The 2026 Lending Tech Titan Award Winners Are …

We are very honored to have been approached by lenders to expand our awards program. They say that they turn to our winners when they are looking to invest in technology and now the lenders that are talking to us are looking to invest in technology. However, they want to know the tangible and intangible return on investment that they will get from choosing a new technology partner. As such, for the second year, we are rewarding leading tech companies with the Lending Tech Titan Award. Through this award we are honoring technology that is making a clear difference in the lending space. The 2026 Award Winners in alphabetical order are:

AFN employs a proprietary AI engine that uses a large language model that has analyzed scads of loan data, along with program guidelines, and can now determine requirements for each new loan at each phase of the loan process. Based on that determination, this dynamic AI engine will either trigger a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) bot to carry out a task or push the task to a queue when a human touch is required. This amazing AI engine has learned thousands of tasks that may be required in the course of a loan, as well as more than 1,100 documents or requirements needed to process, underwrite, and ultimately close a mortgage loan. The “assembly line” mentality is far in the past at AFN, as tasks are easily executed concurrently by multiple parties and the AI engine itself. Standard 30-day closings are becoming a thing of the past as AI makes the dream of 15-day closings a reality. With each transaction, it gets “smarter” and more useful to AFN employees. It is not meant to replace humans in the AFN workforce, but to simplify their workflow so they can multiply their caseload without sacrificing quality of service or compliance. AFN is proud to utilize AI in these exciting, innovative ways, as it moves onward and upward in ways some of its competitors have yet to imagine.

In addition to vastly improving the homebuyer’s/homeowner’s experience and assisting production and operations with their tasks, AFN’s AI engine is used for more accurate forecasting and detailed action items to help maximize profitability. Internal chatbots are deployed to cover everything from loan data to benefits and Human Resources (HR) data. AFN’s MLOs benefit from AI assistants that help schedule appointments, follow up on leads, identify refinance opportunities, assist applicants with prequalification, and more. AI can also create personalized marketing collateral and ads geared toward each MLO’s database and audience of prospective homebuyers and homeowners. External chatbots can answer applicant questions in a way that is tailored to conversion, walk applicants through the application process, and improve their overall experience. AI can analyze loan eligibility, flag roadblocks, and identify the best programs and rates for loan applicants based on their financial situation.

AIM-Port is transforming appraisal management by eliminating manual work, reducing processing costs, and accelerating appraisal reviews through intelligent automation. AIM-Port is the product of 15 years of development work and industry expertise. Once held privately as a proprietary system, Atlas VMS has opened the system to the public as a premier third-party technology partner in the appraisal management space. Atlas VMS, which acquired AIM-Port in July of 2025, spent the past year investing in and refining the platform using its own operational expertise as an AMC. The result is a workflow built specifically to reduce inefficiencies and automate time-consuming appraisal management tasks. This is a system built by those who use it every single day. Unlike other systems that tend to operate only within their own ecosystems, Atlas is committed to building an open, best-in-class platform by integrating proven technologies into AIM-Port, giving users greater functionality, flexibility, and value.

For lenders and AMCs, AIM-Port is a true technology partner that offers: 50+ integrations with other appraisal systems, LOS, payment solutions, and QC review tools Custom dev work with 90% of system enhancements coming from customer requests Safeguards to prevent processing errors and enforce compliance Support team SLA requiring a response in four business hours or less A U.S.-based staff available to assist whenever needed AIM-Port also delivers measurable savings by consolidating appraisal ordering, tracking, revisions, escalations, and communication into a single platform. Replacing multiple disconnected systems and manual coordination, which significantly reduces administrative labor, eliminates duplicate work and lowers the overall cost of processing each appraisal. By removing manual tasks, reducing processing costs, and increasing operational efficiency throughout the appraisal review process, Atlas provides clients with a technology platform that delivers clear and measurable financial returns.

Experian’s Mortgage Loan Performance (MLP) Dataset delivers measurable business value by helping lenders, servicers, investors, and capital markets participants make more accurate decisions, reduce operational costs, and improve financial performance across the mortgage lifecycle. MLP combines more than 20 years of mortgage performance history with continuously refreshed borrower credit, property, and loan-level intelligence into a single, integrated dataset. Powered by Experian’s proprietary AI-driven pinning technology, the solution connects more than 245 million consumer credit profiles, 120 million residential properties, and 150 million homeowners with up to a 90% match rate, creating one of the industry’s most comprehensive mortgage intelligence ecosystems. The direct return on investment is realized in several measurable ways: Improved portfolio performance. Using MLP’s historical depth, which spans through credit cycles, organizations can build more accurate prepayment, delinquency, and default models by incorporating current borrower credit profile, updated property values, debt obligations, and behavioral trends that are unavailable in traditional mortgage datasets. This enables better MSR valuation, reserve forecasting, and credit risk management. Higher borrower retention and recapture. Lenders can identify refinance opportunities earlier and prioritize outreach based on borrower propensity indicators, improving recapture rates while reducing customer acquisition costs. Reduced data acquisition and integration costs.

Instead of licensing and reconciling multiple disconnected mortgage, consumer, and property datasets, Experian provides options to receive MLP via its own fully hosted platform, Ascend, or via hosted partner solutions. In this way, organizations gain access to a single analytically ready environment. This significantly reduces engineering effort, manual data stitching, and ongoing maintenance. Faster analytics and model development. With monthly-refreshed data, persistent borrower and property identifiers, and delivery via cloud marketplaces, analysts spend less time preparing data and more time generating insights, accelerating model development and business decision-making. Expanded revenue opportunities. Originators can accurately size new markets, evaluate emerging products such as HELOCs and non-QM lending, back-test underwriting strategies, and identify underserved borrower segments with greater confidence before deploying capital. The dataset also improves pricing precision for mortgage-backed securities and whole-loan transactions by giving investors a more complete understanding of borrower behavior beyond the mortgage tradeline alone. Better transparency leads to better execution, stronger risk-adjusted returns, and more informed investment decisions. By replacing fragmented data sources with a unified mortgage intelligence platform, Experian enables organizations to improve profitability, reduce operating costs, accelerate analytical workflows, and make higher-confidence lending and investment decisions at enterprise scale.

HomeLight’s AI-powered lending platform delivers positive, measurable financial returns by helping lenders originate more loans, helping homeowners access more equity, and reducing the operational costs of completing residential real estate transactions. Through its integrated suite of lending products, including Buy Before You Sell, the HomeLight HELOC Card, and EVA, our agentic AI-powered escrow officer, HomeLight removes the financial and operational friction that traditionally delays or prevents home purchases and closings. Together, these technologies enable lending partners to preserve transactions that might otherwise be delayed or lost, strengthen referral relationships with real estate agents, and deliver a more competitive financing experience in a challenging housing market. For our lending partners, ROI begins with increased loan production and higher closing rates. In today’s competitive housing market, contingent offers are frequently rejected in favor of cash or non-contingent bids. HomeLight data shows that cash-backed offers are approximately four times more likely to be accepted than financed offers with contingencies. Buy Before You Sell enables eligible borrowers to unlock up to $2 million of their existing home equity at 0% interest, allowing them to submit stronger, non-contingent offers while keeping transactions on track. HomeLight’s AI-driven eligibility technology assesses property condition and program qualification within minutes, enabling lenders to move borrowers through the process more quickly and close more loans.

The platform’s adoption underscores its financial value. Buy Before You Sell is now offered through four of the nation’s five largest retail lenders, operates across 47 states, and supports a network of more than 22,000 loan officers and 28,000 real estate agents. To date, Buy Before You Sell has unlocked more than $884 million in home equity for homeowners nationwide. These metrics demonstrate that HomeLight’s lending technology delivers measurable ROI at enterprise scale, helping leading lenders originate more loans, unlock more homeowner equity, and better compete in today’s housing market. Consumers also realize significant financial returns. Buy Before You Sell eliminates the need for temporary housing, storage fees, double moves, and overlapping mortgage payments while allowing homeowners to move into their new home before preparing and staging the previous one for sale. HomeLight’s integrated technology platform further strengthens lender performance. The HomeLight HELOC Card gives lending partners another way to serve homeowners by providing access to up to $500,000 in home equity through a digital application that can be completed in as little as two minutes, creating additional financing opportunities and helping retain customers. Meanwhile, EVA automates many of the most labor-intensive closing tasks, reducing manual work and accelerating the closing process. Together, these technologies enable lenders to originate more business, improve operational efficiency, and deliver a faster, more seamless borrowing experience.

ServiceLink’s EXOS® technologies have revolutionized the lender and borrower experience through unparalleled, market-proven innovations that streamline processes and eliminate inefficiencies throughout the entire mortgage process, saving our clients both time and money. Today’s borrowers want to work with a lender that offers the technology ServiceLink provides for its clients. In our 2026 State of Homebuying Report, which surveyed more than 1,500 people who purchased a home in the last two years, 87% of borrowers (up from 76% in 2025) said they would be more likely to work with a lender that offered scheduling of appraisal or closing appointments on a phone or tablet for the exact date and time they desire. Our online scheduling solution does just that. ServiceLink is the only provider that offers a real-time scheduling solution, giving users direct access to the schedules of the nation’s most qualified agents at the tap of a finger, through our first-of-its-kind calendar syncing capabilities. Borrowers can select the exact date and time of their appraisal or signing appointment and will receive the appraiser or signing agent’s profile with their name, picture and the make and model of their car sent right to their phone. In the case of closing appointments, borrowers can also select their preferred location and opt to close in-branch, in a different location or fully virtually. Borrowers agree that this technology would sway them toward using a particular lender.

According to the 2026 State of Homebuying Report, the biggest benefits of using technology in the mortgage process are time savings, convenience and ease of use, and flexibility to make progress on their own schedule. Our solutions deliver all three. This is why eight out of 10 of the industry’s largest lenders rely on us. Our suite of products helps create efficiencies, cutting days from origination cycle times, enabling lenders to close loans faster and reduce costs. Our scheduling capabilities through EXOS® Close eliminate the need for phone tag and immediately allow borrowers to select a time that meets their needs. Nearly 100% of consumers select the first available date to close and this technology has led to a roughly 98% reduction in rescheduling. In less than a minute, the average consumer’s appointment is confirmed with an agent. Our EXOS® Valuations technology meets borrowers’ needs for faster approvals, processing and response times with turn times that average less than four days. We provide our clients with the tools that borrowers desire, helping them improve satisfaction. Our refinance title solutions offer further efficiency gains by providing expected title completion and clear-to-close readiness in seconds on 100% of all title orders – enabling lenders to prioritize their pipelines effectively. And we’re continuing to evolve. In the last several months, ServiceLink launched its CloseNow™ solution which enables lenders to reach their home equity cycle time goals – including for same-day closings, without increasing their risk – ultimately providing lenders with the opportunity to maximize their home equity profitability while delivering a borrower experience that improves pull-through and may drive repeat business.

DecisionPoint®, Williston Financial Group’s (WFG) proprietary title automation technology, available through WFG Enterprise Solutions, delivers measurable ROI by addressing a clear customer need: lenders and settlement providers need to reduce the cost, time, and friction associated with traditional title production while maintaining quality, confidence, and the standards lenders expect from traditional title insurance. DecisionPoint’s established automated workflows have generated a 15% aggregate lift across purchase and refinance transactions by improving speed, consistency, and workflow efficiency in areas such as bankruptcy, OFAC and other searches; legal and vesting; title priors; owner occupancy fraud detection; file triage; and curative. Building on that proven foundation, WFG’s proprietary DecisionPoint platform leverages proprietary business rules, AI, actual title plant data, and WFG’s 100-plus years of title expertise to produce an AI-powered, automated title commitment. It accelerates title production, identifies issues earlier, and reduces unnecessary manual steps throughout the title search and production process.

For eligible orders, the commitment can be produced through a touchless workflow. Orders requiring additional review are still accelerated and cost-advantaged by the same search automation, allowing title professionals to focus on exceptions, validation, and curative work. For lenders, this WFG technology translates into faster cycle times, lower per-file expense, improved scalability, and a more efficient path from application to close. DecisionPoint helps lenders close loans more quickly while reducing manual work, unnecessary rework, and downstream delays, and lessening the burden on vendor managers, who must allocate orders among providers based on volume limitations. Because the platform is designed to support customizable workflows and integration options, it can work within existing lender and settlement workflows, minimizing disruption while maximizing efficiency. The direct ROI includes lower production costs, faster title production, improved workflow consistency, and greater operational capacity without a proportional increase in staffing or resources.