Brokers must consider comp plans to compete with aggressive MSRs
As mortgage rates have continued to fall throughout the second half of 2025, veterans of the mortgage industry have been sounding the alarms to brokers.
A surge in refinances has either started or is likely just around the corner if rates continue to slide into 2026. Unlike in 2020, when mortgage servicing companies were not prepared to handle the volume of refinances, one executive believes they are ready this time.
Michael Brenning is the chief operating officer of eLEND, formerly known as American Financial Resources. The company just unveiled its rebrand at the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) Fuse event in Nashville.
Not only was Brenning celebrating the occasion, but he was also taking an opportunity to warn brokers to be proactive with their former customers.
“For the first time in my career, in 29 years of doing this, servicers, the MSR buyers and the servicers that are representing those MSR buyers that paid a ton of money for that mortgage servicing right, are weaponized in a way they've never been weaponized before,” Brenning told Mortgage Professional America.
‘They’re hunting for your portfolio’
When rates dropped to historic levels at the start of the pandemic, servicers didn’t have the processes and technology in place to keep those customers. But those with mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) have spent time and resources to ensure that doesn’t happen again.
“Retention units inside of these big servicing shops that bought MSRs out there have the tools now and the support from their corporate organizations to retain those portfolios at a nuclear level,” Brenning said. “They couldn't do that in the past, even as recently as the COVID-fueled refi boom. Those servicers weren't prepared, technologically and process-wise, to support that boom. So the open market and brokers got to recapture their own clients and deliver them back.”
Brenning said they’ve heard stories about the money spent to make sure servicers would be in a strong position this time. He encourages brokers to look at their comp plan with their lenders on potential refinances.
“Now we're seeing the stories on the street of servicers that paid a five multiple to buy the MSR, willing to lose money on the new reorigination and retention unit, to blend the cost structure of the two together,” he said. “What that means to a broker on the street is you can't have a super high comp plan on a refi.”
Speaking at the AIME Fuse event, United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia encouraged brokers to act now, stressing that waiting for even lower rates means missing opportunities. https://t.co/yfhEN7I8AM
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) October 27, 2025
He said to check with lenders to set up comp plans, which will allow you to compete with servicers on these refinances.
“You've got to work with lenders that will allow you to have a Lender Paid purchase comp plan and a Lender Paid refi plan,” Brenning said. “It’s legal and compliant. As you go out and look to do rate-and-term refis for your clients, cash-out refis, IRRRLs, or streamlines, make sure you have a low enough comp plan on the refi to go toe to toe with the servicers out there.
“Because we're seeing them at a level we've never seen them before. They’re razor-sharp, cutthroat competitors doing the right thing for their own personal financials as a company, but not good for the broker community. So, brokers, be aware, the servicers are out there. They're hunting for your portfolio. They're hunting for your client. You've got to be ready for that.”
Upgrading everything
To position themselves to help brokers win those recaptures, AFR became eLEND. Brenning said it was more than just a name change.
“AFR is 28 years old, and for 27 of those years, they really stood for niche products, low score, government, one-time, construction closed loans, and renovation loans,” Brenning said. “They weren't really known for technology or efficient processes. Didn't need to be. They made higher margins on less popular products in today's marketplace.”
Recently, Bruce Gehrke of JD Power spoke with Mortgage Professional America about the mortgage market outside of United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) and Rocket. Brenning said that since brokers can’t likely work with both companies, he thinks there is room for eLEND to be the second choice for brokers.
“Other choices, like Pennymac, The Loan Store, and Equity Prime Mortgage, are all good choices,” he said. “We want to be the best number two choice. We want to have a tech stack that's as easy to use as Rocket and UWM. So we set out a year ago on this mission and vision of like, let's modernize everything. Let's upgrade our human capital. Let's get better teammates in here that are more tech-forward and more digitally oriented, and want to find new ways of doing business.”
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