Three mortgage companies are expanding their third-party origination footprints in different ways.

Achieve is starting a correspondent channel to help market its fixed-rate home equity line of credit product.

Nectar Kalajian has joined the company to head up this effort, Achieve Pro, as the managing director of Achieve Home Loans. Among Kalajian's past positions in her more than 40 years of mortgage and consumer lending experience includes being a co-founder of Claudvirga as well as time at Countrywide, Newrez and Finance of America Mortgage.

Traditional HELOCs have variable rates, and this is a concern for borrowers, Kalajian said. Even if they have been making payments, those can go higher as interest rates rise.

But the Achieve HELOC offers amortization terms ranging from 10 years to 30 years. Being fixed rate, it gives consumers stability for their payments and not having to be concerned about them going higher, Kalajian said.

This effort is aimed not just at independent mortgage bankers, but also banks and credit unions; depositories are the primary generator of HELOCs.

But this gives all of these originators a variation on the product they have not been offering, and just one more tool as competition for home equity lending heats up because of rising values and the slowdown in mortgage lending.

Besides being available as a more traditional use of a second lien, Achieve will make this available for a first-lien loan.

How long has Achieve been originating HELOCs

Achieve has been originating HELOCs since 2019 as part of its broader offerings, including personal loans and debt consolidation loans. The company has been able to securitize these. Kalajian noted. It is also a HELOC specialist, which means it is not competition for their customers for more traditional mortgage products.

"The opportunity is big," with a $35 trillion market, she said.

"Helping lenders that have already been originating this product, but not our product, is the way to help consumers in an environment that they need a lot of help on," Kalajian said. As well as introducing the Achieve product to the B2B side, "which is totally different than what they're used to, and other lenders offer."

With its six years of production and doing securitizations, "we've got a track record that this product has been a really strong product for the consumer," said Kalajian. "Our delinquencies have been extremely low, if none, and our consumers are giving us great referrals as far as their savings."

Approximately one month ago, Achieve upsized the loan limit for product to $500,000 from $300,000; shortly, this limit will be boosted to $700,000.

Furthermore, Kalajian noted Achieve will go as low as 600 credit score (albeit at a lower loan amount), which is also a point of interest for lenders. Most HELOC originators will not go below a 640 credit score.

Deephaven adds features to a HELOC offering

In other third party origination news, Deephaven Mortgage has added features to the Equity Advantage HELOC product it markets through the wholesale and correspondent channels.

While the minimum remains at $50,000, the new maximum is $1 million, double the prior $500,000 limit. It will be available in Texas, albeit at a maximum combined loan-to-value of 80% on a primary residence only. The product is now available in 44 states.

Deephaven allows for a co-borrower, at a minimum 620 credit score. Lender paid compensation on the full line amount is 250 basis points.

"In a robust HELOC market, these changes empower our partners to meet the needs of more borrowers with flexibility and agility," said Tom Davis, chief sales officer at Deephaven.

Planet enters non-agency TPO lending

Meanwhile, Planet, which recently rebranded, expanded its third party origination business to include non-agency products. These include non-qualified mortgage/alternative income and debt service coverage ratio loans.

The company received significant adoption among its correspondent customers from its non-agency pilot introduced at the end of 2025.

"In today's market, sellers are prioritizing counterparties that offer the full range of correspondent delivery options consistently across cycles," said Planet CEO Michael Dubeck in a press release. "That aligns well with our multichannel, multiproduct model."