Unlocking Growth with MCTlive! and MSR Services: NOLA Lending Group's Story

MCT was fortunate to have the opportunity to sit down with Katie Jones, Senior Vice President, Capital Markets Director at NOLA Lending Group, to discuss her valuable insights into MCT’s software solutions, services and professional expertise.

In this case study, Mrs. Jones shares how her team transformed their operations through their partnership with MCT. By leveraging MCTlive!^® for hedging and loan sales execution, along with MCT’s mortgage servicing rights (MSR) services, NOLA Lending Group has achieved measurable gains in efficiency, profitability, and strategic insight.

NOLA’s Comprehensive Partnership with MCT

NOLA Lending Group relies on MCT’s hedging, loan sale execution, MSR services, and overall client experience to drive performance. Learn more about each in the corresponding sections below.

NOLA Improves Profitability & Efficiency with MCTlive!

NOLA Lending Group slashed eight hours a month from their loan sale process by replacing spreadsheets and emails with MCTlive!’s automated workflow. The platform’s best execution tools boosted profitability by 29 basis points and saved another 8 basis points through automated AOT functionality. Coupled with MCT’s AI-powered Atlas driving smarter decisions, NOLA Lending Group says their process is now faster, more profitable, and more strategic than ever. Learn more about how NOLA Lending Group is leveraging MCT’s hedging and best execution services to achieve their goals.

Summary Takeaways: Hedging & Loan Sales

Hedging & Loan Sale Solutions

Loan Trading Exchange

 MCT Marketplace® is liquidity. We connect mortgage loan traders in a unique, digital auction regardless of counterparty approval status.

Interview Questions: Hedging & Loan Sales

What was your loan sale process before MCTlive!?

It was a lot of spreadsheets, emails back and forth, headaches, and work trying to pull in bid tapes from all of our investor partners. Manually updating trades and commitments into our LOS ledger so that we could report on our expected profitability was also very time consuming. There was so much room for user error and leakage throughout our old processes. It was a bit of a mess, so we’re very grateful for the MCTlive! platform.

Describe your loan sale process with MCTlive!

MCTlive! makes it so much easier and so much more efficient. The loan ready for sale list is uploaded and set up for future bid time. Bids come back at the same time as when we execute investors API’s ‘run bid’. We then review the Commit screen with best executions and compare to investor eligibility. Next, we’ll commit via Bulk Commit and Rapid Commit, select our AOT options and then initiate the write back. These tools minimize room for error.

MCTlive! makes our process super-efficient and gives us the time and focus back to be even more strategic, earning us extra bps for our bottom line. I’m very pleased MCT is not just evolving with the industry, but they seem to be innovating even more than the rest. It’s making life for us so much easier.”

How much time have you saved doing loan sales since you started using MCTlive!?

From the old process with emails and spreadsheets to the new process, it probably saves four hours per loan sale. We’re running about two a month, so 8 hours saved per month is huge.

Have you seen profitability gains while using MCTlive!?

Yes, MCTlive! helps us easily expand into additional investor and execution outlets without a major drain on resources. We have seen a boost in profitability since implementing MCTlive! for loan sale execution. It’s allowing us to stay nimble, and yields are increasing year over year. We just recently did an internal study for a year to date, and we’ve gained 29 basis points up to that point.

How has MCTlive! helped in your best best execution analysis?

It’s so much easier to determine best ex options at a glance, rather than waiting for investors to return pricing and working spreadsheets. Hybrid AOT has helped us with hedging efficiencies, giving us a little extra pickup as well. It’s just so much more efficient. The platform is just so user friendly, it’s been great for us.

Have you seen profitability gains through AOTs or trading TBAs in MCTlive!?

Taking advantage of AOT helps us maintain ideal hedge position at the point of loan sale execution while minimizing our pair off costs. MCTlive!’s AOT functionality makes the ability to execute so seamless and efficient.

I’m seeing the efficiency pick up in our overall mandatory over best effort spread and bottom line, so we’re feeling it. Year to date, we’ve seen a savings of 8 basis points by leveraging MCT’s AOT functionality.

Have you tried MCT’s new AI tool, Atlas?

Atlas is amazing! I love how it’s helped broaden the knowledge of every member on my team. The MCT team has always made us feel comfortable to ask any question or bounce any idea off of them. Atlas takes MCT’s trademark welcoming and education-driven approach even further to give users answers in real time at our fingertips.

It has prompted more meaningful ideas and discussion with our team internally, as well with our MCT team of experts. It’s changing the way we’re thinking about our strategy and giving us new ideas. So, it’s really a great tool to help push us further as a department.

Schedule a demo today to learn how MCT’s hedging and loan sale solutions help lenders like NOLA Lending Group manage their pipeline.

NOLA Maximizes MSR Strategy & Profitability with MCT

With no prior experience in bulk MSR sales, NOLA Lending Group turned to MCT’s MSR team for strategic guidance, market expertise, and hands-on support. MCT helped them refine their retain vs. release strategy, execute three highly profitable bulk MSR transfers, and strengthen their balance sheet during challenging market conditions. NOLA Lending Group credits MCT’s MSR team with transforming their MSR approach into a key driver of long-term growth. Learn more about NOLA’s experience with MCT’s MSR services below.

Summary Takeaways: MSR Services & Bulk Sales

MSR Software & Solutions

MSR Sales & Brokerage

Take MCT’s MSR brokerage team leverages technology, extensive industry experience, and a wide buyer network to ensure you get the most out of your hard-earned MSR portfolio.

Interview Questions: MSR Services & Bulk Sales

How has your experience been like working with MCT’s MSR team?

The MSR team has expanded our knowledge of the intricacies of MSR valuation. The tools that MCT offers really got us thinking about our internal strategy and our long-term goals with retain versus release decisioning.

We’re thinking of retained versus released strategy in a whole new way and will likely be a key part of a future growth initiative for our company. I really appreciate all the feedback we’ve got from MCT’s MSR team and love all the resources there are for us.

How did MCT’s MSR team help navigate your MSR Bulk Sales?

I don’t know if we would have executed our bulk MSR sales without the MCT team and their expert resources. We had never executed an MSR bulk sale before, and after discussing our goals with MCT’s team, we decided to split our MSR bulk sale into two. There was definitely a learning curve for our team, but everybody on the MCT side was there to help us every step of the way. The resources they gave us were totally invaluable, and we’re very thankful for everything.

How has MCT’s MSR team helped improve the profitability of your MSR Sales?

The MCT’s MSR team and expert resources were major contributors to achieving the highest possible execution for our MSR sales. We went from zero experience with bulk MSR to executing three successful, highly profitable transfers that gave our servicing team a much-needed lift. Our balance sheet also experienced a major boost during some of the most financially challenging years this industry has experienced.

What has inspired you to keep coming back to MCT’s MSR team for your bulk MSR Sales?

Pulling together our first MSR sale was a months-long initiative….and we decided that our first sale should be split in two in order to maximize execution. I jokingly referred to each day as a new episode of The Amazing Race because this was entirely new territory for our team. The MCT MSR team of experts were with us every step of the way.  Any question that came up, they were available to talk through.

Every call with the buyer, they were on to make sure all aspects of the transfer were running smoothly and to ensure we were factoring in intricacies that we didn’t even know existed. They were an invaluable resource for us. It was a no-brainer to utilize MCT’s MSR team again for future deals. They continued to bring value within each transaction.”

How have Custom Pricing Grids affected your Pricing Strategy?

In 2020 and 2021, it was everything. When aggregators stepped back due to so much uncertainty and the GSE’s stepped up to keep things flowing, we needed confidence in our grids to ensure we were retaining the portfolio that made sense for our short and long-term strategy. It’s been great having custom pricing grids that meet our goals of our retained release strategy.

How do you feel about the level of MSR expertise that you received from the MSR team?

“From the MSR bulk sales side, the MSR team had a lot of experience in those types of transactions and really acted like a true advisor. They helped review contracts, terms of the sale, and with determining if we could meet the obligations within the offering. It was really helpful to have someone to lean on and really read line for line every bit of each one of those deals. So, that was amazing to have that experience on our side.

We’ve also been really impressed by what we’ve demoed with MCT like their EBX tool. They’ve shown how it helps analyze multiple factors like potential tax implications, escrow accounts, and trying to retain local business as opposed to regional. It’s really made us think about how to excel internally as far as our retain versus release strategy and we’re really excited about potentially utilizing some of those tools in the future to take it to the next level.”

Would you recommend MCT’s MSR team to another lender who was looking to sell a portion or all of their servicing portfolio?

I would, and I have!

Schedule a demo today to learn how MCT’s MSR solutions help lenders like NOLA Lending Group manage their portfolio.

From Support to Success: NOLA’s Client Experience

Through regular strategy calls, MCT has helped NOLA capture gains, identify new broker-dealers and investors, and optimize performance beyond traditional pipelines. Leveraging MCT Marketplace and guidance from their team, NOLA has confidently targeted niche investors and avoided unproductive partnerships. With responsive support from MCT’s client success group, NOLA values the firm as a trusted advisor whose innovative approach and aligned values drive long-term success.

Summary Takeaways: Client Experience

Interview Questions: Client Experience & Support

Has MCT referred investors, broker-dealers, or anyone else to NOLA? Has that impacted your bottom line?

“We have regular check-ins with our team of MCT advisors and we really try to take advantage of those calls. We discuss our short and long-term goals, the current state of the industry and economics, and then tweak strategies from there. This has often included recommendations for new broker-dealers, investors, or programs that might even fall outside of the scope of a traditional mandatory pipeline.

Through these regular calls, we’ve been able to capture gains in the form of basis points, opportunity, and stability. I feel like it’s been a very fruitful relationship on our side. We’ve gained so much from those conversations. They’ve definitely made a lot of recommendations that have yielded additional gain for us.”

How has MCT’s client success group supported NOLA?

We’ve worked with Paul Yarbrough really since we rejoined with MCT. He’s always great to work with anytime we have a question or trying to understand how something works. He’s always quick to explain, take a look, or get his team involved.

Have you seen any changes or pick up from optimizing your investors?

Yes. We keep an eye on MCT Marketplace and look to see if there are any opportunities there. It has been really helpful. Without MCT Marketplace, you could  sign up an investor and then you’ll never really see the gains. But I feel like through MCT Marketplace, along with feedback from Justin Grant and Page Woodall on who’s buying niche products, we feel more confident who we’re signing up with. We’re not just signing up another investor that’s not going to go anywhere.

Is there anything else you’d like to say about your experience with MCT?

The MCT Team have consistently proven themselves as trusted advisors and leaders in this industry. Their core values align seamlessly with ours and their drive to not just evolve but innovate, with a genuine passion for client success, is what sets them apart.  We are thankful for their partnership and look forward to many more years in this industry with them.

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.