United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) announced upgrades to its Safe Check program, initially launched in October 2022. Safe Check now allows loan originators to run a single or tri-merge soft credit check to prequalify their borrowers. The new tri-merge option, available for a flat rate of $23, provides the FICO score accuracy of a hard credit report while protecting the originator and borrower from credit trigger-lead solicitations. Loan officers also can combine Safe Check with UWM’s BOLT underwriting technology, allowing them to obtain an initial approval in minutes and gather documents prior to ordering a full credit report for when the loan is ready to be submitted to underwriting.

Lower announced the debut of its new mortgage-as-a-service (MaaS) platform that allows consumer brands to offer mortgage products to their customers. Through the MaaS platform, Lower provides a solution for consumer finance, banking and real estate brands to offer a digital-first home financing experience quickly and easily, with white-label options available. It can be embedded into the partner’s customer journey through advanced programming interfacing and no-code solutions. After piloting the service, residential real estate marketplace Opendoor moved its mortgage fulfillment service exclusively to Lower.

Planet Home Lending added a team in Kissimmee, Florida, as part of its continued effort to reach more borrowers nationwide. The new team will be led by retail branch manager Ricardo Maldonado.