Optimal Blue Streamlines Best Efforts Lock Execution for Lenders

New API connectivity lets lenders lock eligible loans with Fannie Mae without leaving the Optimal Blue® PPE, replacing portal logins and manual data reentry

PLANO, Texas, Oct. 12, 2026 – Optimal Blue today announced that its direct lock functionality now integrates with Fannie Mae’s Pricing & Execution – Whole Loan® (PE – Whole Loan) platform. The integration allows lenders using Optimal Blue’s product, pricing and eligibility (PPE) engine to execute best efforts locks with Fannie Mae through real-time, system-to-system connectivity without leaving Optimal Blue.

PE – Whole Loan is Fannie Mae’s proprietary whole loan committing platform, which lenders use to browse, price and commit loans for sale to Fannie Mae. Through the new integration, lock desk users can now complete eligible Fannie Mae locks in the same workflow they already use for product and pricing decisions by sending best efforts lock requests directly from the Optimal Blue PPE to Fannie Mae’s PE-Whole Loan via this integration. Users benefit from a centralized workflow from pricing through execution, as Optimal Blue's integration helps to flow data more seamlessly between the two systems, and confirmations are returned automatically within Optimal Blue. By eliminating separate portal logins and manual data reentry, the process may reduce the risk of entry errors and the time required to execute a best efforts lock. Additionally, automatically generated confirmations provide a clear audit trail and execution record.

This new integration with Fannie Mae marks a significant expansion of Optimal Blue’s direct lock program, bringing automated best efforts execution to its largest participating investor to date.

“Best efforts locking has historically required lenders to leave their pricing workflow, log into a separate portal, and reenter loan data by hand. But mortgage capital markets perform better when lenders and investors can connect directly, move faster and eliminate unnecessary friction,” said Erin Wester, chief product officer of Optimal Blue. “Optimal Blue’s new integration with Fannie Mae direct lock is an important expansion of that connectivity. It brings greater automation to a critical execution relationship for lenders and moves the industry closer to a truly connected capital markets ecosystem.”

The integration builds on Optimal Blue’s 2025 launch of direct lock functionality, which replaced investor portal logins and manual data reentry with API connectivity between lenders and participating investors. The capability fully automates the process for a lock desk user to execute best efforts commitments from directly within Optimal Blue’s PPE engine.

Optimal Blue’s network connects approximately 3,500 lenders with nearly 300 investors.

About Optimal Blue
Optimal Blue powers strategic performance across the mortgage capital markets ecosystem. As the industry’s only proven end-to-end capital markets platform, our technology, data and integrations bridge the primary and secondary markets to help lenders of all sizes optimize performance – from pricing accuracy to margin protection and every step in between. Backed by over 20 years of proven expertise, our modern, cloud-native technology delivers the real-time automation, actionable data and seamless connectivity lenders need to navigate market volatility and scale for growth. To learn more about how Optimal Blue helps deliver measurable ROI, visit OptimalBlue.com.

Media Contacts:
Alexandra Kreuter, Optimal Blue
732.861.5012
Alexandra.Kreuter@OptimalBlue.com

Leslie Colley, Depth for Optimal Blue
678.622.6229
leslie@depthpr.com