Artificial intelligence and blockchain tools have reduced core mortgage processing costs from approximately $5,000 down to $125 per loan, according to Angel AI executives speaking at a National Mortgage Professional webinar. This automation could make smaller, complex home loans profitable for lenders while bringing relief to underserved borrowers.
Cutting Manufacturing Costs on Small Loans
Traditional underwriting expenses have long sidelined low- and moderate-income buyers seeking smaller loan amounts. When a lender spends thousands of dollars on manual manufacturing, a $150,000 loan consumes two to three points purely in operational overhead.
“When your cost is that high, and a low- and moderate-income family doing a $150,000 loan, that’s two, three points being spent just on manufacturing costs,” said Pavan Agarwal, CEO and creator of Angel AI and head of Sun West Mortgage Co. “So those borrowers get left behind. The rates get higher, or they just don’t get marketed and approached.”
Agarwal began his mortgage career serving lower-income communities around Los Angeles. He said that while bankers readily invest days of an underwriter’s time examining complex tax returns for a $5 million home purchase, a $150,000 house faces steep friction due to the identical labor requirements.
Automating Complex Income Analysis
Angel AI deployed income analysis technology designed to evaluate tax returns, K-1s, 1099s, and other financial documents in approximately five or six minutes. Agarwal said that these automated underwriting assessments carry a substantial financial warranty.
An analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data conducted by Angel AI suggested that an additional 1.1 million borrowers could have qualified for mortgages in 2025 if its underwriting technology had been deployed nationwide. Jason Riveros, senior advisor to the CEO of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), explained that these streamlined capabilities directly benefit first-time buyers, self-employed entrepreneurs, and multigenerational households.
“We know that family dynamics are very important, where you have multigenerational households that maybe potentially are purchasing together, meaning multiple signers potentially that are involved,” Riveros told nationalmortgageprofessional.com.
He added that entrepreneurs and borrowers managing multiple income streams frequently encounter complicated underwriting requirements.
“I think AI is one of those tools that I think is going to allow people to be able to eliminate the complexity of those files,” Riveros said.
Making Financed Offers Rival Cash
Beyond underwriting speed, the webinar explored how blockchain technology could alter competitive dynamics for home buyers. Angel Sumlin, managing director of organizational development at Angel AI, highlighted the traditional barriers created by fragmented chains of trust in real estate deals.
“Most of the people in these transactions have never even seen each other’s name before,” Sumlin told nationalmortgageprofessional.com. Buyers, sellers, agents, and lenders currently rely on documents passed between disparate parties without a decentralized method to verify each step independently.
To solve this, Angel AI records AI-generated mortgage approvals on a blockchain, giving sellers verifiable proof of a lender’s financing commitment. Smart contracts then track purchase agreements, earnest money, and closing conditions.
“From the seller’s perspective, the money is already there once that blockchain transaction happens,” Agarwal said. He argued this infrastructure makes financed purchases as competitive as cash offers, aiding Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Affairs borrowers who might otherwise lose out in bidding wars.
Loan Officers Use Digital Wallets
Sumlin demonstrated how loan officers can use digital wallets through a simple chat interface, removing the technical hurdles historically associated with blockchain infrastructure. “Everything you’re doing in Angel AI is just a chat,” Sumlin said, noting the platform makes these tools accessible to everyday users.
NAHREP is partnering with Angel AI on a digital token initiative called the Avance token. Riveros described the token as a frequent flyer club style benefit system rather than a speculative cryptocurrency, giving members access to educational resources, VIP events, and partner rewards.
Despite these technological additions, the webinar panel stressed that software must support rather than displace human professionals.
Riveros emphasized that originators and real estate brokers remain critical to the transaction, especially when a deal encounters unexpected complications.
“We are still very firm believers, whether you’re an LO or real estate broker, that you need to be at the center of that transaction, and AI will be a facilitator of that,” Riveros said.
He said that consumers continue to rely on human connection when things go wrong, concluding that “the ability to have someone that you can connect with if something goes wrong is so very valuable.”
