This week, we at Lender Toolkit are celebrating 11 years in business, and we are feeling equal parts grateful and proud.
We started in 2015 as a team of four with one clear mission: make lending smoother for the people doing the work and the borrowers counting on it. Back then, we were PowerTools™ only. One set of tools built to reduce manual steps and make Encompass teams faster and more effective. Fast forward to today, and we are a 50 person team with a full ecosystem of solutions, a platform mindset, and a reputation for actually delivering what we promise.
What makes Lender Toolkit different
Here is the flex: we are not a push-button mortgage tech company built by people who have never lived inside the realities of the loan process.
We are mortgage people first and tech people second. That difference shows up everywhere: in what we build, how we implement it, and how we support it. We understand the nuance, the exceptions, the compliance pressure, the constant changing guidelines, and the fact that “simple” in mortgage is almost never simple.
That is why we have become a true one stop shop for lenders on Encompass. Instead of stacking vendor after vendor, patching together point solutions, and hoping they all play nice, our clients work with one partner who can optimize the mortgage workflow end to end.
We even trademarked the category we built: MaaS™, Mortgage Automation as a Service™. MaaS is not just software. It is software plus mortgage expertise plus ongoing partnership, because we have seen too many “set it and forget it” tools fall apart the moment real production hits.
Prism: end-to-end Encompass automation that actually reduces friction
A huge part of our evolution has been Prism, our end-to-end Encompass automation engine. Prism is designed to automate core, high-effort parts of the file so teams can move faster with greater confidence. Prism extracts data directly from sources, indexes and classifies documents, analyzes assets, calculates income, and generates conditions in real time using 8,000+ data points.
Here is what that looks like in practice:
-
Direct data extraction from sources like appraisals, credit reports, and FHA docs
-
Document indexing that auto-classifies and extracts key data from uploaded docs
-
Asset analysis to identify things like large deposits and non-sufficient funds
-
Income calculation across W2, 1099, variable, and self-employed income types with rep and warrant compliance
-
Condition generation using custom, context-aware logic
-
Underwriting clarity with explainable logic built into the Encompass workflow
And the outcomes are not just “nice to have” improvements. Prism is positioned around measurable transformation, including 30% faster clear-to-close, 40% fewer reconditions, and 10+ hours saved per loan file.
That is what we mean when we say end-to-end. Not a shiny add-on. Not a single task automation. A real engine that reduces friction across the team.
Responsible Mortgage AI and our newest launch, Guideline Agent
The newest chapter of our story is Responsible Mortgage AI. We are not here to pretend AI can do everything in mortgage. It cannot, and lenders should be skeptical of anything claiming otherwise.
Our approach is simple: use AI where it genuinely makes work smoother and easier, especially on repeatable, high-friction moments, and keep mortgage expertise and human accountability at the center.
Guideline Agent is a great example of that philosophy in action. It is an easy entry point for teams who want to explore AI without feeling like they are handing over the keys. It helps teams get clearer answers to guideline questions faster, so “quick checks” stop derailing the whole file. It is meant to support judgment, not replace it.
Awards are not the goal, but they do tell a story
This growth and innovation have been recognized across the industry. We were recently named to the HousingWire Tech100 list for mortgage technology innovation, a respected recognition highlighting companies shaping the future of housing technology. We have also consistently earned spots on the Inc. 5000 and Inc. Regionals lists and were recognized locally on the MWCN Utah 100. These milestones reflect the impact we are proud to have across the mortgage industry.
Awards are never the goal, but they reflect something we care deeply about: trust. Trust from lenders. Trust from partners. Trust that we will show up, understand the real problem, and deliver a solution that holds up in production.
The person in our logo is not an accident
There is one detail we love coming back to on days like this: our logo.
The icon in the Lender Toolkit mark is meant to represent a person. That is intentional. It is a reminder that behind every loan file is a borrower, a family, a future home, and a lending team trying to do right by all of it. Serving people has always been the heart of our mission, and it always will be.
So yes, this is a birthday post. And yes, it is a little braggy. We earned that.
From four people and PowerTools to a near-50 person team, a trademarked software category, award-winning mortgage tech, and a growing suite of automation and AI, we are proud of what we have built.
But we are even more proud of how we build it: mortgage people first, humans always, and technology that delivers in the real world.
Here’s to 11 years, and to what we are building next.
Check out some of our favorite memories over the years. Epic Universe company summit in Orlando last year, our famous Supercar Experience at ICE Experience (with Ricky Bobby!), and one of our first summits 5 years ago in Park City, UT.
