ICE Mortgage Technology—the most important mortgage company not named Fannie or Freddie—has entered Phase II.

Tim Bowler, who helped push through the industry-shattering $13B Black Knight deal, has moved on to a broader role inside ICE. The transition to Bob Hart comes as ICE works through a painful overhaul of its legacy mortgage tech & stares down tougher competition on all fronts.

“My sense is that he was asked to come in & do a tour of duty,” said a mortgage tech source who knows Bowler. “I don’t think that was the job that he wanted to do. But he's built a lot of trust w/ Jeff [Sprecher] & the team for good reason—he's a very thoughtful & seasoned executive, and I think he's done a lot of really good work there.”

He added: “Bob also has got a great track record. It was time to hand over the reins to someone that wanted to take it to the next stage of its evolution so Tim could get back to solving the hardest problems across ICE.”

In today’s edition, we break down additional changes at the mortgage-tech giant, hit the streets on the refi window while it’s still cracked open, explore what Indiana’s unlikely college football run can teach mortgage execs, and deliver our usual chaotic mix of scoops & sharp takes. Much of it is reserved for Mortgage Scoop Insiders—so plz subscribe.

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Financially, Bowler turned things around over the past 3 years. The mortgage technology division posted a $157M operating loss in Q3 ‘23 but $22M in operating earnings in Q3 ‘25. On a pro forma basis, the operating profit w/ Black Knight would have been $224M in Q3 ‘25, the best since the boom times of Q2 ‘22, NMN reported.

Hart, who’s more of an OG Ellie Mae Sales Guy than a Wall Street Guy, is running ICE Mortgage Technology from Atlanta, not New York. He’s tapped his longtime right hand Kerri Girouard to take on some of his previous responsibilities. 

But there have been some casualties at ICE’s mortgage tech division over the last month or so. Longtime VP of Platform Sales Tom Radle is out, sources told The Scoop, & there have been reductions in force in servicing & Encompass Product.

ICE did not return a request for comment. 

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On Monday night, I watched an unheralded quarterback named Fernando Mendoza & a bunch of 2-star recruits lead college football’s worst-ever program to a 16-0 season & a national championship. Before the start of the season, Indiana’s odds of winning were 100-1.

But Head Coach Curt Cignetti would tell you that it wasn’t improbable at all. Other coaches & critics were simply focused on the wrong metrics for success. 

Since taking over at Indiana in ‘23, Cignetti has been the unquestioned best evaluator of talent in the country. He’s found underrated prospects & tapped the transfer portal to find gems that were overlooked by others. He doesn’t get wooed by freak athletes w/ insane verticals or dead lifts. Cignetti favors a player’s experience & technique over raw athleticism & inexperience. He also specifically targets joint mobility in prospects, something I hope mortgage executives also consider when offering a 125 bps signing bonus to a $100M producer.

Ultimately, a roster of less athletic guys who are seasoned, coachable & master the fundamentals wins championships. I think Cignetti’s success is a reminder that the data nearly everyone else prioritizes (closed loan volume?) could be the wrong metrics to build around.

There might be other CFB-mortgage parallels.

“This business has turned into the college football NIL era,” one LO recently wrote on Facebook. “They don’t love you. They love your margin, your gain on sale and your servicing value. There isn’t a comp agreement in existence that favors the LO. You are entering a legal agreement. You better understand what that means.”

Mortgage rates dipped below 6% for the first time in years last week on the heels of the $200B Fannie & Freddie MBS news. Several LOs & execs said they had extremely productive weeks w/ refis. 

The fight over Greenland(!?) has contributed to rates climbing back to the 6.3% range, so The Scoop asked: How are things looking on the ground? 

“Rates took a big hit yesterday, but buyer demand is still strong,” said Union Home Mortgage’s Breon Price. “Mom & Pop investors are back in play. One interesting point is how many mortgage companies are bypassing Fannie & Freddie Mac on conventional non-owner deals. The LLPA adjustments are so bad that everyone’s just bypassing them now.”

Overall apps are down if you compare week-over-week, but Jan. 10-13 was 10% higher in units & 30% higher in dollars, as compared to Jan. 17-20, said one IMB exec in the Midwest. “If I look at Jan. 7-13, compared to Jan. 14-20, we are dead even.”

An East Coast IMB owner replied that business has been steady since New Year’s. “If I weren’t reading the news I wouldn’t have really noticed,” he said. “It takes a little time for consumers not in pipeline to respond to rate moves.”

Loan amount sizes & closing costs also have a major impact on the refi pipeline. States w/ higher closing costs like PA & NJ will likely see comparably less volume.

“The problem is the upfront fees,” said Price. “It’s hard to roll $5K of cost into a refinance where you’re only saving somebody a half a percent. Consumers are just not buying it. They’d rather hold off & wait.”

Said one Mid-Atlantic broker-owner, “Most boots on the ground loan officers—regardless of channel—are very bad at refinances. The ‘real LOs make their bones on purchases’ mentality is taken too far. Also, pitching a purchase is very different from a refinance. Call center LOs are way better at it (although not always for the right reasons).”

The rest of today’s edition is for Mortgage Scoop Insiders. We’ve got details on why Jay Promisco moved to Go Mortgage, signs of trouble in FHA lending, a preview of what’s coming next in Vendor Wars & the straight truth about Washington’s latest housing headlines. If you want the details & what it all signals for the industry, upgrade to read on.