Podcast: One-On-One With John Hummel and Shelly Kobb Of U.S. Bank

Mortgage lenders are adapting to the needs of consumers, whether they be old school or online.

That's according to John Hummel, head of retail home lending at U.S. Bank, and Shelly Kobb, head of correspondent, warehouse, and HFA lending at U.S. Bank.

Kobb says in many cases, companies are working with clientele who want to work with lenders in person, while also catering to customers who prefer to do as much of the mortgage transaction as they can online.

“You actually have both ends of the spectrum, right? You still have a population that wants to sit down face to face with a loan officer to do the application, all the way to, ‘I just want to do it in the evening from home and not travel to an office,'" Kobb said.

Professionals in the industry are trained to be able to deal with all types of people, and U.S. Bank gives them the tools to do that, Hummel added.

"I think that our position is that we will accommodate you based on what your needs dictate. To Shelly’s point, there are some people that just want to go through our portal and really self-serve. And yet, there are probably still many borrowers out there who really want to sit down in person, or some combination even. Maybe they start by leveraging the technology to get the ball rolling, and then as they get closer to finalizing where they're headed with a transaction, they involve a mortgage loan officer to come in on that end game, so to speak,” Hummel said.

Hummel and Kobb recently sat down with The Mortgage Note's Scott Kimbler to talk about how the industry has changed post-pandemic, their predictions moving forward, and what keeps them passionate about their jobs.

Hummel said there have been a lot of changes in the mortgage lending landscape since 2019.

“We were in a better rate environment pre-pandemic. But I think we were all thinking that things were slowing down a little bit in the industry as a whole. Then the pandemic hit. Rates drop to 3%. And we had a real stretch there between really 2020 through probably 2022, where here at U.S. Bank, we had record-setting volume across really, all the distribution channels," Hummel said.

Now, with rates over 6% for longer than expected, and inventory diminished in many areas of the country, it's a different story.

"The best way to classify it is as kind of a tale of two cities. We had an extremely low-rate environment during that 2020 to 2022 time period, and now we've seen elevated rates ever since, with those continued challenges with the inventory supply,” Hummel said.

Kobb said that even though borrowing has become more difficult, it is still an environment buyers can navigate with the right guidance and understanding.

“I think that this is a little bit unique with the housing shortage supply, but I do see more houses on the market for longer. Prices in some areas are dropping," Kobb said.

"I think from a lending perspective, it's really keeping in touch with past contacts, working with them, keeping relevant, keeping your name in front of them."

Kobb said since rates have remained elevated for three years, many buyers now understand this is the new normal and are moving forward with purchasing a home because their lives have changed, and it is time for them to move.

People are also using home equity lines of credit and home equity loans to improve where they live if moving isn't necessary.

"They're tapping home equity now to do some renovations or remodel their existing home. It gives them an opportunity to continue to get more shelf life out of their existing home, versus maybe having to go into the purchase market and be challenged with both elevated pricing and rates," Hummel said.

Hummel said he expects more of the same in 2026.

"It'll still be a predominantly heavy purchase market. If we do see a little drift down in rates, we could see some refinance activity because of all the originations that have occurred over the last year and a half that maybe are between 6% and 7%," Hummel said.

U.S. Bancorp, with approximately 70,000 employees and $686 billion in assets as of June 30, 2025, is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company serves millions of customers through a diversified mix of businesses, including consumer banking, business banking, commercial banking, institutional banking, payments, and wealth management.

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