Behind the scenes at United Wholesale Mortgage, the biggest lender in America.
TL;DR: I’m taking five real estate agents to the UWM Success Track in Detroit on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, and the centerpiece is a hands-on AI business-building course you can put to work the week you get home. You’ll also mastermind with about 100 other agents actively closing deals, and see how one of my purchase loans went clear to close in four days. United Wholesale Mortgage covers your flight and hotel. Five seats, and they go to whoever registers first.
What is the UWM Success Track, and why I’m bringing agents
The UWM Success Track is a day inside United Wholesale Mortgage‘s headquarters outside Detroit, where the largest lender in the country actually runs its purchase business. I get to bring five agents with me, and I’d rather spend those seats on people I already work with than on strangers. This isn’t a tour with a gift bag. It’s a look at the machine that decides whether your buyers’ loans close on time.
Here’s the part that matters to you: your name is on the sign in the yard. When a lender drags, you’re the one explaining it to your seller and your buyer. When a lender moves, you look like the agent who gets deals done. Seeing how UWM operates is really about protecting your reputation on every file we share.
UWM’s Success Track is built for real estate agents, not just loan officers.
Why a four-day clear to close wins offers
On the trip you’ll see exactly how we got one of my purchase loans clear to close in four days. Not four weeks. Four days. Sit with that for a second, because it changes how you write offers.
When your buyer can close in days, your offer beats a higher number that needs 30 to 45. Sellers take certainty over a few thousand dollars all the time, and a fast, pre-underwritten buyer is certainty. It also means fewer files blow up in underwriting and your commission check shows up sooner. If you want the mechanics behind how a modern lender pulls this off, I’ve written about the UWM 1-0 buydown and first-year savings and how virtual closings shave days off the calendar.
What the two days at the UWM Success Track look like
We fly to Detroit on Monday, September 14 and aim to land in the afternoon, so we can ride to the hotel together and grab dinner that night. Tuesday, September 15 is the Success Track itself, roughly nine to five: the underwriting floor, the technology, a mastermind with about 100 other agents, and a hands-on AI course you can use the week you get home. Then we head back to the airport and fly home Tuesday evening.
Five ways agents are already putting AI to work, the kind of thing we dig into on the trip.
Flights and hotel are on UWM. You can let them book your flights inside our arrival and departure windows, or pick your own Delta flights if you’d rather; Detroit is a Delta hub, so the options are easy. Your only real cost is getting yourself to your home airport.
Who the five seats are for
This is for agents who are actively writing offers and want an edge their competition doesn’t have. If you send buyers into bidding wars, if you’ve lost a clean deal to a slow lender, or if you just want to see what the biggest lender in America looks like from the inside, this is your trip. If you want a sense of the questions worth asking any lender before you send a client their way, my list of pre-approval questions every agent should ask is a good primer.
Nothing but getting to your home airport. UWM covers your flight and your hotel, and I handle the ground transportation to and from the airport in Detroit.
When and where is the UWM Success Track?
Tuesday, September 15, 2026, at United Wholesale Mortgage near Detroit, Michigan. We fly out Monday the 14th and fly home Tuesday evening.
Do I have to book my own flight?
No. You can let UWM book it inside our arrival and departure windows, or choose your own Delta flight in those windows if you prefer.
Who can come?
Five real estate agents I partner with. If you write purchase offers and want faster, more certain closings for your clients, you’re a fit.
How do I claim a seat?
Register at the trip page. Seats are first come, first served, and there are only five.
VantageScore mortgage approvals are here. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and lenders like UWM now accept VantageScore 4.0 on conventional loans. Brokers can pull both FICO and VantageScore on the same credit report and use the higher of the two. That means the Credit Karma score your client checks on their phone is finally relevant to their home loan, and for borrowers near a pricing tier breakpoint, with thin files, or with old medical collections, it can change qualifying and rate.
The “but Credit Karma says..” conversation just changed
If you’ve worked with buyers for any length of time, you know the conversation. I pull credit, I give them their score, and they say: “Wait. Credit Karma says I’m a 740.” Then I explain that FICO and VantageScore are two different scoring systems, and Fannie and Freddie don’t use VantageScore for mortgage lending.
That second part isn’t true anymore. This year, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac validated VantageScore 4.0 for mortgage lending. UWM, along with a short list of other approved lenders, now pulls both FICO and VantageScore on every credit report. Brokers use whichever score gives the borrower a better outcome. No extra cost. No extra steps.
This is genuinely new. Only a handful of lenders have it right now, and the broker channel got it first. So when your client asks why their Credit Karma score doesn’t match the lender’s score, the answer is no longer “they’re different systems and we don’t use that one.” The answer is now “we can use that one, and there are real situations where it’ll help.”
What is a VantageScore, and why is it different from FICO?
VantageScore is a credit scoring model the three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, built as a competitor to FICO. The current version is VantageScore 4.0. It uses the same 300-850 range as FICO, but it weighs the underlying credit factors differently and includes a few things FICO doesn’t.
Three differences that matter for your clients:
Trended data. VantageScore 4.0 looks at up to 24 months of balance and payment patterns, not just a snapshot. A borrower paying balances down over time looks better than the same balance held flat.
Thinner files score. FICO needs at least six months of credit history to generate a score. VantageScore can score someone with as little as one month of credit activity. That matters for younger buyers, recent immigrants, or anyone rebuilding.
Medical collections don’t count. VantageScore 3.0 and 4.0 ignore medical collection accounts entirely, regardless of amount or whether the borrower paid them. The mortgage-specific FICO models we’ve used for decades, Equifax Beacon 5.0, Experian/Fair Isaac V2, TransUnion Classic 04, treat a medical collection the same as a credit card charge-off.
That last point is worth pausing on. The CFPB tried to ban medical debt from credit reports entirely in early 2025. A federal court struck down the rule that July. So medical collections over $500 still hit credit reports, and the older mortgage FICO scores still hammer borrowers for them. VantageScore does what the regulation couldn’t.
Why Credit Karma matters for VantageScore mortgage approvals
Credit Karma displays a VantageScore, specifically VantageScore 3.0, from TransUnion and Equifax. It’s not the exact same model the lender uses (mortgages pull VantageScore 4.0 across all three bureaus). But the philosophy and weighting sit far closer to each other than either does to FICO.
For years, that Credit Karma number was background noise in the mortgage conversation. We had to explain it didn’t count. Now it counts. The directional read, “my score is around here”, is now useful information for qualifying and pricing.
A 741 on a credit-monitoring app used to be background noise. With VantageScore now accepted in mortgage pricing, that number finally has weight.
Where a higher VantageScore mortgage tier actually changes the deal
Three scenarios where pulling both scores and using the higher one moves the needle:
A borrower sitting just below a pricing tier breakpoint
The Fannie and Freddie loan-level price adjustment grid has hard breakpoints at 720, 740, 760, and 780. A buyer at 736 FICO sits in a worse pricing tier than a buyer at 742. If their VantageScore comes back at 745 or 750, we just jumped a tier. Same loan, same down payment, materially cheaper money, either lower rate at the same cost, or lower costs at the same rate. This is the same kind of structural pricing improvement we covered with the UWM 1.0 buydown. A small change in the inputs translates to real dollars at the closing table.
LLPA pricing tiers have hard breakpoints at 720, 740, 760, and 780. Crossing one changes the math on every dollar of the loan.
A borrower with old medical collections
Say your client has a $1,500 hospital bill in collections, dragging their mortgage FICO down 40 or 50 points. Their VantageScore will look very different, because VantageScore ignores it entirely. For a borrower who’s otherwise clean, that single change can flip them from “barely qualifies” to “qualifies at a normal rate.”
A thin-file borrower
Young buyers, recent immigrants, anyone whose credit history is short and sparse, these are the borrowers who often hear “come back in six months once you have more history.” VantageScore can score them today. Working out of West Seattle, I see this often: first-time buyers in their late twenties, one credit card, steady job, 5% down payment ready to go. The only thing holding them back is a FICO thin enough that they got told no last year. That’s exactly the borrower VantageScore was built to evaluate. Worth checking against the FHA vs. conventional decision too, since a higher VantageScore can shift which loan type prices best.
Why VantageScore mortgage adoption matters for your clients (and your business)
For real estate agents: when a buyer with marginal credit sits on the sidelines, this is a reason to send them back through pre-approval. The answer they got six months ago, even three months ago, may not match the answer they get today. I see this most often with West Seattle, Burien, and South King County buyers who got an early “no” before VantageScore was on the table. For a fuller list of what to ask a lender during that conversation, see questions to ask a lender about a pre-approval.
For financial advisors: clients who are reverse-mortgage-curious, refinance-curious, or buying a second home, and assuming their score won’t qualify them at a good rate, may now have a path they didn’t before. Worth a conversation, especially for clients whose medical history has quietly suppressed their FICO. If you’re not sure which loan type fits, that’s worth a 15-minute call.
The competitive piece: this is a broker-channel advantage right now. Retail banks tend to move slower on new models. Most are still building their internal approval workflow. A solo broker working with UWM has dual-score pricing today. That’s a real reason for your client to call a broker before walking into their bank.
The honest caveats of VantageScore mortgage adoption
A few things to keep front of mind so you can manage expectations:
Credit Karma uses VantageScore 3.0. The mortgage version is 4.0. They’re related but not identical, so the Credit Karma number won’t match the mortgage VantageScore exactly.
Credit Karma pulls TransUnion and Equifax. Mortgage credit pulls all three bureaus and uses the middle score. So a high Credit Karma reading is encouraging but not a guarantee.
UWM and other approved lenders apply a conservative haircut to the VantageScore before pricing, a guardrail while the new model gets tested at scale. The borrower’s VantageScore typically needs to land meaningfully higher than their FICO to actually change the pricing tier.
This is conventional-loan territory right now. FHA acceptance is announced but rolls out separately. Government-loan adoption sits on a slower timeline.
Underwriting standards haven’t loosened. Documentation, debt ratios, reserves, all the same. This is a pricing and qualifying optimization, not a relaxation of standards.
FAQ
Is VantageScore accepted for mortgage loans now?
Yes, for conventional loans. The FHFA validated VantageScore 4.0 for use by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and approved lenders like UWM now pull both FICO and VantageScore on every file. FHA acceptance has been announced and rolls out separately. VA and USDA timelines are still in progress.
Will my Credit Karma score match what the VantageScore mortgage lender sees?
Not exactly. Credit Karma shows VantageScore 3.0 from TransUnion and Equifax. Mortgage credit pulls VantageScore 4.0 from all three bureaus, uses the middle score, then applies a conservative haircut before pricing. The Credit Karma number is now a useful directional read. It isn’t the final mortgage number.
Does VantageScore ignore medical collections?
VantageScore 3.0 and 4.0 ignore medical collection accounts entirely, regardless of the amount or whether the borrower paid them. The mortgage-specific FICO models still count them. For a borrower with a medical collection on file, that single difference can swing their qualifying score meaningfully.
Who benefits most from VantageScore in mortgage lending?
Three groups: borrowers sitting just below a pricing tier breakpoint, borrowers with medical collections on their report, and thin-file borrowers like first-time buyers, younger borrowers, or recent immigrants who don’t yet have six months of credit history.
Does using VantageScore cost the borrower anything extra?
No. With UWM’s current rollout, both FICO and VantageScore come back on the same credit pull at no additional cost to the borrower or broker. We use whichever gives the better result.
Don’t just take my word on VantageScore mortgage approvals
If you want a read on how I work with clients before sending one my way, here’s where past borrowers and partners have weighed in:
If you have a client whose Credit Karma score has always run higher than what lenders quote them, send them my way. We can pull both scores at no cost and see if there’s a path that wasn’t there six months ago.
UWM's Free 1-0 Buydown promotion — currently funded by the lender at no out-of-pocket cost to the buyer.
UWM is paying for a 1-0 temporary buydown right now. It drops a buyer’s first-year mortgage rate by a full percentage point. No out-of-pocket cost. On a $600,000 loan, that’s about $280 a month, or roughly $3,400 across the first 12 months. There’s a real trade-off: a slightly lower permanent rate exists without the buydown. The break-even between the two is around 3.5 years. The 10-year Treasury is back near where it was a year ago. The odds of a refinance window opening before then are good. For a West Seattle or Burien buyer stretching to make a $600,000 purchase work, that first-year breathing room can be the difference between buying now and waiting twelve months.
UWM’s Free 1-0 Buydown promotion, currently funded by the lender at no out-of-pocket cost to the buyer.
What the UWM 1-0 Buydown Actually Does
UWM is running an aggressive promotion. It’s a “Free” 1-0 temporary buydown they fund out of their own pricing margin. The mechanics are simple. For the first 12 months, the buyer pays as if their rate is 1% lower than the note rate. In Year 2 through Year 30, the full note rate kicks in. The subsidy sits in an escrow account at closing and pays the difference each month during Year 1.
UWM is funding the buydown. It does not come out of the buyer’s pocket. It does not eat into a seller credit. It does not require any negotiation in the purchase contract. From a buyer’s cash-to-close perspective, it is genuinely free.
How Much Does It Save in Year One?
On a $600,000 loan, the 1-point rate reduction is worth roughly $280 a month in lower principal and interest. Over 12 months that totals around $3,400. Real affordability relief in the first year, when buyers are also absorbing moving costs, furniture, and repairs that nobody quotes them on the GFE.
For a buyer on the fence because the monthly payment was just outside their comfort zone, this changes the math. It reframes what’s actually affordable in the first year of ownership.
Where’s the Catch? The Real Trade-Off Against the Permanent Rate
Calling it Free is technically accurate from the buyer’s side. It is not free in the absolute sense. UWM is spending pricing margin on the Year 1 subsidy that could otherwise have gone toward a slightly lower permanent rate. On the same rate sheet, the same buyer can typically lock about a quarter-point lower rate for the full 30 years. No buydown, no Year 1 cushion. Just a permanently cheaper payment.
So the choice is a real trade-off. Year 1 cushion versus permanent monthly savings over the life of the loan. Anyone telling a buyer it is a no-brainer either way is oversimplifying.
The break-even point: hold the loan past about 3.5 years and the lower permanent rate beats the buydown.
When Does the UWM 1-0 Buydown Win?
The break-even between the buydown and the lower permanent rate works out to roughly 3 years 7 months. If the buyer refinances or sells before then, the buydown wins. If they hold the loan past that point, the lower permanent rate pulls ahead. And stays ahead for the rest of the term.
The math is straightforward. The buyer banks about $3,400 in Year 1 with the buydown. Then they pay roughly $110 a month more than they would have on the lower permanent rate, every month after that. Those $110 chunks chew through the $3,400 head start over about 31 months in Year 2 onward. Total time to break even: 12 plus 31, or 43 months.
Why a Refi Window Inside 3.5 Years Is More Likely Than Not
This is where the timing question matters. The 10-year Treasury drives mortgage rates more than any other single input. It closed at 4.46% as of mid-May. That’s up from a late-February low near 3.97%. That’s roughly half a percentage point of upward move in about ten weeks. It puts the 10-year right back near where it was a year ago.
10-Year Treasury YTD 2026: up from a late-February low near 3.97% to 4.46% in mid-May, almost half a percentage point of upward move in about ten weeks.
The directional implication is simple. There’s real room for the 10-year to fall back toward that February low. That happens if economic data softens or the Fed signals more accommodation. Most major forecasters expect 30-year fixed rates to drift lower through late 2026 and into 2027. That includes the Mortgage Bankers Association and Fannie Mae. Whether the move is gradual or sharp depends on the data, but the directional consensus is clear.
For a buyer choosing between the buydown and the lower permanent rate, that backdrop tilts the decision. A refinance opportunity opening in the next 24 to 36 months is more likely than not. That’s well inside the 3.5-year break-even window where the buydown wins.
How to Frame the Math for a Client on the Fence
The buyer needs three pieces of information to make this decision. None of them are about the buydown itself:
How long they realistically plan to hold the loan. The median U.S. homeowner stays put for 11.8 years. But the average mortgage only lives 5 to 7 years, because refinances end loans too. If they refi inside 3.5 years, the buydown wins.
What their cash-flow priorities look like in Year 1 specifically. First-year homeownership tends to be the most cash-strained year for any new owner, especially for Puget Sound buyers absorbing property taxes that are higher than what their lender estimated. The $3,400 Year 1 cushion has different value to a buyer who’s stretched than to a buyer who isn’t.
Their rate forecast posture. If they believe rates are flat or rising for the next several years, the lower permanent rate looks better. If they think rates are likely to drop and they will refinance, the buydown looks better. The 10-year’s recent move suggests the latter is plausible.
The math is not the hard part. The judgment about which lever to pull is. That is the conversation worth having before lock day.
FAQ
Is the UWM 1-0 buydown actually free?
Free from the buyer’s perspective, they pay nothing out of pocket for the buydown. UWM funds it from their pricing margin. The trade-off is that the same buyer could lock a slightly lower permanent rate without the buydown. So while there is no upfront cost, there is an opportunity cost compared to the alternative permanent rate.
What is a 1-0 temporary buydown?
A 1-0 temporary buydown means the borrower’s effective interest rate is 1 percentage point lower than the note rate for the first 12 months. After that, it steps up to the full note rate for Year 2 through Year 30. The Year 1 subsidy is funded by a lump-sum credit at closing. That credit sits in an escrow account. It pays the lender the difference each month during the buydown period.
How much does the UWM 1-0 buydown save on a $600,000 loan?
On a $600,000 loan, the 1-point reduction is roughly $280 a month in lower principal and interest. That runs for 12 months, or about $3,400 in total first-year savings. The exact figure varies slightly based on the underlying note rate, but the order of magnitude holds across the typical conventional loan range.
What happens if the borrower refinances during Year 1?
If the loan is refinanced or paid off before the 12-month buydown period ends, any unused buydown funds in escrow are typically applied as a credit toward the new loan. Or returned to the borrower per the lender’s specific buydown agreement. The funds do not disappear, but the exact treatment depends on UWM’s program terms. Verify in writing before the loan closes.
When does the buydown beat the lower permanent rate?
The break-even sits around 3 years 7 months on a typical loan. Hold the loan less than that, and the buydown wins. Hold it longer, and the lower permanent rate wins. Many mortgages do not survive 3.5 years anyway. Between refinances and home sales, the average mortgage lifespan in the U.S. is 5 to 7 years. Many end sooner when rates drop.
The Bottom Line
UWM’s “Free” 1-0 buydown is a meaningfully good product right now. Not because it’s free in the absolute sense. Because the current rate environment makes the trade-off lean in its favor. The buyer gets real Year 1 relief. The cost is borne by the lender. The break-even falls well inside the window where most mortgages get refinanced anyway. For a buyer on the fence about whether the monthly payment works, this is the kind of product that moves the needle.
The trade-off against the slightly lower permanent rate is the conversation worth having before the buyer commits to either path. Run the numbers on their actual loan size. Ask the right questions about how long they plan to keep the loan. The right answer is almost always specific to the buyer, not the product.
If you have a client weighing affordability options, or deciding between a temporary buydown and a permanent rate, send them my way. Happy to walk through the math on their specific loan.
Don’t just take my word on the UWM 1-0 buydown
If you want a read on how I work with clients before sending one my way, here’s where past borrowers and partners have weighed in:
If you have a client weighing the UWM 1-0 buydown against a buy-down of the permanent rate, send them my way. We’ll run the actual numbers on their loan size, target rate, and realistic hold horizon.
A virtual mortgage closing lets everyone on the loan sign electronically from wherever they happen to be. The borrower, the co-buyer, the co-signer, each one joins a short video call with a remote notary, on their own schedule. Most lenders still won’t do this. Instead, they make every party show up in person at a title company on a specific day, at a specific time. However, United Wholesale Mortgage is one of the lenders that does offer virtual mortgage closing, in both Washington state and Colorado. I had a recent file with two co-buyers and two co-signers spread across multiple time zones, and what would have been a week of scheduling chaos turned into a non-event.
A virtual mortgage closing turns a beach chair into a closing table. Each signer logs in from wherever they are.
What a Virtual Mortgage Closing Actually Is
A virtual mortgage closing replaces the in-person signing room with a secure video call. Instead of driving to a title company, you log in from your laptop or phone. Specifically, the notarization happens through Remote Online Notarization, or RON. A licensed notary checks your ID over video and notarizes your signatures digitally. Subsequently, the closing team countersigns, the county records the deed, and the lender funds the loan. So legally, the transaction matches an in-person closing in every state that permits RON.
Overall, the difference is the friction. Nobody drives across town. Nobody rearranges the day. Consequently, the whole closing becomes a thirty-minute video session, and the bottleneck shifts from “get everyone in the same room” to “find a half-hour that works.”
Sign from the sidelines. Every party on the loan can join from anywhere on their own schedule.
Why Most Lenders Still Make Everyone Show Up in Person
RON has been legal in most states for years. Both Washington state and Colorado permit RON for mortgage closings, but lender adoption stays uneven. Specifically, building the technology takes real engineering work: secure ID verification, audio and video recording, integration with title companies and county recorders. Therefore, plenty of mid-sized lenders just haven’t built it. And some retail banks and credit unions still default to in-person closings because their compliance teams prefer that posture, full stop.
So if your client lands at a lender that doesn’t offer it, every signer has to physically appear at a title company. The slot is fixed: a specific date, a specific time. In theory that’s tolerable. In practice it’s the part of the deal where things break.
What Most People Don’t Realize: A Co-Signer Is a Co-Buyer
Here’s a misconception that bites a lot of buyers. When someone co-signs on a mortgage, they’re not just lending a credit score. Maybe a parent helps a kid qualify. Or a sibling lends their income. Or a friend bridges a credit gap. Whatever the situation, the co-signer signs the note. They’re on the loan. So they have to show up to the closing the same way the primary borrower does.
For example, take a parent in Spokane helping their daughter close on a house in Denver. Traditionally that meant flying out for a thirty-minute appointment. A co-signer who travels for work had to reschedule the trip. Likewise, someone already feeling like they’re doing the buyer a favor saw the in-person requirement as punishment for being generous. The friction isn’t theoretical. It lands hardest on the people doing the most help.
When a co-signer can’t physically travel, a virtual mortgage closing keeps the deal on schedule.
How a Virtual Mortgage Closing Solves the Logistics Problem
Once everyone on the loan can sign remotely, location stops mattering. First, each signer gets a link. Next, they join a short video session with the notary at a time that works. They walk through the documents on screen, then sign. The whole thing usually takes about an hour per signer, often less. Some sign from a kitchen table. Others sign on a lunch break. Three signers can do it in three different time zones on the same day, and nobody has to coordinate calendars beyond their own.
Finally, the deal closes on schedule. Nobody flies in. Nobody takes a half-day off work. The buyer gets the keys.
A Recent Example: Two Co-Buyers, Two Co-Signers, Four Schedules
A recent file of mine had two co-buyers and two co-signers, four signers total. Each one lived in a different city. Each one kept a different schedule. Under the old model, this kind of deal drags closing out by a week while everyone tries to find a mutual two-hour window. With UWM’s virtual mortgage closing, though, each of the four signed at their own convenience. The whole signing wrapped inside a single business day. All four sat in different time zones; the property was here in South King County.
Overall, the narrative for my client flipped completely. What used to feel like extreme inconvenience for the people doing them a favor became extreme convenience instead. That’s not a small thing. Treat co-signers and co-buyers well at closing, and they say yes the next time a family member asks for help.
On the other side: a remote notary runs the closing for two borrowers over video.
What This Means for Your Next Deal
If you’re a real estate agent and your buyer needs a co-signer to qualify, the lender choice matters more than people realize. By contrast, a lender without virtual mortgage closing can turn a clean qualification into a logistics scramble on day 28 of a 30-day close. So ask early, before the buyer commits, whether the lender supports it. The question is simple: “Do you offer Remote Online Notarization for every party on the loan, in this state, on this product?” The answer should come back yes, no, or a quick check. Never a long story. For West Seattle, Vashon Island, and Bainbridge Island agents in particular, ferry schedules and Friday traffic can turn a one-hour closing into a half-day operation. Virtual closing removes that variable entirely.
Is a virtual mortgage closing legally the same as an in-person one?
Yes. Indeed, RON produces a legally binding mortgage in every state that permits it, including Washington and Colorado. The county records the deed the same way. The lender funds the loan the same way. Signing and notarization just happen over secure video instead of across a table.
Is a co-signer the same as a co-buyer on a mortgage?
For mortgage purposes, yes. A co-signer signs the note and joins the loan, so they count as a co-buyer in everything that matters at closing. They sign the same documents the primary borrower signs. They attend the closing the same way, virtually or in person.
Why don’t more lenders offer virtual mortgage closing?
Two reasons. First, the technology stack takes real engineering that smaller lenders haven’t built: identity verification, secure video, integration with title companies and county recorders. Second, some lenders’ compliance teams still prefer in-person closings as their default, even where RON is fully legal. Notably, UWM ranks among the few wholesale lenders that have rolled out RON broadly.
Can a virtual mortgage closing work if signers are in different states?
Yes, in most cases. Specifically, RON laws apply to the notary’s location, not the signer’s. So as long as the notary holds a license in a state that permits RON for mortgage closings, signers can join from anywhere with a stable internet connection. For deals with co-buyers and co-signers spread across multiple states, that’s the whole point.
Don’t just take my word on virtual closings
If you want a read on how I work with clients before sending one my way, here’s where past borrowers and partners have weighed in:
If you have a client who needs a co-signer or co-buyer to qualify and you want to know whether their lender will make closing day painless or painful, send them my way. We do virtual closings as a default, not an exception.
