Author name: Ricky Vasquez

When Jesse Allen arrived at Rate in late 2024 to lead its reverse mortgage division, he was immediately tasked with continuing the growth trajectory for the Chicago-based mortgage lending giant. Rate has long been a leading forward mortgage lender, ranking No. 9 nationally in 2025 with $45.6 billion in volume, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. […]

For decades, mortgage lending has been built around a single objective: to make homeownership affordable. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage became the dominant structure because it lowers monthly payments, expands borrower eligibility, and fits cleanly into underwriting frameworks built around debt-to-income ratios. It works—and it worked at scale. But in optimizing for affordability, the industry made