CUSO Home Lending rolls out Dark Matter Technologies’ loan origination system 

CUSO Home Lending rolled out Dark Matter Technologies’ Empower loan origination system (LOS) for its credit union owners. 

CUSO Home Lending — a lender owned by Maine credit unions — became the first credit union service organization to leverage Empower’s newly developed joint-venture feature that allows credit unions to offer individualized branding, products and pricing while saving costs under CUSO’s shared services model.

“We are proud to introduce expanded support for joint ventures that frees credit unions to offer customized member experiences while reaping all the benefits of the CUSO model,” Rich Gagliano, CEO of Dark Matter Technologies, said in a prepared statement.

“Technology has become a central focus of our business strategy because of the value it drives for our credit union owners and partners and the superior mortgage experience it enables us to deliver to consumers,” said CUSO Home Lending president and CEO Lori Michaud.

CUSO Home Lending — established in 1993 — supported its owner credit unions and the communities with cost-effective access to mortgage fulfillment services, loan servicing and origination technology, according to its website. 

Dark Matter Technologies, which completed the acquisition of Black Knight’s Empower and Optimal Blue in September, is prioritizing bringing down origination costs for lenders.

Speaking to HousingWire previously, Gagliano noted the firm saw up to 300% year-over-year growth in new user numbers for the past couple of years as an increasing number of lenders are focused on cutting origination costs.

“We actually do well in any kind of market,” Gagliano said in an interview in September. 

“Now we’re in a down cycle, they need to do it with fewer people and they need to be more efficient to get the cost down. So it’s really the same story, just different markets,” Gagliano said.

Dark Matter Technologies, under Constellation Software‘s umbrella, is also focused on working towards a smooth transition over to Constellation with its 1,300-plus employees for the remainder of 2023.

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