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Amid expectations that interest rate declines may reignite refinance activity, Optimal Blue on Monday launched a new tool that automatically analyzes loan officer portfolios each month to identify recapture opportunities.
The tool is designed to ensure loan officers are ready when refinance volume picks up. While refinances declined in May from the prior month, Optimal Blue data released on Tuesday shows a significant year-over-year increase.
Cash-out refi lock volume fell 10% month over month while rate-and-term refi locks dropped 44%. But compared to May 2024, cash-out volume rose 13% and rate-and-term refis were up nearly 21%.
“Instead of expecting originators to review all of their past clients to find refinance opportunities, we have given them a solution that automatically identifies an opportunity, provides pricing options and generates a presentation to the borrower,” Mike Vough, head of corporate strategy at Optimal Blue, said a statement.
The new product, called Capture for Originators, is available to users of Optimal Blue’s product pricing engine (PPE) and was developed in partnership with Uplist, a software-as-a-service (Saas) platform serving the real estate industry. It factors in lender fees and current pricing to deliver a dashboard that includes break-even calculations, closing cost estimates and borrower savings analyses across multiple scenarios.
The tool also generates a prefilled borrower email summarizing the refinance options. It integrates live pricing elements, automated valuation models (AVMs), county records, and branch- and originator-level margins and concessions.
“Rather than spending up to 30 minutes manually evaluating each loan and creating presentations, originators can now rely on Capture for Originators to identify refinance opportunities they might otherwise miss — and deliver them to clients with minimal effort,” said Jeff Bell, president of Uplist.
The product comes as total lock volume declined 5.9% month over month in May and 5.3% year over year. Purchase activity was flat, an underperformance during a month that typically sees a seasonal boost.
“Rising mortgage rates are squeezing borrower affordability, while tighter spreads are putting pressure on lenders in the secondary market,” said Brennan O’Connell, director of data solutions at Optimal Blue. “With the brief window of affordability relief now closed, new data show first-time buyers are feeling the strain, with modest declines in their share of conforming and FHA loan locks.”
