Carrington is acquiring Valon Mortgage

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1. Carrington is acquiring Valon Mortgage

Carrington Mortgage Services is acquiring Valon Mortgage, adding 800,000 loans and $197 billion in unpaid principal to its already-sizable servicing portfolio.

As part of the deal, Carrington will also adopt ValonOS — Valon's AI-native servicing platform — replacing its legacy technology.

For Valon, it's a strategic exit from operating a servicer. The company built Valon Mortgage specifically to prove its technology worked in the real world. Now that it has, it's selling the servicing business to Carrington and going all-in as a software company.

2. Brokerage consolidation claims another

eXp World Holdings has acquired NextHome, a franchise network with 5,400+ agents and 500 franchisees, for an undisclosed amount. The company also rebranded its Nasdaq ticker from EXPI to AGNT.

Both brands will continue operating independently. The deal follows Compass's acquisition of Anywhere and Real's purchase of RE/MAX, three massive consolidation moves in quick succession. eXp CEO Leo Pareja has compared it to the airline industry's contraction to United, Delta, and American.

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3. More Nuggets

📈 Rocket beats earnings guidance with four-year peak profit. (DetroitNews)

🤑 The highest paid mortgage executives in 2025. (NMN)

🏦 Banking’s biggest names are talking about Mythos. (BankingDive)

🖼️ The middle class museum. (Ideagames)

4. Fed to launch roundtable to fight payment fraud

Fed Vice Chair Michelle Bowman announced three agencies are launching a public-private roundtable to tackle rising payment fraud, pulling in banks, law enforcement, consumer advocates, and policymakers.

Bowman warned that criminals are "sophisticated, organized, and relentless" and that existing regulations may not be equipped for the threats consumers face today.

AI is a growing part of the problem. Threat actors are using AI tools to run scams at scale, and experts say coordination across banks, social media platforms, and telecom companies is becoming essential to identifying and stopping them before damage is done.

5. Loan Factory partners with Pylon to bypass wholesale

Loan Factory has partnered with Pylon, an AI-powered mortgage infrastructure platform, to connect its 2,500+ loan officers directly to capital markets pricing, reducing reliance on traditional wholesale lenders.

Loan Factory CEO Thuan Nguyen said the move came out of frustration with wholesale lender technology: "We got very frustrated with all lenders out there, big and small. They do not have the technology."

One broker testing the platform said Pylon's pricing came in 40-90 basis points better than comparable wholesale pricing in certain scenarios. The platform has also drawn scrutiny on social media over data privacy practices — Pylon says it's strictly B2B infrastructure and doesn't cross-sell borrower data or compete with its customers.

☀️ You’re all caught up. See you on Monday!

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