Spec Margin Hold Back
Investors utilizing the cash windows with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may prefer to hold back a portion of the spec in their bid due to the additional price volatility of the pay ups. Our tools allow you to easily pinpoint these products and apply additional margin, either fixed or as a % of the pay up, as well as differentiate by delivery term.
-Tom Bradley, Trader & Senior Correspondent Product & Pricing Analyst
Why did you select MCT’s AutoBid for your bid tape pricing needs?
We had worked with MCT before and reviewed the technology and we really liked it. Prior to MCT Marketplace all bid tapes were run through an Excel model. We needed a solution that was far more efficient as well as far more automated. The ability for other team members to handle bidding when I’m out of the office is 100% easier with MCT vs Excel. They are able to simply login, click a few buttons and the loans are bid. No more updating prices, copy and pasting tapes into excel, etc. The automation has made our business more efficient and has made the workday significantly simpler when it comes to the Mandatory Desk.
-Tom Bradley, Trader & Senior Correspondent Product & Pricing Analyst
How has your experience been with AutoShadow on MCT Marketplace?
We shadow bid MCT clients daily that are not current Gateway clients. The system instantly and automatically prices and posts the tapes back to MCT. The AutoShadow feature gives us the opportunity to have others find us, see our pricing, and then decide if they wanted to work with us. We are also able to run reports to see where our pricing ranks and can use the shadow bid as a prospect tool to reach out to clients where our pricing is consistently in their top 5.
Can you speak on the Restriction Functionality feature?
The restriction functionality feature is great and allows us to get very granular in what we are looking to purchase. For instance, we aren’t approved in every state, so we are able to restrict which states we bid loans in. We can limit bids to specific products, LTV’s, FICO bands, rates, etc. It really allows us to define the loan characteristics we are looking to buy and add to our servicing portfolio. The restrictions are easy to add, remove, or edit giving us great flexibility when and if we need it.
How was the onboarding experience with MCT?
The onboarding experience with MCT was great! I worked directly with Manny who walked me through the system. He helped me set up/map a few non MCT Clients into the Marketplace until I was comfortable with the process. MCT was readily available for my many questions during onboarding and continues to be extremely responsive with any questions I have.
Lastly, how has the client experience been working with MCT?
It has been very good, I have no complaints. They are always on the ball whenever I call or email.
Case Study Summary: Gateway Correspondent Lending
Gateway Correspondent Lending has taken full advantage of the tools within MCT Marketplace to create more efficiency at work and an overall more effective loan sale process. By leveraging reporting, automation, and the ability to target specific loan characteristics, Gateway Correspondent Lending has used MCT Marketplace to help achieve their goals. Going from wasting time on spreadsheets to an automated system that cuts time dramatically, Gateway Correspondent Lending has certainly reaped the benefits of working with MCT Marketplace
MCT Marketplace is the world’s first truly open mortgage loan exchange, where buyers can bid regardless of approval status, and sellers receive automated live pricing from every buyer on the platform
AutoBid automates the process of pricing bid tapes and accepting commitments. No more organizing, normalizing, pricing, or returning bid tapes and commitment requests via spreadsheets and email.
AutoShadow allows clients to access and shadow price bid tapes for MCT clients with whom they have not yet approved. Bid tapes are anonymized and scrubbed of all NPI, but reporting on market share a client would have won and missed profit opportunity is provided to the seller.
FURTHER READING – Additional Case Studies
Contact Investor Services to discover how MCT can improve efficiency in your loan sale process!
About MCT
For over two decades, MCT has been a leading source of innovation for the mortgage secondary market. Melding deep subject matter expertise with a passion for emerging technologies and clients, MCT is the de facto leader in innovative mortgage capital markets technology. From architecting modern best execution loan sales to launching the most successful and advanced marketplace for mortgage-related assets, lenders, investors, and network partners all benefit from MCT’s stewardship. MCT’s technology and know-how continue to revolutionize how mortgage assets are priced, locked, hedged, traded, and valued – offering clients the tools to perform under any market condition.
For more information, visit https://mct-trading.com/ or call (619) 543-5111.
