About a year ago, a top LO in the Mountain West received a full offer from a mid-sized IMB out of the Pacific Northwest 🌲. The offer came with a $50K signing bonus. He turned it down.

“Every few months they come back with more money,” he told The Scoop. “Right now it's $125K,” and comes w/ a $15K monthly minimum comp for 3 months. It’s all based on his TTM of production and includes a 12-month clawback.

The PNW lender got his production volume wrong in the latest offer, he said. When he corrected them w/ the actual volume was $25M, “they come back and are like, ‘Oh, well in that case, here’s more money.’”

Mortgage lenders nationwide are waving huge signing bonuses in front of LOs, betting that they’ll make bank 🏦 when interest rates drop 📉 and refis go on a rampage. 

“Arguably the most aggressive multiples on production we've seen since the free agent frenzy started in 2019,” is how NFM Lending’s Greg Sher put it. “Certain lenders set the market & forced others to climb up in order to be competitive. We have seen some top producers who have already been through the cycle several times that know better. Because oftentimes, it's not what it appeared to be, & they ended up feeling trapped with no way out.”

It’s not just $50M+ producers who are being pursued. Producers in the $8M-$20M range who are seen as having the potential to double volume somewhere else are getting courted, too. Even those LOs are commanding 70 bps or more on production.

To win the LO arms race, you’ll need hefty reserves & a strong stomach. One regional manager said his shop recently lost a $16M producer in the 11th hour to CrossCountry, who offered them 110 bps. “The LO had a start date with us in a week & said, 'I just can't do it. I literally gotta take the money,'” the manager recalled. “If you're going after somebody, hope to God a rival doesn't like them a whole lot because if you're up against a really aggressive company, you're going to get slaughtered."

A $10M- $20M producer who’s doing more than 25% govvie loans is “outstanding for a company” to have, one source said. “The only high-stakes competitive loan that's cutthroat right now, that everybody's dropping their drawers over, is the conforming 30-year fixed over $300K because there's barely any margin in that,” he added. “People are fighting to keep their pipeline & database so they've gotta go low, & that kills P&L model situations.”

The signing bonus money isn’t free. LOs are increasingly having to sign longer contracts (up to 3Y) with clawbacks/pay it ups with higher rates. They are essentially golden handcuffs that the LO just slipped or are still wearing. So why do it again? 

"Loan officers are like rappers,” said one broker-owner in Florida. “They are bad with their own money & many don't understand how the industry works.”

Larry Silver, who leads top staffing agency Mortgage Career Exchange, said LOs are more discerning this go-around. “It really comes down to the individual,” he said. “You've got restless talent…’I took the bonus, I've done this rodeo 🤠 before. Let me be diligent & thoughtful on how I make this next move.’" Some are trying to get sliding scales & bonuses that are more a-la-carte 🍽️ or even a higher salary in lieu of a signing bonus, he said. 

Sources ID’d CrossCountry, loanDepot, Rate, NAF and Union as being especially active recruiters right now. The LO in the Mountain West has also received overtures from Rate. But he has other reasons for declining. “There's another gal in town who works for them & I’m just not interested in being a co-worker with her."

If only I had the confidence of a Rick Ruby. The coaching legend was accused by CalCon of using his “neutral” coaching biz 👀 to give CrossCountry a recruiting advantage. Check out this voicemail 📲he left 1 LO, per court records. 

Scott – Rick Ruby. That you are looking at all this shit without talking to me & I got to hear it from other people is ridiculous. God. If I haven't proven myself as the voice of reason all these years, that does the right thing, stays grounded, wants what's best for you. 

I care about nothing but what's best for you. I don't get any money from any companies. I don't care about where you work, but I'm telling you, when I make a lot of money, I want to protect the money as the main focus. So you're finally making big money. You probably made $7-10 million last year. You capitalized on the greatest year ever. I think you need to call me. 

We need to talk about this, & I'm going to tell your ass to stay where you are & stop looking at this kind of shit. Stop being creative & just be a guy that does a lot of loans & makes a lot of money. I'm a guy that does a lot of loans. I coach a lot of people. I make a lot of money. I save a lot of money. I give a lot of money to charity. I honor my wife. You got babies on the way. This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. You call me back ASAP. Stop talking to a bunch of idiots and talk to me. If I'm not the richest & smartest man you know, I don't know who is. I'm shocked your ass didn't call me. You call me back." 

Witness[Ruby]: Let me have that voicemail to put on my website. I'd get a lot of business out of that voicemail. Sounds like me. Sounds like what I would say. ‘Stay where you are. That's how you make money. Don't move around. You're doing good. Don't sell no stocks. Don't change companies. You're doing well.’ Sounds like great advice." 🧑‍🍳💋

Turns out mortgage fraud is a bipartisan issue? Bill Pulte & fellow Republicans have grilled 🥩 Lisa Cook, Adam Schiff & Tish James for allegedly committing mortgage fraud by fibbing about primary residences to obtain lower mortgage rates. ProPublica reports that several cabinet members in the Trump administration also have multiple homes with primary residences as well.

The officials include Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who received two primary residence mortgages in quick succession in Arizona; Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has primary residence mortgages in NJ & DC; and Lee Zeldin, the EPA administration who has primaries in Long Island and DC. The Scoop will have more on this on Monday.

The August jobs report came in paper-soft, with just 22K jobs added & downward revisions from prior months nearly canceling out the gains.

“That weakness, combined with the unemployment rate ticking up to its highest since COVID (though still historically low) strengthens the case for the Fed to cut later this month,” Optimal Blue’s Kevin Foley told The Scoop. “Markets have now fully priced in a September rate cut of 25 bps, w/ a small but growing chance of a larger 50-bps move. The question has shifted from whether the Fed will cut to how far & how fast. Current CME FedWatch data points to 3 cuts before year-end. Two key metrics will shape that path: Core PCE inflation, which has held steady around 2.7% over the past year, & the unemployment rate, which is emerging as a better measure of labor market balance than monthly payroll numbers. We’re already seeing rates respond. The 10-year Treasury has fallen to 4.08%, its lowest level this year outside of April’s tariff shocks, & Optimal Blue’s Mortgage Market Indices show mortgage rates dipping to 6.37% intraday, the lowest in 2025 so far.”

He added: “For originators, that’s welcome relief heading into the fall market.”

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