loanDepot, Inc.

Good morning. My name is David and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Loan Depot Inc. fourth quarter 2021 earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, simply press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one once again. Gearhart or Daly with Investor Relations, you may begin your conference.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. I'm Gearhart or Daly, Investor Relations Officer here at Loan Depot. Today, we'll discuss Loan Depot's year-end and fourth quarter 2021 results. We are excited to share our financial results and other highlights with you. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that this conference call may include forward-looking statements regarding the company's operating and financial performance in future periods. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including but not limited to guidance to our pull-through weighted rate block volume, origination volume, and pull-through weighted gain on sale margin. These statements are based on the company's current expectations and available information. Actual results for future periods may differ materially from these forward-looking statements due to risks or other factors that are described in the risk factors section of our filings with the SEC. A webcast and a transcript of this call will be posted on the company's investor relations website at investors.loandepot.com under the events and presentations tab. On today's call, we have Loan Depot founder, chairman, and CEO, Anthony Shea, and Chief Financial Officer, Patrick Flanagan, to provide an overview of our quarter, as well as our financial and operational results, outlook, and to answer your questions. We are also joined by our Chief Capital Markets Officer, Jeff DeGurion, our Chief Analytics Officer, John Lee, and our Chief Revenue Officer, Jeff Walsh, to help address any questions you might have after our prepared remarks. And with that, I'll turn things over to Anthony to get us started.

Anthony? Thank you, Gerhard. I'm pleased to be with all of you on the call today. Thank you for joining us. I look forward to sharing my perspective and answering your questions. 2021 demonstrated the success of our strategy to increase market share during a period of changing market conditions. This is quite an achievement for a company as young as ours. Just three weeks ago, we celebrated our 12th birthday. We aren't even a teenager yet, but Loan Depot is now the second largest independent retail mortgage brand in the country. We've grown at 49% compounded annual rate since our inception, and we plan to continue this growth in the long term. Our growth is very intentional. We have built Loan Depot to succeed during all market conditions. Conditions like those we enjoyed in 2020 are when Loan Depot drives revenue. But the conditions we expect to navigate in 2022 give us an incredible opportunity to capture market share. Our business was purpose-built with periods of pressure in mind. Our proprietary tech stack, our intentionally diverse mix of channels, and our sophisticated performance marketing machine mean we control our new flow, our customer contact strategy, and the point of loan origination. This is a critical competitive advantage, enabling us to pivot and adjust our production as market trends demand. In fact, historically speaking, it's been during periods of decreasing volume that Loan Depot's unique strategy and differentiated assets have resulted in outsized market share growth. Those are the periods when we most demonstrate our ability to succeed. We ended 2021 with a 3.4% market share. compared to 2.5% at the end of 2020 and grew purchase origination volume by 39% during 2021 as well. Purchase volume growth demonstrated the power of our multi-channel strategy. If we include less interest rate sensitive cash out refinance volume to a purchase volume, growth was 56% year over year. While interest rates were increasing and refinance volumes were declining, we invested in growing our in-market retail branches and joined venture partners to drive this growth. Our industry is a cyclical one, and the market conditions we face today have been faced before by Lone Depot's experienced leadership team, the members of which have collectively navigated many housing and interest rate cycles over the last 35 years. Today, Lone Depot is more than a mortgage company. We're a digital commerce company committed to serving our customers throughout the homeownership journey with a full suite of products and services that meet our customers' needs along that journey. Our investment in building out our in-house servicing platform, including our recently announced Ginnie Mae servicing, allows us to deliver exceptional customer care throughout the customer lifecycle. This deepening of the relationship gives our customers another reason to return to us long after the initial home financing transaction is complete. Lone Depot is growing, and we remain very true to our public statements about our strategies, abilities, and the ways in which we can, do, and will deliver for our customers. We have achieved much for such a young age, and while we are proud of our progress, we believe that times like these, when the market contracts are when the assets we have built will lead our industry. Our 2021 results are only a preview of what's to come as we leverage our brand, develop and apply innovative technology solutions, drive down costs, and add more products and services to help our customers successfully navigate one of the most important financial transactions of their lives. With that, I'll turn things over to our CFO, Pat Flanagan, who will take you through our financial results in more detail. Pat.