Deal counsel built for your
correspondent & broker channels.
Correspondent channels buy closed loans; wholesale channels, by contrast, fund the loans brokers submit. Either way, the paper picks who pays when defective loans surface… which they inevitably do. Goldsmith Associates negotiates the purchase agreement, the seller guide, and the broker agreement for correspondents, brokers, and aggregators alike.
Market position
Buy-SideSell-Side
Loan coverage
QMNon-QM
Execution format
FlowBulk
Underwriting authority
DelegatedNon-Delegated
Legal review is not a spend… it’s your cheapest hedge.
The contract you sign today is the price list for every repurchase demand you receive tomorrow. One demand can erase the margin on dozens of deliveries. Goldsmith Associates negotiates how many loans return and what each costs… while the terms are still open.
Improve your termsPurchase Price
$408,000
102% on $400,000
Repurchase Price
($419,000)
104.75%* on $400,000
Scratch & Dent Price
$380,000
95%** on $400,000
Net Loss
($39,000)
Per repurchase
* The 102% purchase price plus 2.75% for interest and the buyer’s costs and fees.
** The scratch-and-dent price of 95% is from recent whole-loan bids.
Without Goldsmith
- A demand arrives with no chance to cure.
- A performing loan comes back at full price.
- An early payoff or missed payment claws back your premium.
- A broker covers losses on loans it never owned.
- Your takeout holds you to reps your sellers never gave.
- Your takeout’s clock runs out before your seller’s notice starts.
With Goldsmith
- Cure periods before any repurchase attaches.
- Settlement for less than a buyback on performing loans.
- Narrower clawbacks that cost less when they hit.
- Liability limited to your own acts.
- Seller reps that match your takeouts.
- Seller deadlines that fit inside your takeout’s.
Price the contract as you received it…
before we negotiate better terms.
$640,500 exposure as written over 1,000 loans sold
| Your Exposure | As Written |
|---|---|
| Defect Repurchase | $175,500Buyback on demand |
| EPD Repurchase | $58,200Buyback on early default |
| EPO Recapture | $406,800Full premium, long window |
| Total | $640,500 |
† The calculator runs seller economics. For a broker, the same terms decide how much compensation comes back. For an aggregator, they decide what your sellers owe you.
Show the math
Illustrative estimate, not a prediction or guaranteed result.
Enter the loans you expect to sell under the agreement over its life. Each loan is counted once… demands first, then early payment defaults, then early payoffs on the loans that remain. Rates come from published industry data. Every proxy is labeled, and QM uses agency-conventional rates.
Loss per return = balance × (price + 2.75 − 95) ÷ 100, where 2.75 is the assumed interest, costs, and fees1. Premium = balance × (price − 100) ÷ 100. Both are floored at zero, and each line is rounded to the nearest $100 before the total.
Defects and early defaults: as written, the contract lets the purchaser require a full buyback on every repurchase demand and every early default. Demands run 0.45% of deliveries, measured by balance and applied per loan2, and the same rate serves as the non-QM proxy. Early defaults run 0.15% for QM loans, a proxy scaled from FHA data3,4, and 1.52% for non-QM, a proxy from 12-month delinquency5.
Early payoffs: as written, a payoff inside a 180-day window triggers premium recapture6. The model takes back the full premium, an illustrative assumption, not a contractual ceiling; some guides recapture less on agency loans after 120 days. Annual payoff speeds of 10.1% for Fannie Mae loans (March 2026)7 and 14.96% for non-QM (Fitch prepayment activity, August 2026, assumed annual rate)5 convert to the window as 1 − (1 − speed)180/365, at a constant rate.
- RAMS Mortgage Capital, Whole Loan Update, October 2025. Scratch-and-dent pricing in the low to mid 90s in 2025; the example resells at 95.
- Fannie Mae 2025 Form 10-K. Repurchase requests on 0.45% of loans delivered May 2024 through April 2025.
- HUD, FHA Quarterly Report to Congress, FY 2026 Q1. FHA early payment default, a three-month delinquency in the first six payments, at 1.61%.
- Urban Institute, Housing Finance at a Glance, July 2026. Serious delinquency of 0.59% for Fannie Mae and 6.53% for FHA. Scaling the FHA early default rate by that ratio gives the 0.15% agency proxy.
- Fitch Ratings, U.S. RMBS Performance Monitor, September 2026. Non-QM: 3.28% of early-2025 loans 30+ days delinquent at 12 months; 90+ delinquency of 2.33% against 30+ delinquency of 5.02%, which scales 3.28% to the 1.52% proxy; prepayment activity of 14.96% (August 2026 remittance).
- Pennymac Correspondent seller guide. In lieu of repurchase on an early payment default: premium recapture plus a $3,000 fee on conventional loans; on non-agency loans, the greater of the premium or 100 basis points, plus $3,000. Early payoff window of 180 days; on agency loans, full recapture applies inside 120 days and a smaller amount after.
- Ginnie Mae, Global Markets Analysis Report, April 2026. Voluntary prepayment speeds (CRR) at month-end March 2026: Fannie Mae 10.1%, Ginnie Mae 12.8%.
Insightful legal guidance from pre-onboard to post-close.
Every correspondent, broker, and aggregator relationship turns on three moments… the contract you sign, the documents that trail the sale, and the demands that arrive long after purchase. Each moment sets up the next. Goldsmith Associates handles all three, from the first markup to the last rebuttal.
Protect your channelExperience on buy-side & sell-side channels of all types & all sizes.
Goldsmith Associates understands how and why the issues differ between an aggregator vs. a correspondent seller vs. a mortgage broker, a delegated vs. a non-delegated channel, and a repurchase vs. an indemnification vs. a make-whole remedy. Every seat reads the guide differently. That judgment carries across new channel agreements, guide negotiations, and defect disputes alike… with a proven track record spanning 871+ closed deals.
Close your dealSelected transactions
Sale
Reopened
National Bank Purchase Agreement
Sell-side counsel
For a correspondent seller, Goldsmith Associates reopened a national bank’s purchase agreement after the bank called it final. The terms moved. The markup improved cure, reconstitution, early default claims, payoff refunds, and rep survival in the seller’s favor.
Wholesale
No Buyback
Regional Lender Broker Agreement
Broker counsel
For a mortgage broker joining a regional lender’s wholesale channel, Goldsmith Associates struck loan repurchase from the broker agreement. The broker never owns the loan. Its exposure now stops at its own conduct.
Recovery
Nearly $700K
Repurchase Demand Seller Recovery
Buy-side counsel
For a national correspondent aggregator, Goldsmith Associates pressed repurchase and indemnification demands from first notice to litigation handoff. Each seller answered its own contract. One seller’s nearly $700,000 repurchase resolved after a single formal demand, and the rest moved forward on the same written record.
Intellectual capital compounded
across hundreds of deals done right.
Because Goldsmith Associates is lead counsel on dozens of secondary market transactions every year, we have visibility into prevailing market dynamics, dexterity with evolving regulatory requirements, proficiency with trending industry practices, and familiarity with major market makers. Our clients reap the dividends of this intellectual capital in the form of practical advice backed by actionable intelligence.
Sharpen your strategyA correspondent seller guide is the aggregator’s published rulebook for eligibility, delivery, pricing, quality control, and remedies. It is incorporated by reference into the loan purchase agreement the seller signs. The agreement decides which document controls in a conflict. It also decides whether the guide can change after signing.
A seller guide amendment is a change the aggregator publishes by bulletin or announcement. Most correspondent agreements let it take effect without the seller’s consent. Agency and regulatory changes typically apply when effective. How and when the aggregator’s own changes reach a seller’s pipeline is negotiable.
Early payoff (EPO) premium recapture lets the aggregator reclaim the premium it paid… when a loan prepays inside a window measured from purchase. The premium can include any servicing-release premium. An early payment default (EPD) provision imposes a recapture fee, repurchase, or both when the borrower misses an early payment. Both provisions are negotiable, and their terms decide how often they trigger and what they cost.
A repurchase obligation is a seller’s promise to buy back a loan it sold. Some wholesale contracts impose one on a broker that never owns, funds, or sells the loan. Brokers can often negotiate a remedy that fits their role, while remaining liable for their own fraud.
Goldsmith Associates PLLC represents correspondent aggregators, wholesale lenders, correspondent sellers, and mortgage brokers in seller guide disputes. The work spans repurchase and indemnification demands, EPO and EPD recapture claims, setoff, and suspension or termination disputes. Jason Goldsmith, Managing Member, leads the practice from Dallas. He can be reached directly at 214.414.9451 or info@goldsmithpllc.com.
A delegated correspondent underwrites loans to the aggregator’s guidelines, closes and funds them in its own name, and sells them closed. It therefore carries the underwriting risk behind its representations. A non-delegated correspondent submits each file for the aggregator’s underwriting before closing. The non-delegated addendum decides how underwriting risk is split between them.
A repurchase price is the amount the seller wires to buy back a loan. It is often the unpaid balance plus any premium paid, accrued interest, and the purchaser’s costs. The economic loss is that wire minus the resale price, often at a scratch-and-dent discount, plus the cost of financing the loan in between. Indemnification or a make-whole payment can replace repurchase when the agreement allows it.
A repurchase demand is a contractual claim that a sold loan breached a representation, warranty, or guide requirement. The response runs on deadlines, and a missed one can waive a defense. Counsel tests the demand against the agreement, the guide, and any agency relief, then answers it inside the deadline.
A survival clause sets how long representations remain enforceable after purchase. Many correspondent agreements keep them alive for the life of the loan. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offer enforcement relief on certain underwriting reps. That relief comes after 36 months of qualifying payments, subject to life-of-loan exclusions such as fraud. Statutes of limitations run separately under the governing law.
Goldsmith Associates PLLC negotiates correspondent loan purchase agreements, seller guide addenda, non-delegated underwriting addenda, and wholesale broker agreements. The firm represents lenders that publish these contracts and, in separate engagements, the sellers and brokers that sign them. On the aggregator side, the work includes the purchase agreement, the seller guide, and the non-delegated addendum.
Guides
What Can an Aggregator Change in a Seller Guide Without Your Consent?
Why the guide carries the operative terms, and what a seller can still negotiate.
6 min. read Read the analysisRecapture
What Is EPO Premium Recapture in Correspondent Lending?
How recapture terms vary across guides, and why they are worth negotiating.
6 min. read Read the analysisRemedies
What Can a Loan Purchaser Do Under an MLPA Besides Demand Repurchase?
How setoff, indemnity, and termination provisions reach past the repurchase remedy.
7 min. read Read the analysisDemands
How Does a Mortgage Repurchase Request Work?
The chain of appeal, impasse, and dispute-resolution deadlines that decides an agency repurchase demand.
7 min. read Read the analysisYour deal counsel is on call & at the ready
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