Mortgage lending is undergoing a fundamental shift as technology reshapes how income and employment are verified—yet the human experience remains more important than ever. In this episode of Lykken on Lending, David Lykken sits down with Shmulik Fishman, Founder and CEO of Argyle, to explore how modern income verification is transforming underwriting, reducing friction for loan officers, and improving outcomes for borrowers. From Argyle’s origins and major institutional backing to its deep integrations across POS and LOS platforms, this conversation unpacks what true modernization looks like when automation, data accuracy, and human-centric design come together to redefine the mortgage process.

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.

This podcast segment explores the real-world use of AI in mortgage lending, separating hype from value while examining automation tools, app fatigue, platform longevity, and the emerging “51st Date Syndrome” in AI adoption.

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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.

his podcast segment breaks down the complex reasons behind the 30–40% surge in tri-merge credit report costs, examining regulatory mandates, FICO licensing fees, bureau markups, and the challenges of creating true competition without compromising fair lending or investor confidence.

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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 examines why bond yields surged toward the top of their recent range despite economic data failing to clearly explain the move, highlighting the role of technicals, holiday trading, and upcoming risk events.

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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.

Artificial intelligence isn’t coming to the mortgage industry—it's already here, and it’s fundamentally reshaping how lenders engage past customers, manage database outreach, and scale production without sacrificing the human touch. In this episode, AI Assistants in the Mortgage Space: How Intelligent Outreach Is Rewriting the Loan Officer Playbook, David Lykken sits down with leaders from Total Expert and Assurance to unpack real-world success stories, compliance considerations, and the operational readiness required to implement AI-powered voice assistants effectively. From transforming credit trigger conversions to scheduling loan officer appointments automatically, this conversation reveals how lenders can turn AI-enabled outreach into a competitive advantage—and why those who resist may soon be left behind.

12-09-2025 Who's The "Lost Cause"

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Bears, you're lost; Bulls, you're lost; Maybe, you're a Lost Cause.

With bond yields moving up, Bears have an easier path to capture the trend at 4.18 than bulls in diving below 4. Does the steepening of the coupon curve suggest no recession?

According to Deutsche Bank, once the Fed begins a rate-cut cycle, the 10-year Treasury yield does not fall sustainably without the economy slipping into a recession. So, who’s the lost cause: Jobs, Fed, Bulls, or Bears? Maybe it’s lenders that only make money as rates fall.

That’s fighting for a Lost Cause.

These views are mine. Avoid confusion at TMSpotlight.com.

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Song: Lost Cause (2002) Beck

"Lost Cause" is a 2002 song by Beck with a melancholic tone reflecting feelings after a breakup.

This podcast segment highlights the Senate’s advancement of major housing finance nominees and reminds IMBs to register for MBA’s premier conference ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

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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 programs.

In this episode of Lykken on Lending, we explore The Quantum Mindset: Resilience Lessons That Redefine Success, featuring an extraordinary story of overcoming unimaginable beginnings and rising into purpose, gratitude, and impact. Through vivid examples—bees modeling sweetness, the observer effect, and collapsing the wave of possibility—our guest shows how leaders can transform their reality by shifting perspective, reframing challenges, and embracing responsibility. Whether you’re navigating market uncertainty, organizational change, or personal transition, this conversation reveals the practical and spiritual principles behind unshakable resilience and high performance.

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.