CrossCountry wins Two Harbors

Plus: SAVE plan phase-out could squeeze mortgage affordability for millions

July 06, 2026

👏 OK Monday, let's go! Hope you had a wonderful Independence Day full of hot dogs and cool pools. Today’s newsletter is 658 words, a 2.5-minute read.

Disclaimer: Average mortgage rates as of July 3, 2026. © MND Daily Rate Index.

1. CrossCountry wins Two Harbors

After four delays and months of competing bids, Two Harbors shareholders voted Thursday to approve the sale to CrossCountry Mortgage at $12 per share in cash plus a stub dividend. The deal is expected to close in August 2026.

UWM, which had bid $12.50 in cash or stock, put out a parting shot: "Throughout this process, our offers were superior, but their board's conduct was both inappropriate and consistent with their track record."

The barb landed with some irony — UWMC shares opened Thursday at $2.26, meaning the default stock consideration in UWM's headline $12.50 offer would have been worth roughly $5.27 per share.

The deal brings together Two Harbors' $158.89 billion MSR portfolio and RoundPoint's servicing platform with CrossCountry's retail origination operation. CCM's existing servicing book stood at $202 billion going into the deal.

2. SAVE plan phase-out could squeeze mortgage affordability for millions

More than 7 million federal student loan borrowers have 90 days to move to a new repayment plan after the Biden-era SAVE program was officially phased out July 1.

Higher required payments will flow directly into DTI ratios, potentially reducing purchasing power or delaying qualification for borrowers already stretched thin.

The timing is rough — student loan delinquencies were already rising before this hit, with 10.3% of balances 90-plus days past due in Q1 2026.

Industry professionals are urging servicers to pull credit reports more proactively and reach affected borrowers before delinquency sets in — especially in high-cost, high-risk markets like Florida.

3. More Nuggets

📕 MISMO updated its Mortgage Insurance Implementation Guide to support VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T. (HousingWire)

💼 Employers still reluctant to add many jobs as hiring slows in June. (AP)

💰 Finance of America completes all-cash acquisition of reverse mortgage assets from Onity. (BusinessWire)

4. Attorneys: Lenders aren't ready for the lawsuit surge coming their way

Consumer litigation is up sharply this year. TCPA complaints alone rose nearly 30% through May, and attorneys say it's going to get worse. AI tools are making it easier for distressed borrowers to file their own lawsuits, state regulators are getting more aggressive as the CFPB winds down.

Servicing is the biggest battleground. Borrowers are challenging everything from lender licensing to notary fraud, and even flawed AI-generated complaints still require full legal responses.

"If you're a loan servicer, you better double down on the number of attorneys you have in your operation," said compliance attorney Marx David Sterbcow.

5. NEXA's Mike Kortas launches evoLend to keep LOs connected after closing

Kortas is launching evoLend, a Fannie, Freddie, and Ginnie Mae-approved servicer designed to solve a problem he says costs loan officers business every time a loan is sold: the LO loses visibility into the borrower after closing.

"Every time a loan is sold to somebody, the loan officer is getting sold out by their company," Kortas said. "Now our loan officers will be able to be involved in the servicing."

evoLend will operate in three modes depending on the deal: owning and servicing the MSRs directly, acting as subservicer while a lender retains the MSRs, or using API integrations to feed servicing and payoff data back to LOs when neither applies.

Kortas says PennyMac is expected to be the first partner. Year-one target is $2 billion in serviced loans. Tammy Richards, currently NEXA's chief strategy officer, has been named CEO of evoLend. Kortas owns evoLend independently, separate from NEXA.

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

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