We’re Starting a Podcast, a $13B Lender is for Sale & Mortgage has a Wedding

Mortgage doesn’t need another interview podcast. So we’re not making one.

In today’s edition of the newsletter, I’ve got the details on The Mortgage Scoop Podcast, launching in October w/ my co-host Jeremy Dean. Plus, Brian Vieaux is “nuts,” according to one vendor who allegedly stiffed MISMO. Mutual of Omaha Mortgage is on the block, & I’ve got some fresh, unreported details on what’s going on there.

Also, a much-hyped PMI change runs into the inconvenient reality of how servicing actually works, a terrible story involving a Utah LO, & Fifth Third mortgage exec Jay Plum is getting married this weekend to Cotality’s Paula Clifton in what sounds like an absolutely elite wedding itinerary.

Broadway! Brunch! Baseball! Love! ❤️

Mortgage already has a pretty established podcast bench, from stalwarts like HousingWire Daily, TLOP & Lykken on Lending to newer shows like No Surrender. But some new entrants are coming for your AirPods.

Brooke Lapides & Liz Short are launching a true crime mortgage (!!!) podcast in October, which, frankly, sounds incredible. I’ll have an interview w/ them next week w/ more details.

And in the surest sign yet that President Trump should’ve slapped tariffs on podcasting equipment… The Mortgage Scoop is launching a podcast.

Starting in October, The Mortgage Scoop Podcast will be coming to your ears every week. It’s a 30-minute show hosted by me & Jeremy Dean. I bring the reporting, the narrative & the stuff being whispered in the halls before it shows up everywhere else. Jeremy brings the operator’s view: what all of it actually means for the people running mortgage shops & closing loans.

We really didn’t want to do rotating cast of guests or CEOs spending 45 minutes telling you how incredible their quarter was. So fucking boring. So it’ll just be two extremely handsome mortgage nerds digging into the stories, rumors & weirdness that actually mattered that week.

Also, it’s going to sound really good. Our producer/mixer has worked on shows like Freakonomics Radio & The Takeaway, so I promise you this will not be two dudes yelling into USB mics from a supply closet. We’ll have more details soon on where to subscribe & all that fun stuff 🙏

One other thing: we’re opening up a small number of sponsorship slots.

If your company wants to reach mortgage executives, LOs, investors, operators & tech people who are obsessed enough w/ this business to listen to us talk about it every week, this is a pretty unique audience. And we are not stuffing the show w/ a dozen interchangeable ads or anything like that. Sponsors will be integrated into the actual show.

Interested? Email [email protected].

Of all the people to make an enemy of in mortgage, one vendor apparently chose MISMO chief Brian Vieaux. Bold choice!

Here’s what’s going on: Scalata.ai, a NY-based AI firm, presented its demo at MISMO’s Winter Summit in January. Per Vieaux, Scalata & its Italian founder Bruno Lorenzelli still have not paid the invoice. Vieaux is not happy.

“Agreements matter. Commitments matter. How a company handles its financial obligations tells you something about how it may handle its obligations to customers and business partners,” Vieaux wrote on LinkedIn. 

He later added: “If considering any relationship with Scalata.ai & Bruno Lorenzelli do not shortcut your diligence.”

In a LinkedIn message, Lorenzelli told me: “The guy is nuts.”

“If he needs to go to collect $5K he can use credit collection or a lawyer.” He added that Vieaux is “making a fool of himself” & “executed an harassment campaign.”

“I mean I got a massive disservice & got out of them in a month, but he is nuts to carry out this harassment. No interest in commenting further.”

(Vieaux said the invoice is more than $5,000, but it’s really the “principle” of the matter.)

An absolutely terrible story out of Utah: Silvia Bahena, a 37-year-old loan officer at Intercap Lending in Utah, was shot & killed Aug. 31, allegedly by her boyfriend, local real estate agent Daniel Ruesga. Bahena’s four children were inside the home at the time & later found their mother, according to police.

Police say Ruesga crashed his pickup into Bahena’s Tesla inside her garage following an argument, then shot her multiple times. He has been charged w/ murder & several additional offenses. Court records cited by local media show Ruesga had previously pleaded no contest in a ‘25 domestic violence-related property damage case.

Bahena was relatively new to mortgage. Intercap’s Tooele branch lists her as an LO licensed in Utah, & colleagues told FOX 13 she had joined the company despite having no prior origination experience. They described her as an exceptional mother & said the office has been devastated by her death. Per RETR, she originated her first loan in Nov. ‘25. RIP Silvia. Here’s a link to the GoFundMe. Plz donate if you can. 

That’s according to Bloomberg, which reported Wednesday that the insurance firm might offload its mortgage division. Houlihan Lokey has been hired to find a buyer. This one is mighty interesting! First, even after shedding its retail arm to Synergy One (now part of APM), Mutual of Omaha Mortgage is sneaky-big: Mutual of Omaha has originated close to $13B over the past 14 months, according to RETR. Second, the mortgage division features both a pretty active consumer direct division & one of the country’s largest reverse mortgage platforms ($4.5Bish).

The mortgage division in Omaha has made a few curious choices over the years. Among them is…