After three decades, are we still underwriting loans the same way?

A Personal 30-Year Milestone

April 29th is an important date for me and my family. April 29, 1995 was the day I married my wife; the imperfect, memorable, life-changing beginning of our journey together.

We got stuck in traffic and arrived late to the temple. I had forgotten the rings in another pair of pants, and my brother had to run and retrieve them during the ceremony. When we stepped outside for pictures, it started to rain. The photos before the reception? My wife still doesn’t love them because the rain undid all her hair and makeup work.

Not exactly the polished fairytale beginning.

But looking back, that imperfect day was wonderful. It marked the start of something that changed my life for the better and continues to, every single day.

This April 29th, my wife and I celebrated our 30-year anniversary. We marked the milestone with a trip to the Pacific Northwest and Canada, and one of the highlights was walking through Butchart Gardens in Victoria, which is a place so serene it almost felt unreal.

The trip reminded me that beginnings don’t have to be flawless to become transformational.

A 30-Year Milestone for Our Industry

This year, our industry celebrates a 30-year anniversary of its own.

In 1995, Desktop Underwriter (DU) made its debut. Not long after, Freddie Mac’s early underwriting innovations laid the foundation for what we now know as Loan Product Advisor (LPA).

Their arrival wasn’t perfect either. Adoption took time. Trust had to be earned. Lenders had to rethink processes rooted in decades of manual review.

But those imperfect beginnings led to something extraordinary.

The Engines That Defined an Era

Before AU engines, underwriting was often manual, inconsistent, and dependent on institutional memory. Turn times were long. Loan quality varied. And decisions were heavily influenced by the expertise or interpretation of individuals.

DU and LPA changed that.

For three decades, they have:

• Standardized underwriting across the country
  
  

• Reduced repurchase risk through consistent decisioning
  
  

• Expanded access to credit
  
  

• Enabled speed, scale, and uniformity
  
  

• Anchored the modern mortgage ecosystem, from origination to secondary markets
  
  

Their influence is woven into nearly every loan file produced today.

The Question Worth Asking

So as we commemorate this milestone, one question naturally emerges:

After three decades, are we still underwriting loans the same way?

In many ways, yes.

DU and LPA remain foundational for agency lending and continue to deliver reliability the market depends on.

But the world around them has evolved:

• Non-QM and expanded credit programs
  
  
  

• Business purpose lending (BPL)
  
  
  

• Jumbo, HELOCs, and second liens
  
  
  

• New financial data sources
  
  
  

• More diverse borrower profiles
  
  
  

• A growing need for adaptable decisioning
  
  
  

Their legacy shows us what’s possible when underwriting innovation sets a new standard.

A Celebration Worth Recognizing

As my family celebrates 30 years of marriage, our industry celebrates 30 years of DU and LPA. Both began imperfectly. Both evolved. And both transformed the years that followed.

So before the year gets away from us, I want to say:

Happy 30th Anniversary, DU and LPA.

Your introduction wasn’t perfect — but your impact has been profound.