According to Polygon Research’s most recent 2025 HMDA data, there were 660,861 total first lien cash-out originations in 2025.
Here is how it broke down:
- 479,000 retail
- 162,265 broker/non-del
- 19,596 everyone else
Why did retail do so much more?
I spent six years in the direct-to-consumer retail space at the highest level possible. If you’re a loan officer, there’s nothing stopping you from taking more of this market. But you have to clean up how you approach it.
Most loan officers in this business are losing deals they never even knew existed. Here is how I was taught.
Six steps you can execute on today:
1. Stop Prejudging The Client
This is where most loan officers lose before we even start.
You hear “3.5%” and mentally check out. You hear “they just bought last year” and move on. You assume there’s nothing there.
You don’t know their situation. You don’t know their debt. You don’t know their cash flow. You don’t know what changed in their life.
I’ve seen people sitting on low rates with six figures in high-interest debt. I’ve seen people drowning monthly but holding onto a rate like it’s some badge of honor.
Our job isn’t to guess. Our job is to uncover.
Every conversation should sound the same. No shortcuts. No assumptions.
2. Have The Conversation On The Phone
This cannot just be an application link.
Cash out is touchy. People do not like talking about their debt. They are embarrassed by it. They may feel judged by it. They may not even fully understand how they got there.
If your entire strategy is sending an application and waiting for them to fill it out, you are going to miss a lot.
This has to be a phone conversation. Not a text. Not a “fill this out and we’ll get back to you.” A real conversation.
You have to slow it down and walk through it with them. That is how you build trust. That is how you uncover what is really going on. That is how the client starts seeing the full picture instead of just staring at their mortgage rate.
3. Pull The Credit. Every Time.
Could you imagine visiting your doctor multiple times a year and never doing blood work? How can a doctor truly look under the hood of your health without blood work? Credit reports are the blood work.
I know what everyone is going to say. Credit report costs are skyrocketing.
Let’s get on the same page here. You cannot close a loan without pulling credit, and all you need is one soft pull to get a glimpse of the big picture. If you’re not pulling credit, you’re operating blind.
Most clients don’t even know what’s on their report. They’ll tell you “my credit is fine” or “it’s probably bad,” and both are usually wrong in different ways.
Pull the credit. You need the data.
4. Learn How To Talk About Effective Interest Rate
Do you know how to use a blended rate calculator? If not, you need to learn now. Everyone talks about the mortgage rate. Almost nobody talks about the total cost of money.
Installment debt and revolving debt are not the same. We have over $1.3 trillion in credit card debt as a nation. Personal loans, auto loans, HELOCs. It all adds up.
So yes, the mortgage might be at 3.5%. But what’s the blended rate across everything? If someone has $150,000 in other debt at 18% to 29%, their effective interest rate is nowhere near 3.5%.
That’s the conversation. Not “your rate is going up.” It’s “your overall financial position might improve.”
If you can’t explain that clearly, you’re going to lose to someone who can. Get on the phone with the client and go through each card with them line by line. If a card is maxed out, here are a few questions that open up the conversation:
- “I see we have a few maxed-out credit cards. Do you have a game plan for paying those off?”
- “Did the debt accumulate all at once, or was it a combination of things?”
- “How much of your monthly income is going toward just keeping up with these payments?”
5. Make Sure Every Decision Maker Is Present
I will not present a cash-out option without the decision maker there. Too much gets lost in translation.
One spouse hears the payment. The other hears the rate. One person understands the cash flow relief. The other only hears “we’re refinancing out of a low rate.”
That is how deals die.
Everyone who is making the decision needs to hear the same conversation at the same time. They need to understand the pros and cons. They need to ask their questions. They need to see the math together.
You cannot rely on one person to go explain the whole strategy to the other person later. That is not fair to them, and it is not good sales.
6. Don’t Make The Decision For Them
This one is big.
You don’t get to decide if it’s worth it. They do. Your job is to present the option clearly, honestly, with pros and cons.
Too many loan officers kill deals because they think they’re protecting the client. Our role is to show them what’s possible:
- What happens if they consolidate?
- What happens to their monthly payment?
- What happens to their cash flow?
- What happens long term?
If there’s a real benefit, it’ll stand on its own. Let the client decide.
You Are Closer Than You Think
You don’t need to reinvent anything. You just need to execute better.
Stop guessing. Start digging. Have the full conversation every single time.
There’s more business sitting in your pipeline right now than you think. You’re just not uncovering it. Is this easy? No, but now you have a place to start. What are you going to do with it?
