Global headlines can move markets quickly, but not every geopolitical event has a lasting impact on mortgage rates. In this segment, the panel unpacks how recent tensions in the Middle East, shifts in oil prices, and movements in the 10-year Treasury are influencing market sentiment. While early reactions can cause volatility, the discussion emphasizes the importance of separating headline-driven market moves from longer-term economic fundamentals. Mortgage professionals are encouraged to stay focused on serving borrowers and watching real market indicators rather than reacting to every news cycle.

This podcast segment explores the growing tension between AI’s ability to dramatically boost productivity and the potential risks of overreliance, including privacy concerns, data profiling, and people increasingly trusting AI for advice and decision-making.

Marc Helm serves as a Principal Partner at Transformational Mortgage Solutions, bringing over 46 years of extensive experience in the financial services and mortgage banking industry. Currently serving as the President and CEO of both ReverseAmerica Advisors, Inc. and Mortgage Consultants of America (MCA), Marc has established a proven track record of leadership and accomplishments, both within and beyond the mortgage banking sector.

In his notable role as the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Reverse Mortgage Solutions, Inc. (RMS), Marc played a pivotal role in steering RMS to become one of the largest Ginnie Mae Securitizers, originators, and servicers/sub servicers in the reverse mortgage industry. His influence has reached various key positions in the industry, including serving as Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Loan Administration Committee and Chairman of the MBA Technology Committee. Recognizing his expertise, he has been honored with memberships in prestigious advisory boards such as the Fidelity (LPS) Information Systems Mortgage Servicing Advisory Board and the National Reverse Mortgage Lender Association’s (NRMLA) Board of Directors.

Marc's commitment to community involvement and philanthropy is evident in his roles as a Board Member of the American Heart Association (AHA), his past chairmanship of the AHA's "Open Your Heart Campaign" for the Paul "Bear" Bryant National Coach of The Year Award, and his service on the boards of additional organizations such as The Helm Foundation. His dedicated support extends to various causes, including initiatives for children, veterans, military service organizations, and the welfare of homeless mothers and children.

Marc's dedication to philanthropy is complemented by his prior involvement in various committees and campaigns, such as his role as the Former Chairman for the Houston Area Special Olympics Campaign and Former Chairman of the Houston Area United Way Campaign.

Beyond his professional achievements and community engagement, Marc Helm is a family man, celebrating 49 years of marriage to Sallie Fortner Helm. Together, they have two children, Thomas Charles Helm and Dr. Jean Ann Helm Allen, and five grandchildren. Holding a BS Degree (Summa Cum Laude) and an MS Degree from Troy University, Marc showcases his commitment to education and continuous learning. Currently pursuing a PHD in Organizational Psychology, Marc Helm's multifaceted expertise, leadership roles, and philanthropic contributions make him an invaluable Principal Partner at Transformational Mortgage Solutions and reinforces his active role as a Co-Host of the “Lykken on Lending” Podcast.

This podcast segment explores how emerging AI tools, automation platforms, and even AI-to-human marketplaces are reshaping mortgage technology while raising important questions about keeping the borrower experience at the center of innovation.

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Allen Pollack, a Mortgage & Financial Services Technology Advisor, is a subject matter expert in the mortgage origination process along with software product management and software development.

In today’s financial services push to all things Digital, Allen has been helping lenders and financial services solution providers align their digital transformation and technology strategies by removing the human element of risk, and automating processes that drive efficiencies and margins into profits.

Over the course of his career, Allen has co-created and developed technology business models that have birthed highly successful, innovative solutions and companies.

Allen co-founded and served as CTO of New York Loan Exchange (NYLX), a loan product eligibility and pricing engine (PPE) that made an immediate impact on the industry, scaling the company quickly and forming partnerships with multiple mortgage and financial lending companies. In 2012, Allen was a co-founder of a merger between NYLX and Aklero Risk Analytics that created LoanLogics, A Mortgage Loan Quality and Performance Analytics company. Allen served as CTO where he continued to bring new and innovative product solutions to the market that made a significant impact to mortgage lenders that reduced risk, scaled business channels, and grew profits in a very competitive and highly regulated market.

Allen is also is mortgage and finance technology contributor on a weekly live industry podcast, Lykken on Lending, and is launching a new podcast soon to be released, TechStack Radio, dedicated to technology and innovation in Financial Services.

This podcast segment examines whether Loan-Level Price Adjustments (LLPAs) still serve their intended purpose of pricing mortgage risk or if they are unnecessarily increasing costs and complexity for borrowers and lenders.

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David G. Kittle, CMB is a highly respected leader in the mortgage industry, with over 45 years of experience. He is the Co-Founder and Chairman of The Mortgage Collaborative (TMC), a mortgage lending cooperative providing members with access to resources and tools to improve their business operations.

Kittle began his mortgage banking career with American Fletcher Mortgage Company as a top-producing loan officer in 1978 moving to the management side in 1986 with Southmark Mortgage. He opened Associates Mortgage Group, the first of his three lending companies in 1994.

Kittle served as MORPAC Chairman for MBA, from 2004-2006. He is past President of both the Louisville and Kentucky Mortgage Bankers Associations, as well as leading the industry through its most tumultuous period as Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, Washington DC in 2009. Kittle has testified before congress 14 times.

Kittle has been a driving force behind the growth and success of TMC, working to bring together mortgage lenders from across the country to share best practices and collaborate on key industry issues. Kittle has also been a vocal advocate for innovation and technology adoption in the mortgage industry, urging lenders to embrace new tools and strategies to improve their operations and better serve their customers.

Kittle is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences, sharing his expertise on a variety of topics related to mortgage lending.

He resides in Louisville, Kentucky, he has four children and two grandchildren.

This podcast segment discusses the growing debate over whether the federal government should restrict institutional investors from buying single-family homes or if housing policy decisions should remain at the local and state level.------------------------------------------------------------------

Alice Alvey, Master CMB

Vice President Partner Education and Training at Union Home Mortgage

She handles development of their World Class Training program designed to support UHM partners and organizational effectiveness.

Prior to UHM, Alice served as Senior Vice President at Indecomm leading the Indecomm-Mortgage U division, Internal QA and Compliance and SaaS technologies. Indecomm acquired Mortgage U in 2013, where Alice was President/Co-founder, providing training and consulting since 1996. Prior to MU she served as SVP of Operations at a national bank overseeing operations for wholesale, retail and correspondent from underwriting through servicing, and compliance.

She has been in the trenches of mortgage lending operations from application through servicing for over 30 years. Her authoring work in training content, policies and procedures and the FHA/VA Practical guides illustrates her ability to bridge regulatory requirements with day-to-day operations.

Alice has been a weekly contributor to the Lykken on Lending show since its beginning in April 2009 and has made her weekly contributions to 450+ episodes!

This podcast segment explains how a strong bond market rally pushed mortgage rates to their lowest levels in more than three years with record-breaking stability, while upcoming economic data and month-end trading dynamics may influence where rates move next.

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Matt began as an originator in 2002. He fell in love with the idea of following MBS in real-time but felt that existing products were only scratching the surface. Thus was born MBS Live in 2007, the first-of-its-kind platform with real-time market data/analysis, and live chat with analysts, traders, and originators around the country. He is currently the Founder and CEO of MBSLive!

He's been covering bond/mortgage markets, writing commentary, alerts, and chatting with the live community every business hour of every business day ever since.

Matt also serves as the Chief of Operations for mortgagenewsdaily.com, where he is one of the industry's most respected mortgage rate experts, frequently quoted in the media. Mortgage News Daily's rate index is used as the definitive resource on day-to-day mortgage rate averages.

He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and son, where he enjoys skiing, fishing, coaching youth sports, playing the guitar, and more DIY projects/hobbies than he'd care to admit.

"I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine" 

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The Bulls Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine. They get joy in the boring time, with hope in the maybe.

With the 10-year yield slipping below 4.00, mortgage rate sheets can see sub-6%. Why are so many people confused? They miss that geopolitical events matter.

US-Iran negotiations have allowed the world to stock up on Oil. Accordingly, the Dollar and Oil have found solace. The EU and Ukraine leaders foster surreal narratives about the war, yet they know it's over.  So, the maybe-to-resolving these items quietly drops mortgage rates.

When the Bulls hope in MAYBE.

These views are mine. Resolve maybes by signing up at [email protected].

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Song: I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine (1950) Patti Page

It was originally written for the Disney animated feature Cinderella.

This podcast segment explains the administration’s push to restrict large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes and highlights the Mortgage Bankers Association’s concerns about potential unintended consequences for rental housing supply, mortgage servicing, and overall housing affordability.

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Adam DeSanctis, VP of Communications at Mortgage Bankers Association

As a strategic public affairs and communications executive with nearly two decades of experience, Adam has deep expertise in strategy, management, and media relations. He is widely considered to be an expert in a variety of communications, including advocacy, brand, executive, crisis, grassroots, and social media. In his career, he has been the MBA spokesperson on a wide variety of real estate research and advocacy-related issues, promoted MBA research and advocacy efforts to financial, political, and trade industry media and on MBA's social media channels, and secured media opportunities for MBA leadership on key real estate trends and issues, generated media coverage for MBA's research and data on mortgage applications, credit availability, homebuilder applications, mortgage forbearance/delinquencies, commercial real estate originations, and forecasts, and other industry analysis, developed key strategic initiatives for MBA's organizational public affairs plan, media relations and member communications support for mPower, MBA's Opens Doors Foundation and MBA's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program.

The Lykken on Lending Weekly Mortgage Update delivers expert commentary and timely insights from across the mortgage industry. Each episode features a curated lineup of respected thought leaders and analysts:

• Adam DeSanctis with the MBA Mortgage Minute, providing key updates from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
• Les Parker’s TMSpotlight offers a macroeconomic perspective with his signature musical parodies.
• Matt Graham of MBS Live, breaking down market activity and interest rate movements.
• David Kittle, CEO of The Mortgage Collaborative, sharing insights on mortgage originations and industry trends.
• Alice Alvey of Union Home Mortgage, delivering essential regulatory and legislative updates.
• Allen Pollack, with the Tech Report, spotlighting emerging technologies impacting mortgage operations.
• Bill Corbet, presenting Bill's Bullet Commentary with focused insights on loan servicing and capital markets.
• Marc Helm, offering Marc’s Rant, an unfiltered take on operational and agency-related developments.

Together, this expert panel brings clarity, relevance, and a touch of personality to the ever-evolving mortgage landscape.

Market headlines are loud — from geopolitical tensions and oil price swings to shifting rate expectations and nonstop media narratives — but seasoned mortgage professionals know that volatility alone doesn’t determine success. In this segment, the conversation moves beyond soundbites and into substance, exploring guarded optimism in the rate environment, the psychological impact of sub-6% mortgage rates, and the importance of disciplined execution in uncertain times. The discussion also turns to artificial intelligence and algorithm-driven distractions, highlighting a critical distinction: technology can amplify productivity, but only if paired with independent thinking and accountability. The takeaway is clear — markets will fluctuate, headlines will sensationalize, and AI will evolve, but professionals who focus on fundamentals, manage risk wisely, and stay disciplined will continue to win.