Sue W. writes, “After I say, ‘That’s crazy’ twice, please wrap up your story.” There are a lot of stories out there now as residential lenders tighten their belts, their payrolls, and their expenses in the face of rising rates, the worst inflation since 1981, and per loan costs of over $10,000. Hey, corporate has taken a hit, branches have taken a hit… is it time for LO comp to take one? Time will tell, but meanwhile ops staff are grappling with a number of issues. Along those lines, anyone trying to retrieve their collateral from the smoking ruins of First Guaranty Mortgage should try (no guarantees!) reaching out to all these, with an air bill, there are signs of success: Santa Ana Custody Requests, Correspondent Collateral Return, Nelida Parrish, Imelda Flores-E, Steven-E Willard, Christopher Ma, or Kimberly Hem. Good luck! Others are in survival mode. loanDepot (high stock price of over $26 per share in March of 2021, now trading at $1.70 per share, a 93 percent drop) sent out a note discussing things that every lender should be/says they’re doing, namely, “Building on foundation of strong balance sheet and liquidity, downsizing to align with rapidly changing market conditions; focusing mortgage lending on purchase transactions while serving increasingly diverse communities across the country, simplifying organizational structure, with increased focus on client service, quality, automation and operating leverage…” (Today’s podcast is available here and is sponsored by SimpleNexus, an nCino company and award-winning developer of mobile-first technology for the modern mortgage lender.)