Across the industry, we consistently hear the same message from our customers: they want simpler processes, greater certainty and fewer operational challenges. They’re looking for ways to streamline workflows without sacrificing quality. And borrowers benefit when our customers can spend less time navigating complexity and more time helping families achieve and sustain homeownership.

For us, improving execution across the mortgage lifecycle is not just about making processes easier; it’s about helping our customers deliver better outcomes for the families they serve while always maintaining safety and soundness. That’s especially important given the scale of the work we do.

In the first half of 2026 alone, Freddie Mac helped fund 587,000 homes, including more than 365,000 purchase transactions. More than half of those borrowers were first-time homebuyers, continuing a three-year trend in which at least half of the mortgages we financed supported first-time homebuyers and low- and moderate-income families.

Feedback into Results

The goal is straightforward: reduce unnecessary complexity and costs, strengthen loan quality by reducing defects and making it easier to do business with Freddie Mac. A key part of delivering on that responsibility is translating customer feedback into practical improvements.

Lender feedback has directly informed enhancements to Loan Product Advisor® (LPA®), our automated underwriting system, including clearer feedback messages and expanded automation that reduces manual work. Broader digital usage is associated with lower costs and shorter cycle times. Our analysis shows that lenders who maximize Freddie Mac's digital capabilities can save up to $1,700 per loan, shorten cycle times by 8 days and improve pull-through rates.

Additionally, LPA Choice®, a set of feedback messages within LPA, has helped lenders deliver approximately 85,000 additional loans over the last year and a half by giving them more flexibility and clearer guidance to determine when a borrower’s loan is eligible for sale to Freddie Mac.

That same focus extends to policy automation and Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide simplification. By making requirements clearer and embedding more policy guidance directly into the tools our customers use, we can reduce avoidable manual steps, improve consistency and help loans move through the process more efficiently. These improvements are designed to lower operational burden without compromising prudent risk management or safety and soundness.

Focus on Loan Quality

Our work to minimize loan defects follows the same philosophy. When our customers have access to better data, clearer policy guidance and automation, they can identify issues earlier and avoid downstream problems.

Our analysis shows that Freddie Mac’s tools can help lenders address major categories of loan defects, such as asset, income and liability, which account for 88% of defects. Greater digital adoption can improve both quality and efficiency in lenders’ loan manufacturing and delivery processes. Loans using the LPA capabilities asset and income modeler (AIM) and automated collateral evaluation (ACE) had a defect rate 2.5 times lower than loans that did not use these automated capabilities.

Process improvement does more than reduce defects: it delivers a Return on Quality (ROQ) that grows as production scales by reducing costs. At the current 3.5% Non Acceptable Quality (NAQ) rate benchmark, the illustrative ROQ savings are about $500,000 annually for a lender producing 10,000 loans and $2.5 million for one producing 50,000 loans. Sustaining a 3.0% NAQ rate could increase those savings to approximately $900,000 and $4.3 million, respectively—up to roughly 70% more, depending on production volume and execution.

Further, AIM, ACE and ACE+ PDR (ACE plus property data report) are designed to help lenders improve consistency, quality and efficiency. Together, these tools have helped borrowers save nearly $2.6 billion since 2017 while reducing documentation requirements and streamlining the loan origination process. The Freddie Mac Income Calculator is further helping improve the loan manufacturing process by reducing income calculation defects and increasing consistency in lenders’ borrower income assessments, with more than 30,000 submissions generated through LPA since launch.

We’ve also listened carefully to lender feedback regarding quality control processes and repurchases. That input has informed enhancements such as Quality Control Advisor Plus℠, which is helping modernize the quality control process through greater automation and more streamlined workflows. The success of our Performing Loan Repurchase Alternative pilot demonstrates the value of industry collaboration, and participating lenders have collectively avoided approximately $20 million in performing loan repurchases while maintaining strong quality standards and supporting safety and soundness.

Freddie Mac is also advancing credit score modernization by expanding VantageScore® 4.0 to all lenders, in alignment with U.S. Federal Housing (FHFA) and Fannie Mae. The expansion provides lenders with greater flexibility in choosing an approved credit score model and promotes robust competition.

Initiatives Beyond Assisting Lenders’ Origination Efforts

Our work extends beyond supporting our lender-customers’ origination activities. Programs such as Lender Title Assessment (LTA) help reduce borrower closing costs while providing Seller/Servicers with greater flexibility in managing the title process. Adoption continues to grow, with the program reaching approximately $3 billion in funded volume as of August. Depending on the transaction, LTA can reduce a refinancing borrower's closing costs by $600 on average.

We’re also transforming how Servicers report default activities with event-based default reporting through Resolve®, our default management platform. Resolve provides Servicers with a more streamlined and timely approach to reporting default activity. New API, file transfer and user interface capabilities give Servicers flexibility in how they connect with Freddie Mac while supporting more efficient default reporting processes.

Continuing the Conversation

The most valuable insights often come directly from the customers and industry participants we work with every day. From digital mortgage capabilities to servicing modernization, Freddie Mac remains focused on turning industry feedback into meaningful and safe outcomes.

By listening, innovating and delivering on the needs of our customers, we’re creating a mortgage ecosystem that works better for everyone. We look forward to continuing the conversation and helping to make home possible for more families across the country.

©2026 by Freddie Mac.