MILWAUKEE, Wis.–As credit unions look to enhance their offerings next year as part of their 2027 strategic plans, one person is urging them to not overlook the opportunity in private mortgage insurance (PMI), which allows CUs to offer a wider array of mortgage loans while still protecting against credit losses.
Danny Garcia-Vélez, SVP, sales and Business development at MGIC, told the CU Daily PMI can support credit unions’ member-first mission while also advancing their growth objectives. Used strategically, he suggested that PMI can help credit unions both increase their loan-to-share (LTS) ratio and grow membership prudently.
The CU Daily spoke to Garcia-Velez for its series, “The Growth Imperative,” which focuses on strategic planning for 2027. Here are the insights he had to share.
The CU Daily: The theme of this article series is “The Growth Imperative,” with a focus on strategic planning. Where have your clients been most focused when it comes to growth?
Garcia-Vélez: We’ve long been committed to credit unions and believe that they are an essential part of the mortgage market. In addition to our many credit union partnerships, we partner with ACUMA, a network of credit unions that provides education and events on mortgage lending topics, and we launched a program called CU:REALM to facilitate conversations on topics important to credit unions.
At MGIC, we feel an affinity for credit union culture with its member-first focus. Credit unions use our product to reduce their exposure to credit losses and provide members access to homeownership sooner through low-down-payment product options made possible with mortgage insurance. When deployed accurately as part of a mortgage strategy, PMI can help credit unions target prudent growth.
And we know that credit unions see the value of PMI for their portfolios: Only about half of the credit union loans we insure are delivered to the GSEs (government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), indicating that credit unions use our core product for a significant amount of balance-sheet lending.
The CU Daily: What will MGIC focus on in Q4 2026 and 2027? Has that focus changed over the past year or two, and if so, how?
Garcia-Vélez: We believe in planning for the long term. We continue to focus on delivering value to our customers by being the strong mortgage insurance partner that they’ve grown to expect over seven decades. We’ll maintain that focus on strength and reliability in 2027 as we celebrate MGIC’s 70th anniversary.
The CU Daily: What did your clients say about growth in 2026? Did anything come as a surprise?
Garcia-Vélez: Most of the market anticipated more refinancing volume in 2026, but interest rates inhibited that growth and kept the origination market somewhat flat. In fact, overall mortgage application activity has been at or below 2025 levels since late June, driven by mortgage rates that are higher than many expected when the year began.
I wouldn’t say this has been that much of a surprise, but it’s a challenge that continues to affect our lender customers in different ways. For credit unions, as rates have risen, we’ve seen more production going to the balance sheet as economics have improved.
The CU Daily: What do you think is the most important growth metric to watch?
Garcia-Vélez: Our credit union partners tell us their most important metrics are member growth and loan-to-share. We see these trends play out every day.
Let’s look at one example based on loan-to-share, which is roughly comparable to loan-to-deposit in the banking industry. Public data from the FDIC and the National Credit Union Administration through the end of 2025 shows the credit union industry has a loan-to-share ratio of roughly 83-84%, compared to the banking industry’s 67-68% loan-to-deposit ratio. We’ve talked with many credit unions that have much higher ratios, too.
Member growth not only drives lending; it drives deposits. U.S. credit unions have experienced 50% greater growth in deposits than banks since 2019, along with 110% greater growth in loans and roughly 53% greater growth in assets over the same period. Clearly, credit unions are finding success in growing deposits and lending, which is why we’ve seen the sector earn a bigger share of the overall mortgage market in recent years.
The CU Daily: What were your successes in 2026, and how do you hope to build on them?
Garcia-Vélez: Our successes are customer successes: When we see our customers reducing the cost to originate loans, we feel successful. When we see credit unions use PMI to expand homeownership for their member base–and even more, to expand their member base itself–we feel successful. We helped nearly 87,000 families purchase or refinance a home in the first two quarters of 2026.
We reached an important milestone about a year ago as the first PMI company to pass $300 billion in insurance in force. MGIC founded the modern private mortgage insurance industry in 1957, and we’ve been a constant, trustworthy partner for our customers ever since. Over those decades, the U.S. economy has experienced a number of recessions–some affecting housing more than others–and we’ve continued writing new business while paying claims the whole time. Being first to the $300 billion milestone shows that lenders continue to trust and choose MGIC.
Throughout our nearly 70-year history, we’ve also earned the trust of the wider mortgage ecosystem, including policymakers and regulators. We feel it’s important to share our unique perspective, based on decades of experience in all kinds of markets, to advocate for growth and protection in the housing finance system.
At MGIC, we provide more than mortgage insurance. We’re more than just a transaction. We help our customers navigate the marketplace. We follow regulatory changes and accounting standards that apply to our customers because we want to ensure our credit enhancement solutions support our customers’ credit loss mitigation, capital preservation, and current expected credit loss accounting objectives, while enabling them to prudently expand their program offerings.
CU Daily: Are you planning anything new for 2027?
Garcia-Vélez: We’re excited to celebrate our 70th anniversary in 2027! We’ve learned a lot over seven decades in the mortgage industry. That’s expertise we put to work for our customers every day, but we’re looking forward to using this milestone anniversary as the impetus to more broadly share insights we’ve developed over the last 70 years.
CU Daily: How have you used AI this year? How do you foresee both your organization and your customers using AI in 2027?
Garcia-Vélez: As a mortgage insurance company, we closely observe all changes and trends in the industry, including the growth of AI in the mortgage market, through the lens of mitigating risk and expanding opportunity. We constantly evaluate potential AI use cases at MGIC, while keeping customer experience and regulatory concerns in mind.
Many of our customers are seeking the same balance. There’s a lot of potential in AI to enhance efficiency, but the pace of change means the impacts of AI on the origination market have not been fully tested. A focus on AI governance will be essential as lenders test and evaluate how AI fits into their business models.
How credit unions use AI can also carry brand or reputation risks based on consumer sentiment. Members may embrace some conveniences created by AI, while also feeling discomfort around some AI use cases that feel invasive or impersonal.
With the credit union focus on engaging with members as whole people, not just transactions, authenticity is more than just a buzzword. The same is true for MGIC. We value authentic partnerships, not just transactions. And we keep that in mind every day as we develop solutions, reimagine processes and engage with the market.
–Story by By Anne Battle Schultz
