Guild (GHLD) 10-K2023 FY Annual report

Guild Holdings Company, a Delaware corporation, together with its subsidiaries, is referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Annual Report”) as “Guild,” “we,” “us,” “our,” and the “Company.” This Annual Report contains forward looking statements that reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, future events and our financial performance. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “predict,” “potential,” “believe,” “will likely result,” “expect,” “continue,” “will,” “anticipate,” “seek,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “projection,” “would” and “outlook,” or the negative version of those words or other comparable words or phrases of a future or forward-looking nature. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management’s beliefs and certain assumptions made by management, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control. Accordingly, we caution you that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made, actual results, events or circumstances could differ materially from the results, events or circumstances expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those factors described below under Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report. In addition, new risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report.

We disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Annual Report or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

Guild is a growth-oriented mortgage company that employs a relationship-based loan sourcing strategy to execute on our mission of delivering the promise of homeownership in neighborhoods and communities across the United States. Our business model is centered on providing a personalized mortgage-borrowing experience that is delivered by our knowledgeable loan officers and supported by our diverse product offerings.

Our business is operated through our wholly-owned subsidiary, Guild Mortgage Company. Guild Mortgage Company was founded in 1960 in California.

Guild is among the longest-operating mortgage seller-servicers in the United States. Over the course of our operating history, we have navigated numerous economic cycles and market dislocations. We have also expanded our retail origination operation to 49 states, operating our origination segment from approximately 350 office locations. and we have developed end-to-end technology systems, a reputable brand, industry expertise and many durable relationships with our clients and members of our referral network.

In 2007, seeing an opportunity to expand our sales and production strategy and grow our market share, a management-led partnership that included a majority investment from Fulcrum Mortgage, LLC, now known as MCMI, acquired Guild Mortgage Company from its founder.

Immediately prior to our initial public offering in 2020, we engaged in an internal reorganization that simplified our organizational structure, incorporating Guild Holdings Company in Delaware, making Guild Mortgage Company its wholly owned subsidiary and converted Guild Mortgage Company to a California limited liability company.

Our business model benefits from the complementary relationship between our origination and servicing segments which, together, have propelled our performance through interest rate and market cycles. We believe that maintaining both an origination segment and a servicing segment provides us with a more balanced business model in both rising and declining interest rate environments, compared to industry participants that predominantly focus on either origination or servicing, instead of both. Typically in an interest rising market environment originations tend to shift to purchase originations rather than refinances. Due to our physical presence and footprint throughout the country we believe that we are in an advantageous position when the market is more purchase focused as compared to our competitors that are more refinance focused and have to significantly change their business model during purchase cycles.

Our origination strategy focuses on increasing our purchase-mortgage business and providing a superior personalized mortgage-borrowing experience that encourages our clients to return to us. This is successfully

Our in-house servicing platform creates opportunities to extend our relationship with clients and generates refinance and purchase volume that replenishes run-off from our servicing portfolio. In coordination with our portfolio recapture team, our loan officers handle recapture activity for their existing client base directly, rather than outsourcing that function through a call center. This approach creates a continuous client relationship that we believe encourages repeat business. In addition, our scalable servicing platform provides a recurring stream of revenue that is complementary to our origination business.

Our retail channel, which made up approximately 95% of our origination segment in 2023, focuses on serving our clients and referral partners in the markets we serve. We generate revenue through gain on sale and fees associated with originating and selling mortgage loans to the secondary market. We utilize warehouse facilities to fund originated loans and the mortgage loans are typically sold within 30 days of origination. After we sell originated mortgage loans to the secondary market, we generally retain the servicing rights on mortgage loans sold.

For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 we originated $14.2 billion and $18.3 billion, respectively, in retail mortgage loan originations.

Our loan products are underwritten using a disciplined approach that focuses on credit risk and responsible lending. Our proprietary technology platform is regularly updated to incorporate new investor guidelines as well as state and federal regulations. These processes are designed to ensure integrity over data and qualification requirements, facilitate the manufacturing of quality loan originations and minimize underwriting defects. The loan products we offer include loans eligible for sale or securitization to secondary market participants such as the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, together, the “GSEs”), Government National Mortgage Association (“GNMA” or “Ginnie Mae”), state housing agencies and other private or institutional investors. The underwriting guidelines for these products are established by the entities that will purchase, insure or guaranty the loans (i.e., the GSEs, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”), the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”), the Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”), private mortgage insurers, and institutional and private investors). The majority of our loan products are sold to either the GSEs or Ginnie Mae.

Our success in the retail market is tied to the expertise of our loan officers and the strength of our referral partner network. We have built our referral network by providing our clients with a personalized mortgage-borrowing experience that is delivered by a knowledgeable loan officer. Our referral network relationships, including realtors, builders, existing clients, and financial planners, have been cultivated over years and are bolstered by our strong presence in the communities we serve. These referral partner network relationships enhance our ability to generate repeat business and recapture volume.

In addition to the retail channel of our origination segment, we maintain an active correspondent channel that purchases closed loans primarily from small community banks and credit unions. We are able to offer a diverse product set through the correspondent channel to generate origination volume.

We also utilize our correspondent channel to support our continued growth efforts. As we work to expand into new locations, the correspondent channel serves as an entry point to begin building our brand, reputation, and client base.

We have developed our in-house servicing platform and have expanded and upgraded our technology and infrastructure over time. The unique combination of in-house servicing and proprietary technology allows for enhanced servicing practices and embedded compliance controls throughout the system.

As of December 31, 2023, we serviced approximately 345,000 loans with an aggregate unpaid principal balance (“UPB”) of approximately $85.0 billion. UPB is measured as of the end of a period. Our loan servicing segment performs loan administration, collection, and default management activities, including the collection

Our servicing segment is based out of our servicing center in San Diego, California, and we are a licensed mortgage servicer in 49 states and the District of Columbia. Our primary source of revenue for our servicing operations is based upon a stated fee per loan that varies by investor. This fee is earned on a monthly basis as the borrower makes each payment.

As the owner of the mortgage servicing right (“MSR”), depending on the investors’ requirements and the loan program, we may be obligated to make servicing advances to fund scheduled principal, interest, tax and insurance payments when the mortgage loan borrower has failed to make the scheduled payments and to cover foreclosure costs and various other items required to preserve the assets being serviced.

Additionally, as the owner of the MSR, we generally have the right to solicit our clients for refinance opportunities. We leverage our technology platform and data repository to continuously screen our servicing portfolio in an effort to anticipate borrower actions and capitalize on recapture opportunities. When a refinance opportunity is identified, the portfolio recapture team sends that opportunity to the loan officer who originated the existing loan and maintains the client relationship. For select refinance opportunities, our consumer direct team will originate the opportunity directly.

Our primary growth strategy is focused on tactics described below to gain scale and invest back into the business.

We have successfully completed numerous acquisitions. In July 2021, we completed our acquisition of Residential Mortgage Services Holdings, Inc. (“RMS”), which expanded our local presence in the Northeast. In December 2022, we completed the acquisition of certain assets of Inlanta Mortgage, Inc. (“Inlanta”), which expanded our local presence in the Midwest region. In February 2023, we completed our acquisition of certain assets of Legacy Mortgage LLC (“Legacy” or “Legacy Mortgage”), which expanded our local presence in the Southwest region. In April 2023, we completed our acquisition of certain assets of Cherry Creek Mortgage, LLC (“CCM”), which expanded our reverse mortgage lending through Guild’s retail channel. In September 2023, we completed our acquisition of certain assets of First Centennial Mortgage (“FCM”), which expanded our local presence in the Midwest. On February 26, 2024, we completed the acquisition of certain assets of Utah-based lender Academy Mortgage Corporation (“Academy Mortgage”). The addition of Academy Mortgage will extend Guild’s market share across its national footprint. We expect to continue to expand our business in new local communities while increasing our presence in the geographic areas we serve our clients.

Historically, our potential targets have shared our values and our commitment to innovation, creativity and collaboration. We prefer to partner with lenders that have a strong foothold in their market and a clearly defined approach to sustaining that success. Following an acquisition, we fully integrate each business operationally, on-boarding the acquired business to our platform, while allowing its management team to continue executing the strategy that has been successful for them in the past. After a target business has been integrated into the Guild platform, we strive to support growth organically in the same way we do in our existing markets. We also strive to generate synergies and support profitability by improving execution and efficiencies for the businesses that we acquire.

In addition to targeting acquisitions and loan officers in markets we serve our clients, to grow our retail channel we also focus on recapturing our own portfolio. Recapture exists when we refinance a current client’s loan or when we help originate a current client’s new home purchase. By doing so, we continue the relationship with the client which presents not only an extended servicing revenue stream, but additional future origination opportunities. For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, our overall recapture rate was 27% and 39%, respectively.

Our strategy is to retain a client for life and one of the ways we execute this strategy is to retain the mortgage servicing right after a loan is originated and sold to the secondary market. Through this strategy we expect to grow our overall servicing portfolio by adding new customers and retaining current customers within the portfolio.

Our technology is differentiated in that we have a proprietary integrated platform for servicing and production. As a result, we control our lending process from start to finish and have created a personalized client experience from the time a loan officer takes an application through a loan’s closing, and until the loan pays off and we have an opportunity to recapture the client’s next transaction.

Our proprietary platform and vendor integrations drive loan officer productivity, operational scale and favorable unit economics. Our experienced loan officers use this end-to-end technology platform and our custom-built client relationship management system as a tool to help enable them to find new clients, close new loans and enhance and expand existing client relationships.

This technology platform and our data repository has been developed over the course of our long operating history. By utilizing this data to further develop our platform and to curate suggested customer touchpoints, we foster a balanced combination of personalized and digital strategies for lead nurturing, as well as client education and communication, that we believe gives our loan officers a competitive edge.

The majority of our technology used throughout our company is proprietary and developed internally by our own employees. We rely on a combination of trade secret laws and contractual agreements to establish, maintain and protect our intellectual property rights and technology. We enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and enter into confidentiality agreements with third parties, including suppliers and other partners.

Mortgage loans are the largest class of consumer debt in the United States. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (“MBA”), there was approximately $14.0 trillion of residential mortgage debt outstanding as of December 31, 2023. According to the MBA, 1-4 family mortgage origination volume was approximately $1.6 trillion in 2023, a decline from $2.2 trillion in 2022. However, the MBA is projecting origination volume to be $2.0 trillion in 2024 according to their February 2024 forecast.

The residential mortgage industry is characterized by high barriers to entry. Mortgage lenders must obtain approval from the GSEs and Ginnie Mae and maintain various state licenses in order to originate, sell and service federal and GSE-backed loans. In addition, sophisticated technology, origination and servicing processes and regulatory expertise are required to build and manage a successful mortgage business.

The mortgage lending market is highly competitive. We compete with large financial institutions and with other independent residential mortgage loan producers and servicers. Competition can occur on the basis of the variety of product offerings, speed and convenience of execution in loan origination, interest rates and fees, client experience, technical knowledge, marketing and referral relationships and recruiting of employees within the industry. We aim to differentiate our products and services on the basis of our loan officers’ ability to leverage our technology platform to match customers with the loan programs that best suit their needs. This provides a customer-focused and seamless borrowing experience, starting from origination and continuing through servicing.

The mortgage origination industry can be seasonal due to changes in purchasing trends with borrowers. Typically spring and summer months yield higher volumes as opposed to fall and winter months yielding lower volumes. Accordingly, our loan origination revenue varies from quarter to quarter and comparisons of sequential quarters may not be meaningful.

The mortgage industry is subject to a highly complex legal and regulatory framework. Our business is subject to extensive regulation and oversight by federal, state and local governmental authorities, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and various state licensing, supervisory and administrative agencies. From time to time, we also receive requests from such governmental authorities for records, documents and information relating to the policies, procedures and practices of our loan servicing, origination and collection activities. In addition, we are also subject to periodic reviews and audits from the GSEs, Ginnie Mae, the CFPB, HUD, the USDA, the VA, state regulatory agencies and others. Our operations are also subject to federal and state laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection and data security. The legal and regulatory environment in which we operate is also constantly evolving as statutes, regulations and practices,

These and other laws and regulations directly affect our business and require constant compliance monitoring and internal and external audits and examinations by federal and state regulators. We work diligently to assess and understand the implications of the complex regulatory environment in which we operate and strive to meet the requirements of this constantly changing environment. We dedicate substantial resources to regulatory compliance while at the same time striving to meet the needs and expectations of our customers, clients and other stakeholders. Notwithstanding these efforts, there can be no assurance that we will be able to remain in compliance with these requirements. See “Risks Related to Regulatory Environment” under the section titled “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”

We are also subject to a variety of regulatory and contractual obligations imposed by the GSEs, Ginnie Mae, the VA, the FHA, and others.

In addition, the CFPB was established to ensure that consumers receive clear and accurate disclosures regarding financial products and to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices, among other things. The CFPB influences the regulation of residential mortgage loan originations and servicing in several ways. The CFPB has rulemaking authority with respect to many of the federal consumer protection laws applicable to mortgage originators and servicers, such as us, including the TILA, RESPA, and ECOA. The CFPB has been active and continues to amend rules and regulations within its purview. For example, the CFPB has issued rules and regulations that have expanded the scope of data required to be collected and reported for loan applicants and imposed requirements relating to repayment ability and qualified mortgage standards. These rules impose significant compliance burdens, for example, by requiring us to collect and submit data to regulators and to retain evidence of compliance, and any failures to comply, including any inadvertent errors, could result in the CFPB or other regulators imposing fines on or taking other enforcement actions relating to us.

The CFPB’s jurisdiction includes those persons originating, brokering, servicing or collecting residential mortgage loans and those persons performing loan modification or foreclosure relief services in connection with such loans. The CFPB has broad supervisory and enforcement powers with regard to non-depository institutions, such as us, that engage in the origination and servicing of home loans. The CFPB has conducted routine examinations of our business and we expect it to conduct future examinations. The CFPB can also bring enforcement actions, impose monetary penalties, require remediation of practices, pursue administrative proceedings or litigation and obtain cease and desist orders for violations of applicable federal consumer financial laws. The CFPB has been active in investigations and enforcement actions and has issued civil money penalties to parties when the CFPB has determined that such parties have violated the laws and regulations it enforces.

The SAFE Act requires all states to have laws that require individual mortgage loan originators employed by non-depository institutions, such as us, to be licensed to offer mortgage loan products. States also impose entity- and branch-level licensing obligations on us. As a result, we are subject to various state licensing requirements. These state licensing requirements generally require individual loan originators to register in a nationwide licensing system, submit information for a character and fitness review, submit to a criminal background check, complete a minimum number of hours of pre-licensing education, complete an annual minimum number of hours of continuing education and successfully complete an examination. Upon issuance of a license, we become subject to regulatory oversight, supervision, and enforcement activity to determine compliance with applicable law. To conduct our residential mortgage operations in the United States, we are licensed in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

State laws and regulations, and interpretations thereof, vary from state to state, and these laws, regulations and interpretations may change and/or may be vague or interpreted only rarely.

Additionally, our business is subject to numerous state laws that are continuously changing, including laws related to mobile- and internet-based businesses, data privacy (including the California Consumer Privacy Act and similar or other data privacy laws enacted by other states) and advertising laws. One of our subsidiaries, Mission Village Insurance Agency, is also subject to certain laws and regulations governing insurance activities.

State attorneys general, state licensing regulators and state and local consumer protection offices also have the authority to investigate consumer complaints, commence investigations and other formal and informal proceedings, and take enforcement actions and impose remedies on or regarding our operations and activities.

See also “Risks Related to Regulatory Environment” under the section titled “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”

At the heart of our Company is our culture, grounded in strong values, innovation, creativity and collaboration. We believe our culture sets us apart and is the backbone of our success. It has enabled us to continuously innovate and evolve to navigate the dynamic mortgage market. This has given us the ability to attract, develop and retain top talent throughout our organization. We also believe our culture positions us as an acquisition partner of choice and a preferred platform for top mortgage originators of originating and servicing businesses we acquire. As of December 31, 2023 we employed more than 4,200 employees throughout the United States. None of the employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

Guild is an inclusive organization and encourages open and honest dialogue across employees, clients and partners. We have a diverse leadership team across each of our business lines. Our leadership team has an average of 23 years of industry experience, has worked at Guild for an average of 11 years and includes top performers from the businesses that Guild has acquired. We have high employee retention, as well as a successful recruiting program, because we empower our employees, maintain a culture that supports collaboration and development and provide our employees with the tools and resources they need to be successful. Over the last five years, ending December 31, 2023, 75% of our originations were produced from loan officers who are still with us today.

We empower our loan officers through our coaching program, Elevate, designed to support loan officers at each stage of their careers. Elevate provides a roadmap to develop highly productive partnerships with referral networks. The program is taught by our highest producing loan officers and allows participants to learn effective solutions from their peers. The program also furthers our goal of creating a collaborative culture by engaging our national sales team to share best practices with their peers around the country. Participating loan officers have consistently achieved increased average productivity following participation in the program.

Additionally, we provide branch managers coaching through our LIFT program, which is designed to help branch managers learn, inspire, focus and thrive. Our branch manager coaching program is led by our retail production leadership and highly productive managers to drive peer-to-peer learning at the management level.

We have an internal online training system, Guild University, that is focused on all aspects of employee training, including employee development, productivity, management, and compliance.

We believe strongly in supporting the communities in which we operate. To that end, Guild and its employees give back to the neighborhoods and communities we serve through sustained investment of time and resources, including through our Guild Giving Foundation. As encouragement to continue to give back to communities, Guild offers paid time off to our employees for volunteer hours. In addition, the Guild Giving Foundation partially matches employee contributions to charities of their choosing. Throughout our branch locations as well as our corporate headquarters in San Diego, local community involvement is a continual part of connecting with the neighborhoods we serve. Being involved in our local communities not only drives employee engagement, but it also develops our referral network and enhances business relationships.

We file or furnish annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“Exchange Act”). The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding companies, like Guild, that file electronically with the SEC. The address of that site is www.sec.gov.

Guild’s website is www.guildmortgage.com and the investor relations portion of our website is http://ir.guildmortgage.com. The content of our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report or in any other report or document we file. We make available free of charge on our website, or provide a link to, our Forms 10-K, Forms 10-Q and Forms 8-K and any amendments to these documents, that are filed or furnished pursuant to the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. To access these filings, go to the investor relations portion of our website and click on “SEC Filings.”

Our logo and any trade names of Guild appearing in this Annual Report are our property. This Annual Report also contains trademarks and trade names of other companies, which are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this Annual Report may appear without the ® or ™ symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensor to these trademarks and trade names.

Certain industry data and market data included in this Annual Report were obtained from independent third-party surveys, market research, publicly available information, reports of governmental agencies, and industry publications and surveys.

All of the industry data, market data and related estimates used in this Annual Report involve a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such data and estimates. Although we have no reason to believe that the information from these surveys and industry publications is not reliable, we have not independently verified this information and cannot guarantee its accuracy or completeness. The industry in which we operate is subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in the section titled “Risk Factors.” These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by independent parties and by us.

Investing in our Class A common stock involves risks. You should carefully consider the risk factors described below before investing in our Class A common stock. Discussion of these factors is incorporated by reference into and considered an integral part of Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations.”

If any of these risks materialize, it could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, and the market price and liquidity of our Class A common stock, which could cause you to lose all or a significant part of your investment in our Class A common stock. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of or that we currently see as immaterial may also adversely affect our business. Some statements in this Annual Report, including statements included in the following risk factors, constitute forward-looking statements. Please refer to “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Demand in the secondary market for home loans and our ability to sell the mortgages that we originate depend on many factors that are beyond our control, including general economic conditions, the willingness of lenders to provide funding for and purchase home loans and changes in regulatory requirements. Our inability to sell the mortgages that we originate in the secondary market in a timely manner and on favorable terms could be detrimental to our business. In particular, we sell the majority of the mortgages that we originate to the GSEs and Ginnie Mae, and the gain recognized from these sales represents a significant portion of our revenues and net earnings. If it is not possible or economical for us to continue selling mortgages to the GSEs or other loan purchasers, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Increased delinquencies could also increase the cost of servicing existing mortgages and could be detrimental to our business. Lower servicing fees could result in decreased cash flow, and also could decrease the estimated value of our MSRs, resulting in recognition of losses when we write down those values. In addition, an increase in delinquencies lowers the interest income we receive on cash held in collection and other accounts and increases our obligation to advance certain principal, interest, tax, and insurance obligations owed by the delinquent mortgage loan borrower.

A substantial portion of the loans we originate are loans eligible for sale to the GSEs, and government insured or guaranteed loans, such as loans backed by the FHA, the VA and the USDA, eligible for Ginnie Mae securities issuance. The future of GSEs is uncertain, including with respect to how long they will continue to be in existence, the extent of their roles in the market and what forms they will have, and whether they will be government agencies, government-sponsored agencies or private for-profit entities. The GSEs also require us to maintain certain operating and financial covenants. Financial covenants include minimum net worth, minimum liquidity, minimum of total liquid assets, and maximum ratio of adjusted net worth to total assets. A breach of these covenants could prevent us from selling mortgage loans to one or all of these investors in the secondary market.

If the operation of the GSEs is discontinued or reduced, if there is a significant change in their organization, capital structure, financial condition, pricing and underwriting criteria, activity levels or roles in the primary or secondary mortgage markets, or if we lose approvals with those agencies or our relationships with those agencies is otherwise adversely affected, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our profitability is directly affected by changes in interest rates. The market value of closed loans held for sale and interest rate locks generally changes along with interest rates. Increasing interest rates currently being experienced in the U.S. have adversely impacted our origination volume because refinancing an existing loan is less attractive for homeowners and qualifying for a purchase loan is more difficult for some borrowers. Furthermore, increasing interest rates have also adversely affect our margins due to increased competition among originators. On the other hand, decreasing interest rates may cause a large number of borrowers to refinance, which could result in the loss of future net servicing revenues with an associated write-down of the related MSRs. As such, volatility in prevailing interest rates have had and may continue to have a detrimental effect on our financial performance and results of operations. Many factors beyond our control impact interest rates, including economic conditions, governmental monetary policies, inflation, recession, changes in unemployment, the money supply, and disorder and instability in domestic and foreign financial markets. Changes in monetary policies of the Federal Reserve System could influence not only consumer demand for mortgages but also the fair value of our financial assets and liabilities.

We pursue hedging strategies to mitigate our exposure to adverse changes in interest rates, including with respect to loans held for sale and interest rate locks. Hedging interest rate risk, however, is a complex process, requiring sophisticated models and constant monitoring, and is not a perfect science. Due to interest rate fluctuations, hedged assets and liabilities will appreciate or depreciate in market value. The effect of this unrealized appreciation or depreciation will generally be offset by income or loss on the derivative instruments that are linked to the hedged assets and liabilities. If we engage in derivative transactions, we will be exposed to credit and market risk. If a counterparty fails to perform, counterparty risk exists to the extent of the fair value gain in the derivative. Interest rate risk exists to the extent that interest rates change in ways that are significantly different from what we expected when we entered into the derivative transaction. In addition, we may not engage in hedging strategies with respect to all or a portion of our exposure to changes in interest rates at any given time, or may engage in hedging strategies to a degree or in a manner that is different from

The servicing agreements under which we service mortgage loans for GSE and non-GSE loan purchasers require that we comply with certain servicing guidelines and abide by certain financial and restrictive covenants. Under the terms of our master servicing agreements with the GSEs and non-GSEs that purchase the loans we originate, the loan purchasers generally retain the right to terminate us as servicer of the loans we service on their behalf, with or without cause. If we were to have our MSRs terminated on a material portion of our servicing portfolio, or if our costs related to servicing mortgages were increased by the way of additional fees, fines or penalties or an increase in related compliance costs, this could materially and adversely affect our business.

We fund substantially all of the mortgage loans we close through borrowings under our loan funding facilities (which we refer to as warehouse lines of credit) and funds generated by our operations. Our borrowings are in turn generally repaid with the proceeds we receive from mortgage loan sales. We depend upon several lenders to provide warehouse lines of credit for our loans. For a summary of our warehouse lines of credit and other debt facilities, see the section of this Annual Report entitled “Debt Obligations” under “Liquidity, Capital Resources and Cash Flows” in “Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations.”

In the event that any of our loan funding facilities is terminated or is not renewed, or if the principal amount that may be drawn under our funding agreements were to decrease significantly, we may be unable to find replacement financing on commercially favorable terms, or at all, which could be detrimental to our business. Our liquidity may be further constrained as there may be less demand by investors to acquire our mortgage loans in the secondary market. Further, if we are unable to refinance or obtain additional funds for borrowing, our ability to maintain or grow our business could be limited.

Our ability to refinance existing debt and borrow additional funds to fund our current and future loan production, servicing advances and other cash needs is unknown and is affected by a variety of factors, including:

Our loan funding facilities contain covenants that include certain financial requirements, including maintenance of maximum adjusted leverage ratio, minimum net worth, minimum tangible net worth, minimum current ratio, minimum liquidity, adjusted pre-tax net income, and other customary debt covenants, as well as limitations on additional indebtedness, dividends, sales of assets, and declines in the mortgage loan servicing portfolio’s fair value. A breach of these covenants can result in an event of default under these facilities and as such allow the lenders to pursue certain remedies. In addition, our loan facilities include cross default or cross acceleration provisions that could result in most, if not all, of our loan facilities terminating if an event of default or acceleration of maturity occurs under one facility. If we are unable to satisfy, or obtain waivers for, the continuing covenants, we may lose the ability to borrow under all of our financing facilities, which could be detrimental to our business.

Failure to make payments or comply with other covenants under our existing debt instruments could result in an event of default. If an event of default occurs and the lender accelerates the amounts due, we may need to seek additional financing, which may not be available on acceptable terms, in a timely manner or at all. In that event, we may not be able to make accelerated payments, and the lender could seek to enforce security interests in the collateral securing such indebtedness, which includes substantially all of our assets.

Our ability to serve our clients depends on the reliable performance of our technology infrastructure. Interruptions, delays or failures in these systems, whether due to adverse weather conditions, natural disasters, power loss, computer viruses, cybersecurity attacks, physical break-ins, terrorism, hardware failures, errors in our software or otherwise, could be prolonged and could affect the security or availability of our platform and our ability to originate and service mortgages. Furthermore, we incur ongoing substantial expense maintaining, updating, and adapting our technology, and cybersecurity infrastructure. However, our infrastructure and disaster recovery planning may be insufficient to prevent or mitigate these and other events or occurrences. The reliability and security of our systems, and those of certain third parties, is important not only to facilitating our origination and servicing of mortgages, but also to maintaining our reputation and ensuring the proper protection of our confidential and proprietary information and the data of mortgage borrowers and other third parties that we possess or control or to which we have access. Operational failures or prolonged disruptions or delays in the availability of our systems could harm our business, brand, reputation, operating results, financial condition, and prospects.

We have acquired and may in the future acquire or make investments in, complementary or what we view as strategic businesses, services or products. The ultimate success of these acquisitions will depend, in part, on our ability to successfully combine and integrate the acquired companies into our business, and realize the synergies and anticipated strategic, financial and other benefits from the acquisitions or investments. We may not be able to achieve the anticipated benefits of an acquisition or investment within the anticipated time frame, or at all.

The integration of any acquired company may result in material challenges, including, without limitation:

Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We operate in a highly competitive industry that could become even more competitive due to economic, legislative, regulatory, and technological changes. We face significant competition for clients from bank and nonbank competitors, including national and regional banks, mortgage banking companies, financial technology companies, and correspondent lenders. Many of our competitors are significantly larger and have significantly more resources, greater name recognition, and more extensive and established retail footprints than we do.

Our ability to compete successfully will depend on a number of factors, including our ability to build and maintain long-term client relationships while ensuring high ethical standards and sound lending and servicing practices, the scope, relevance and pricing of products and services that we offer, our continuing relationships with the GSEs and other key secondary market investors, our clients’ satisfaction with our products and services, industry and general economic trends, and our ability to keep pace with technological advances in the industry.

Our failure to compete effectively in our markets could restrain our growth or cause us to lose market share, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations. Although we have expanded our presence across the United States with recent acquisitions, we may face a competitive disadvantage as a result of our concentration primarily in the Northwest United States and will be unable, as compared to our more geographically diversified peers, to spread our operating costs across a broader market. Furthermore, a cyclical decline in the industry’s overall loan origination volume, or decreased demand for loans due to a higher interest rate environment, which we believe may continue as part of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to combat rising inflation, have led, and may in the future lead, to increased competition for remaining loan originations. Any increase in these competitive pressures could have an adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations.

A substantial portion of our mortgage origination leads are sourced through an established network of referral partners with which we have longstanding relationships, including realtors, builders, and other partners. Our failure to maintain or grow these relationships could significantly decrease our origination volume and materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and prospects. In addition, changes in the real estate and home construction industries, or in the relationships between those industries and the mortgage industry, could adversely affect our business and operating results, financial condition, and prospects. For example, in recent years, there has been an increase in products and services designed to facilitate home sales without the involvement of realtors, as well as the recent antitrust lawsuits challenging the buyers’ broker commissions which may further impact the industry, and if the role of realtors in the sales process declines as a result of these developments, our business could be adversely affected if we are unable to adapt to such developments in a manner that preserves our loan origination leads.

During any period in which our clients are not making payments on loans we service, including during defaults, delinquencies, forbearances, and in certain circumstances where a client prepays a loan, we generally are required under our servicing agreements to advance our own funds to pay principal and interest, property taxes and insurance premiums, legal expenses, and other expenses. In addition, in the event a loan serviced by us defaults or becomes delinquent, or to the extent a mortgagee under such loan is allowed to enter into a forbearance by applicable law or regulation, the repayment to us of any advance related to such events may be delayed until the loan is repaid or refinanced or liquidation occurs. Any delay or impairment in our ability to collect an advance may materially and adversely affect our liquidity, and delays in reimbursements of us, or our inability to be reimbursed, for advances could be detrimental to our business. Market disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the response, including through the Coronavirus Air, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), enacted on March 27, 2020, have in the past and may in the future increase the number of defaults, delinquencies or forbearances related to the loans we service, increasing the advances we make for such loans, which we may not recover in a timely manner or at all. In addition, any regulatory actions that lengthen the foreclosure process could increase the amount of servicing advances that we are required to make, lengthen the time it takes for us to be reimbursed for such advances, and increase the costs incurred during the

We record the value of our MSRs, interest rate lock commitments (“IRLCs”), MLHS, the contingent liabilities related to our completed acquisitions, and our inventory of loans for which we have repurchase rights at fair value. Fair value determinations require many assumptions and complex analyses for which we cannot control many of the underlying factors. From time to time our estimates may change or may prove to be incorrect and we may be required to write down the value of these assets, which could adversely affect our earnings, financial condition, and liquidity.

In particular, our estimates of the fair value of our MSRs are based on the cash flows projected to result from the servicing of the related mortgage loans and continually fluctuate due to a number of factors, including prepayment rates and other market conditions that affect the number of loans that ultimately become delinquent or are repaid or refinanced. These estimates are calculated by a third party using complex financial models that account for a high number of variables that drive cash flows associated with MSRs and anticipate changes in those variables over the life of the MSR. As such, the accuracy of our estimates of the fair value of our MSRs are highly dependent upon accuracy of the models and the variables and assumptions that we build into them. If loan delinquencies or prepayment speeds are higher than anticipated or other factors perform worse than modeled, the recorded value of certain of our MSRs may decrease, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The mortgage industry is continually undergoing rapid technological change with frequent introductions of new products and services. We seek to differentiate ourselves by the range of mortgage programs we offer and rely on our internally-developed technology to make our platform available to our loan officers, evaluate mortgage applicants, service loans and enable greater operational efficiency. Our future success and growth depend, in part, upon our ability to develop new products and services that satisfy changing client demand and use technology to provide a desirable client experience and to create additional efficiencies in our operations. If we fail to predict demand and develop, commercialize, and achieve acceptance of attractive products and services, our business and prospects could be adversely affected. In addition, the implementation of technological changes and upgrades to maintain current systems and integrate new ones may also cause service interruptions, transaction processing errors and system conversion delays, may cause us to fail to comply with applicable laws, and may cause us to incur additional expenses, which may be substantial. Failure to keep pace successfully with technological change affecting the mortgage industry and avoid interruptions, errors and delays could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

A client’s ability or willingness to repay his or her mortgage may be adversely affected by numerous factors, including a loss of or change in employment or income, weak macro-economic conditions, increases in payment obligations to other lenders and deterioration in the value of the home that serves as collateral for the loan. Increases in delinquencies or defaults related to these and other factors may adversely affect our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations and may also cause decreased demand in the secondary market for loans originated through Guild. In addition, higher risk loans incur greater servicing costs because they require more frequent interaction with clients and closer monitoring and oversight. We may not be able to pass along these additional servicing costs associated with higher-risk loans to our clients and they could result in substantial losses that could adversely affect our financial condition.

In the ordinary course of our business, we and the third parties upon which we rely, collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of, transmit, and share (collectively, process) proprietary, confidential, and sensitive data, such as financial information.

Cyber-attacks, malicious internet-based activity, online and offline fraud, and other similar activities have, and continue to threaten the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our sensitive information and information technology systems, and those of the third parties upon which we rely. Such threats are prevalent and continue to rise, are increasingly difficult to detect, and come from a variety of sources, including traditional computer “hackers,” threat actors, “hacktivists,” organized criminal threat actors, personnel (such as through

Our systems and those of certain of our third-party service providers could be vulnerable to hardware and cybersecurity issues. We and the third parties upon which we rely may be subject to a variety of evolving threats, including but not limited to social-engineering attacks (including through phishing attacks), malicious code (such as viruses and worms), malware (including as a result of advanced persistent threat intrusions), denial-of-service attacks (such as credential stuffing), credential harvesting, personnel misconduct or error, ransomware attacks, supply-chain attacks, software bugs, server malfunctions, software or hardware failures, loss of data or other information technology assets, adware, telecommunications failures, earthquakes, fires, floods, and other similar threats. In particular, severe ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent and can lead to significant interruptions in our operations, loss of sensitive data and income, reputational harm, and diversion of funds. Extortion payments may alleviate the negative impact of a ransomware attack, but we may be unwilling or unable to make such payments due to, for example, applicable laws or regulations prohibiting such payments.

To the extent we or our systems rely on third-party service providers through either a connection to, or an integration with, those third-parties’ systems, the risk of cybersecurity attacks and loss, corruption or unauthorized publication of our information or the confidential information of our clients, employees, and others, may increase. We rely on third-party service providers and technologies to operate critical business systems to process sensitive data in a variety of contexts, including, without limitation, cloud-based infrastructure, data center facilities, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, content delivery to customers, and other functions. Our ability to monitor these third parties’ information security practices is limited, and these third parties may not have adequate information security measures in place. Other third-party risks may include data location uncertainty, and the possibility of data storage in inappropriate jurisdictions where laws or security measures may be inadequate. Any damage or failure that causes an interruption in the operations of our third-party service providers could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects. While we may be entitled to damages if our third-party service providers fail to satisfy their privacy or security-related obligations to us, any award may be insufficient to cover our damages, or we may be unable to recover such award. In addition, supply-chain attacks have increased in frequency and severity, and we cannot guarantee that third parties’ infrastructure in our supply chain or our third-party partners’ supply chains have not been compromised.

We currently have a hybrid work environment in which a portion of our workforce may work in-person and some may work remotely. A hybrid work environment may exacerbate certain risks to our business, including increasing the stress on, and our vulnerability to disruptions of, our technology infrastructure and computer systems, increased risk of phishing, ransomware, and other cybersecurity attacks, and increased risk of unauthorized dissemination of personal or confidential information.

Future or past business transactions (such as acquisitions or integrations) could expose us to additional cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities, as our systems could be negatively affected by vulnerabilities present in acquired or integrated entities’ systems and technologies.

Any or all of the issues described above could adversely affect our ability to attract new clients and continue our relationship with existing clients and could subject us to governmental or third-party lawsuits, investigations, regulatory fines or other actions or liability, thereby harming our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects. These disruptions could jeopardize the security of information stored in and transmitted through our computer systems and network infrastructure, including personal or confidential information of our clients, employees and others, which may result in significant liability and damage our reputation. Certain data privacy and security obligations may require us to implement and maintain specific security measures or industry-standard or reasonable security measures to protect our information technology systems and sensitive information. Applicable data privacy and security obligations may require us to notify relevant stakeholders of security incidents. Such disclosures are costly, and the disclosure or the failure to comply with such requirements could lead to adverse consequences.

While we have implemented security measures designed to protect against security incidents, it is difficult or impossible to defend against every risk being posed by changing technologies as well as criminals intent on committing cyber-crime and any measures we employ may not be successful in preventing, detecting or stopping attacks. The increasing sophistication and resources of cyber criminals and other non-state threat actors and increased actions by nation-state actors make keeping up with new threats difficult and could result in a breach of security. Controls employed by our information technology department and our third-party service providers, including cloud vendors, could prove inadequate and we may be unable in the future to detect vulnerabilities in our information technology systems because such threats and techniques change frequently, are often sophisticated in nature, and may not be detected until after a security incident has occurred. We may

Our contracts may not contain limitations of liability, and even where they do, there can be no assurance that limitations of liability in our contracts are sufficient to protect us from liabilities, damages, or claims related to our data privacy and security obligations. We cannot be sure that our insurance coverage will be adequate or sufficient to protect us from or to mitigate liabilities arising out of our privacy and security practices, that such coverage will continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or that such coverage will pay future claims.

Operating and growing our business is expected to require further investments in our technology and operations. We may be presented with opportunities that we want to pursue, and unforeseen challenges may present themselves, either of which could cause us to require additional capital. If our cash needs exceed our expectations or we experience rapid growth, we could experience strain in our cash flow, which could adversely affect our operations in the event we were unable to obtain other sources of liquidity. If we seek to raise funds through equity or debt financing, those funds may prove to be unavailable, may only be available on terms that are not acceptable to us or may result in significant dilution to you or higher levels of leverage. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when we require it, our ability to continue to pursue our business objectives and to respond to business opportunities, challenges or unforeseen circumstances could be significantly limited, and our business, operating results, financial condition, and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

Employee errors and employee and client misconduct could subject us to financial losses or regulatory sanctions and seriously harm our reputation. Misconduct by our employees could include, among other things, improper use of confidential information and fraud. It is not always possible to prevent employee errors and misconduct or documentation errors, and the precautions we take to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective in all cases. In addition, we rely heavily upon information supplied by third parties, including the information contained in credit applications, property appraisals, title information and valuation, and employment and income documentation, in deciding which loans we will originate as well as the terms of those loans. If any of the information upon which we rely is misrepresented, either fraudulently or inadvertently, and the misrepresentation is not detected prior to the mortgage being funded, the value of that mortgage may be significantly lower than expected, or we may fund a mortgage that we would not have funded or on terms we would not have extended. Whether a misrepresentation is made by the mortgage applicant or another third party, we generally bear the risk of loss associated with such misrepresentation. A loan subject to a material misrepresentation is typically unsellable or subject to repurchase if it is sold prior to detection of the misrepresentation. The sources of the misrepresentations are often difficult to identify, and it is often difficult to recover any of the monetary losses we may suffer. These risks could adversely affect our business, results of operation, financial condition, and reputation.

At the time a loan is sold to an investor, we make certain representations and warranties. If defects are subsequently discovered in these representations and warranties that cause a loan to no longer satisfy the applicable investor eligibility requirements, we may be required to repurchase that loan. We are also required to indemnify several of our investors for borrowers’ prepayments and defaults. In addition, with respect to delinquent Ginnie Mae mortgage loans that we service, we are required to repurchase such loans prior to foreclosing and liquidating the mortgaged properties securing such loans. Ginnie Mae has historically accounted for a significant portion of the UPB of our servicing portfolio.

We have established a reserve for repurchase and indemnification obligations. Actual repurchase and indemnification obligations could materially exceed the reserves we have recorded in our financial statements. There can be no guarantee that future losses will not be in excess of the recorded liability.

The mortgage origination industry can be seasonal. We typically experience an increase in our mortgage origination activity during the second and third quarters and reduced activity in the first and fourth quarters as homebuyers tend to purchase their homes during the spring and summer in order to move to a new home

Maintaining strong brand recognition and a reputation for trustworthiness and for delivering a superior client experience is important to our business. If we fail to protect our brand and deliver on these expectations, or if negative public opinion relating to Guild or other mortgage industry participants resulting from actual or alleged conduct in mortgage origination, servicing or other activities, government oversight or regulation, litigation or other matters should occur, these events could harm our reputation and damage our ability to attract and retain clients or maintain our referral network, which could adversely affect our business. Our reputation may also be negatively impacted by our environmental, social and governance practices and disclosures, including climate change practices and disclosures.

We could be forced to incur greater expense marketing our brand or maintaining our reputation in the future to preserve our position in the market and, even with such greater expense, we may not be successful in doing so. Many of our competitors have more resources than we do and can spend more advertising their brands and services. If we are unable to maintain or enhance consumer awareness of our brand cost-effectively and maintain our reputation, or otherwise experience negative publicity, our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

Weather conditions and man-made or natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, pandemics, floods, droughts, fires, and other environmental conditions can adversely impact properties that we own or that collateralize loans we own or service, as well as properties where we conduct business. Future adverse weather conditions and man-made or natural disasters could also adversely impact the demand for, and value of, our assets, as well as the cost to service or manage such assets, directly impact the value of our assets through damage, destruction or loss, and thereafter materially impact the availability or cost of insurance to protect against these events. Terrorist attacks and other acts of violence, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Hamas war, have caused and may continue to cause consumer confidence and spending to decrease or result in disruptions in U.S. financial markets and negatively impact the U.S. economy in general. It is not possible to predict the broader consequences of this conflict, which could include further sanctions, embargoes, regional instability, geopolitical shifts and adverse effects on macroeconomic conditions, currency exchange rates and financial markets, all of which could impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Potentially adverse consequences of global warming and climate change, including rising sea levels and increased intensity of extreme weather events, could similarly have an impact on our properties and the local economies of certain areas in which we operate. Although we believe the properties collateralizing our loan assets or underlying our MSR assets are appropriately covered by insurance, we cannot predict at this time if we or our borrowers will be able to obtain appropriate coverage at a reasonable cost in the future, or if we will be able to continue to pass along all of the costs of insurance. There also is a risk that one or more of our property insurers may not be able to fulfill their obligations with respect to claims payments due to a deterioration in its financial condition or may even cancel policies due to increasing costs of providing insurance coverage in certain geographic areas.

Certain types of losses, generally of a catastrophic nature, that result from events described above such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornados, terrorism, acts of war, and pandemics, may also be uninsurable or not economically insurable. Inflation, changes in building codes and ordinances, environmental considerations and other factors, including terrorism or acts of war, also might make the insurance proceeds insufficient to repair or replace a property if it is damaged or destroyed. Under these circumstances, the insurance proceeds received might not be adequate to restore our economic position with respect to the affected real property. Any uninsured loss could result in the loss of cash flow from, and the asset value of, the affected property, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, liquidity, and results of operations.

Our business depends on our ability to retain our key executives and management and to hire, develop and retain qualified loan officers and other employees. Our ability to expand our business depends on our being able to hire, train and retain sufficient numbers of employees to staff our in-house servicing centers, as well as other personnel. Our success in recruiting highly skilled and qualified personnel can depend on factors outside of our control, including the strength of the general economy and local employment markets and the availability of alternative forms of employment. Additionally, any alleged violation of applicable wage laws or other labor-or

We have devoted significant resources to develop our risk management policies and procedures and expect to continue to do so in the future. Nonetheless, our risk management strategies may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure in all market environments or against all types of risk, including market, interest rate, credit, liquidity, operational, cybersecurity, legal, regulatory and compliance risks, as well as other risks that we may not have identified or anticipated. As our products and services change and grow and the markets in which we operate evolve, our risk management strategies may not always adapt to those changes in a timely or effective manner. Some of our methods of managing risk are based upon our use of observed historical market behavior and management’s judgment. As a result, these methods may not predict future risk exposures, which could be different or significantly greater than the historical measures indicate. Although we employ a broad and diversified set of risk monitoring and risk mitigation techniques, those techniques and the judgments that accompany their application cannot anticipate every economic and financial outcome or the timing of such outcomes. Any of these circumstances could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The mortgage industry is subject to a highly complex legal and regulatory framework. In addition to the licensing requirements for each of the jurisdictions in which we originate or service loans, we must comply with a number of federal, state, and local consumer protection and other laws including, among others, the TILA, RESPA, ECOA, Housing Act, TCPA, GLBA, EFTA, SCRA, MLA, Homeowners Protection Act, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, SAFE Act, FTCA, Dodd-Frank Act, federal, state and local laws designed to discourage predatory lending and servicing practices, prohibit unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices, protect customer privacy, and regulate debt collection and consumer credit reporting, and state foreclosure laws. These and other laws and regulations directly affect our business and require constant compliance monitoring, internal and external audits, and examinations by federal and state regulators. Changes to the laws, regulations, and guidelines relating to the origination and servicing of mortgages, including those already adopted and those that may in the future be adopted, their interpretation or the manner in which they are enforced, could render our current business practices non-compliant or make compliance more difficult or expensive.

As a non-depository lending and servicing institution, we are subject to the regulatory authority of the CFPB, including, without limitation, its authority to conduct investigations, bring enforcement actions, impose monetary penalties, require remediation of practices, pursue administrative proceedings or litigation, and obtain cease and desist orders for violations of applicable federal consumer financial laws. The CFPB has been active in investigations and enforcement actions, and has issued civil money penalties to parties when the CFPB has determined that such parties have violated the laws and regulations it enforces. Our failure to comply with the federal consumer protection laws and regulations to which we are subject, whether that failure is actual or alleged, could expose us to enforcement actions or potential litigation liabilities. Additional regulatory uncertainty now exists as a result of a decision issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on October 19, 2022, striking down a CFPB rulemaking as a result of its conclusion that the funding structure for the CFPB violates the Appropriations Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Because all CFPB rulemakings depend on the expenditure of CFPB funds, there is a risk that prior CFPB activities, including the promulgation of regulations impacting the mortgage market and upon which lenders, such as Guild, have relied in conducting their activities, may also be deemed unconstitutional.

It is possible that we are not, and will not in the future be, in full compliance with current and future laws and regulations, or interpretations of the foregoing. Our failure, or the failure of our loan officers, other employees, correspondent sellers or others with whom we have business relationships, to operate in compliance with any of the laws, regulations, and guidelines relating to the origination, servicing, and collection of mortgages could result in, among other things, the loss of licenses and approvals required for us to engage in the business of originating, servicing, and collecting mortgage loans, governmental investigations and enforcement actions, damage to our brand and reputation, civil and criminal liability and administrative penalties, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition, and prospects.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council (“FSOC”) has recommended that federal and state regulators strengthen the prudential regulation of nonbank mortgage origination and servicing companies and has issued guidance describing the process FSOC would follow if it were to consider making a determination to subject a nonbank financial company to supervision by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and prudential standards. The FSOC has also been conducting a review of the secondary mortgage market focused on the regulation of the GSEs. Additionally, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (“CSBS”) has issued a proposal for enhancing regulatory prudential standards for nonbank mortgage servicers subject to licensing and supervision by state financial regulators. The CSBS prudential regulatory proposal includes standards for capital, liquidity, risk management, data standards and integrity, data protection and cyber risk, corporate governance, servicing transfer requirements, and change of control requirements. To the extent that the FSOC and other regulators move forward with new prudential reforms of nonbank mortgage originators or servicers (including designating nonbank mortgage companies for heightened prudential regulation by the Federal Reserve), the markets they serve, or the secondary mortgage market, it could materially affect the operating costs, competitiveness, business plan, and prospects of our business.

Anti-discrimination statutes, such as the Fair Housing Act, ECOA, and other fair lending laws and regulations prohibit creditors from discriminating against loan applicants and borrowers based on certain characteristics, such as race, religion, and national origin. The Department of Justice and other federal agencies, including the CFPB, are responsible for enforcing these laws and regulations. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that the “disparate impact” theory applies to cases brought under the Fair Housing Act, while emphasizing that a causal relationship must be shown between a specific policy of the defendant and a discriminatory result that is not justified by a legitimate objective of the defendant. As a result, various federal regulatory agencies and departments take the position that these laws apply not only to intentional discrimination, but also to neutral practices that have a disparate impact on a group that shares a characteristic that a creditor may not consider in making credit decisions (i.e., creditor or servicing practices that have a disproportionately negative effect on a protected class of individuals). Although it is still unclear whether the theory applies under the ECOA, regulatory agencies and private plaintiffs can be expected to continue to apply it to both the Fair Housing Act and ECOA in the context of mortgage loan lending and servicing. Compliance with anti-discrimination prohibitions, and particularly the disparate impact theory, creates a significant administrative burden and potential liability for failure to comply. In addition, regulatory agencies and consumer advocacy groups are becoming more aggressive in asserting fair lending, fair housing and other claims that the practices of lenders and loan servicers result in a disparate impact on protected classes. A successful regulatory challenge to our performance under these fair lending laws and regulations could result in a wide variety of sanctions, including damages, injunctive or equitable relief, and civil money penalties. In addition to reputational harm, such sanctions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Beyond exposure to potential fair lending or servicing claims under disparate impact theory, lenders face increasing regulatory, enforcement and litigation risk under the Fair Housing Act and ECOA from claims of “redlining” and “reverse redlining.” Redlining is the practice of avoiding providing services to individuals living in communities of color because of the race or national origin of the people who live in those communities. Reverse redlining is targeting an applicant in a certain neighborhood for a higher cost products or services. In late 2021, the Department of Justice launched a “combating redlining initiative” and partnership with other federal and state agencies, including the CFPB, to crack down on discriminatory lending practices, making clear they are a high priority across the financial services regulatory ecosystem. In addition, the CFPB has announced that it intends to use its authority under the Consumer Financial Protection Act to identify, prohibit, and prosecute discrimination as an unfair, deceptive, or abusive act or practices to target discriminatory conduct, even where fair lending laws such as the ECOA may not apply. More restrictive laws and regulations may be adopted in the future, and governmental bodies or courts may interpret existing laws or regulations in a more restrictive manner, which could make compliance more difficult or expensive. Any such changes in laws, regulations or interpretations could have a detrimental effect on our business.

Because we are not a federally chartered depository institution, we do not benefit from exemptions to state mortgage lending, loan servicing or debt collection licensing and regulatory requirements. In most states in which we operate, one or more regulatory agencies regulate and enforce laws relating to mortgage servicing companies and mortgage origination companies such as us. These rules and regulations generally require that we seek and maintain certain licenses and comply with certain business practice standards, including requirements as to the form and content of contracts and other documentation and the licensing of our employees. As a nonbank mortgage lender, we are subject to licensure, regulation, and supervision by every state and district in which we do business. States examine nonbank mortgage lenders and servicers periodically, depending on state law requirements and other factors such as the lender’s size and compliance history. These examinations may include a review of the nonbank lender’s compliance with all federal and state consumer

We are required to follow specific guidelines and eligibility standards that impact the way we service and originate GSE and U.S. government agency loans, including guidelines and standards with respect to credit standards for mortgage loans, our staffing levels, and other servicing practices, and the servicing and ancillary fees that we may charge. In addition, we are required to meet certain minimum financial requirements relating to our net worth, capital ratio, and liquidity in order to sell the loans that we originate to certain investors, including the GSEs. A change in these guidelines could require us to expend additional resources to originate and service mortgages or make it more difficult for us to do so profitably or at all, and a failure to meet applicable financial requirements could materially impair our ability to originate and service loans, any of which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition, and prospects. In August 2022, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Ginnie Mae announced updated minimum financial eligibility requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Seller/Servicers, and Ginnie Mae for single family issuers. The updated minimum financial eligibility requirements modify the definitions of tangible net worth and eligible liquidity, modify their minimum standard measurement and include a new risk-based capital ratio, among other changes. In September 2022, at the direction of the FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced similar revisions to minimum financial eligibility requirements. The majority of the requirements became effective on September 30, 2023 with origination liquidity and certain other capital requirements effective as of December 31, 2023. On October 21, 2022, Ginnie Mae extended the compliance date for its risk-based capital requirements to December 31, 2024. Certain of these new capital requirements may impact liquidity in Ginnie Mae markets and while the ultimate impact remains uncertain, such requirements could have the effect of devaluing certain Ginnie Mae MSRs. If we misjudge the magnitude of the costs and benefits of these updated minimum financial eligibility requirements and their impacts on our business, our financial results could be negatively impacted.

In addition, changes in the nature or extent of the guarantees provided by the GSEs, Ginnie Mae, the USDA or the VA, or the insurance provided by the FHA, or coverage provided by private mortgage insurers, could also have broad adverse market implications. Any future increases in guarantee fees or changes to their structure or increases in the premiums we are required to pay to the FHA or private mortgage insurers for insurance, or to the VA or the USDA for guarantees, could increase mortgage origination costs and insurance premiums for our clients. These industry changes could result in reduced demand for our mortgage services, resulting in reduced origination volume and profitability for us, which could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and prospects.

We acquired Cherry Creek Mortgage LLC in April 2023 and as a result now originate reverse mortgage loan products. The reverse mortgage industry is largely dependent upon the FHA and HUD, and there can be no guarantee that these entities will retain Congressional authorization to continue the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (“HECM”) program or that they will not make material changes to the laws, regulations, rules or practices applicable to reverse mortgage programs. The vast majority of reverse mortgage loan products we originate are HECMs, which are FHA-insured loans that must comply with the FHA’s and other regulatory requirements. Guild may also originate non-HECM reverse mortgage products, for which there is a limited secondary market. The FHA regulations governing the HECM products have changed from time to time. For example, FHA has added disbursement limits that restrict the amount of loan proceeds that a borrower can receive during the first year of the loan, implemented collateral risk assessment guidelines that require HECM lenders to obtain a second property appraisal if FHA determines that additional support for the collateral value is needed, and added credit-based underwriting criteria designed to assess borrowers’ ability and willingness to meet their financial obligations. Our reverse mortgage business is also subject to state statutory and regulatory requirements including, but not limited to, licensing requirements, required disclosures and permissible fees. If we fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations relating to the origination of reverse mortgages, we could be subject to adverse regulatory actions, including potential fines, penalties or sanctions, and our business, reputation, and financial condition could be adversely affected. We continue to evaluate our reverse mortgage business and the future loan production under such business remains uncertain.

In the ordinary course of our business, we and the third parties upon which we rely, may collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of, transmit, and share (collectively, process) personal data and other sensitive information, including proprietary and confidential business data, trade secrets, intellectual property, sensitive third-party data and financial information. Our data processing activities may subject us to numerous data privacy and security obligations, such as various laws, regulations, guidance, industry standards, external and internal privacy and security policies, contractual requirements, and other obligations relating to data privacy and security.

Federal, state, and local governments have enacted numerous data privacy and security laws, including data breach notification laws, personal data privacy laws, financial privacy laws (e.g., the GLBA), consumer protection laws (e.g., Section 5 of the FTCA), and other similar laws (e.g., wiretapping laws). For example, the TCPA imposes various consumer consent requirements and other restrictions on certain telemarketing activity and other communications with consumers by phone, fax or text message. TCPA violations can result in significant financial penalties, including penalties or criminal fines imposed by the Federal Communications Commission or fines of up to $1,500 per violation imposed through private litigation or by state authorities. As another example, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) requires businesses to provide specific disclosures in privacy notices and honor requests of California residents to exercise certain privacy rights. The CCPA provides for civil penalties of up to $7,500 per violation and allows private litigants affected by certain data breaches to recover significant statutory damages. The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, which became operative on January 1, 2023, expanded the CCPA’s requirements to apply to personal information of business representatives and employees and established a new regulatory agency to implement and enforce the law. Other states, such as Virginia, Colorado, Utah and Connecticut, have also passed comprehensive privacy laws, and similar laws are being considered in several other states., as well as at the federal and local levels. These developments may further complicate compliance efforts, and may increase legal risk and compliance costs for us, the third parties upon whom we rely, and our customers.

We may be bound by contractual obligations related to data privacy and security, and our efforts to comply with such obligations may not be successful. For example, certain privacy laws, such as the CCPA, allow our customers to impose specific contractual restrictions on their service providers. We may also be contractually subject to industry standards adopted by industry groups and may become subject to such obligations in the future. We may publish privacy policies, marketing materials and other statements, such as compliance with certain certifications or self-regulatory principles, regarding data privacy and security. If these policies, materials or statements are found to be deficient, lacking in transparency, deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our practices, we may be subject to investigation, enforcement actions or other adverse consequences.

Obligations related to data privacy and security are quickly changing, becoming increasingly stringent, and creating regulatory uncertainty. Additionally, these obligations may be subject to differing applications and interpretations, which may be inconsistent or conflict among jurisdictions. Preparing for and complying with these obligations requires us to devote significant resources. These obligations may necessitate changes to our services, information technologies, systems, and practices and to those of any third parties that process personal data on our behalf. We may at times fail (or be perceived to have failed) in our efforts to comply with our data privacy and security obligations. Moreover, despite our efforts, our personnel or third parties on whom we rely on may fail to comply with such obligations, which could negatively impact our business operations. If we or the third parties on which we rely fail, or are perceived to have failed, to address or comply with applicable data privacy and security obligations, we could face significant consequences, including but not limited to: government enforcement actions (e.g., investigations, fines, penalties, audits, inspections, and similar); litigation (including class-action claims); additional reporting requirements and/or oversight; bans on processing personal data; and orders to destroy or not use personal data. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, or financial condition, including but not limited to: loss of customers; inability to process personal data or to operate in certain jurisdictions; limited ability to develop or commercialize our services; expenditure of time and resources to defend any claim or inquiry; adverse publicity; or substantial changes to our business model or operations.

From time to time, we have been, and may continue to be, involved in various legal proceedings, including, but not limited to, actions related to our lending and servicing practices as well as alleged violations of the local, state and federal laws to which our business is subject. Claims may be expensive to defend and may divert management’s time away from our operations, regardless of whether they are meritorious or ultimately lead to a judgment against us. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully defend or resolve any current or future litigation matters, and the resolution of such matters may result in significant financial payments by, or penalties imposed upon, us, restrictions on our business and operations, or other remedies, in

MCMI holds all of our issued and outstanding Class B common stock and controls approximately 95.1% of the combined voting power of our outstanding common stock. As a result, MCMI controls any action requiring the general approval of our stockholders, including the election of our Board of Directors, the adoption of amendments to our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, and the approval of any merger or sale of substantially all of our assets. So long as MCMI continues to directly or indirectly own a significant amount of our equity, even if such amount is less than a majority of the combined voting power of our outstanding common stock, MCMI will continue to be able to substantially influence the outcome of votes on all matters requiring approval by the stockholders. The interests of MCMI could conflict with or differ from our interests or the interests of our other stockholders. For example, the concentration of ownership held by MCMI could delay, defer or prevent a change of control of our Company or impede a merger, takeover or other business combination that may otherwise be attractive to us or our other stockholders.

Because MCMI controls a majority of the combined voting power of our outstanding common stock, we are considered a “controlled company” under the applicable rules of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”). As a controlled company, we are permitted to elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements of the NYSE, including the requirements that:

These requirements will not apply to us as long as we remain a controlled company. Accordingly, investors in our Class A common stock may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of the NYSE. We have currently elected not to rely on the exemptions above, however we may choose to do so at any time.

Our directors and executive officers beneficially own, directly or indirectly, in the aggregate, approximately 35.4% of the outstanding shares of our Class A common stock and 100% of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock (to the extent the Chairman of our Board of Directors may be deemed to beneficially own all of the shares of our Class B common stock beneficially owned by MCMI), representing an aggregate of approximately 96.8% of the combined voting power of our outstanding common stock. As a result, in addition to their day-to-day management roles, our executive officers and directors will be able to exercise significant influence on our business as stockholders, including influence over election of members of the Board of Directors and the authorization of other corporate actions requiring stockholder approval.

We are a holding company with no material assets other than our ownership of equity interests in GMC, which is our wholly owned subsidiary. Our ability to pay dividends and to pay taxes and cover other expenses depends on the financial results and cash flows of GMC. As the sole member of GMC, we intend to cause GMC to make distributions to us in amounts sufficient to meet our obligations. Certain laws and regulations, however, may result in restrictions on GMC’s ability to make distributions to us. To the extent that we need funds and GMC is restricted from making such distributions under applicable law or regulation or under the terms of any of its financing arrangements, we may not be able to obtain funds on terms acceptable to us or at all and as a result could suffer an adverse effect on our liquidity and financial condition.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales might occur, could significantly reduce the market price of our Class A common

We may issue capital stock in the future. Any such issuance would result in dilution to all other stockholders. In the future, we may issue stock, including as a grant of equity awards to employees, directors, and consultants under our equity incentive plans, to raise capital through equity financings or to acquire or make investments in companies, products or technologies for which we may issue equity securities as consideration or for financing purposes. Any such issuances of capital stock in the future may cause stockholders to experience significant dilution of their ownership interests and the per share value of our Class A common stock to decline.

Although we have paid some special dividends in the past, there is no assurance that we will pay cash dividends on our Class A common stock in the future. We anticipate that most of our future earnings will be retained to support our operations and finance the growth and development of our business. Any future determination to declare and pay cash dividends, if any, will be made at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on a variety of factors, including applicable laws, our financial condition, results of operations, contractual restrictions, capital requirements, business prospects, general business or financial market conditions, and other factors our Board of Directors may deem relevant. Because we are a holding company, our ability to pay dividends depends on our receipt of cash dividends from GMC, which may further restrict our ability to pay dividends. Investors should not purchase our Class A common stock with the expectation of receiving cash dividends.

Our certificate of incorporation, bylaws, and Delaware law contain provisions that are intended to deter coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids by making such practices or bids unacceptably expensive to the bidder and to encourage prospective acquirers to negotiate with our Board of Directors rather than to attempt a hostile takeover. These provisions include, for example, our dual class common stock structure, classified board, the authority of our Board of Directors to issue preferred stock, limitations on stockholder action after MCMI and its affiliated private equity funds cease to beneficially own a majority of the combined voting power of our capital stock, advance notice bylaws provisions, and prohibitions under Delaware law on a business combination with an interested shareholder.

These provisions may have the effect of deterring a third party from making a proposal to acquire us or of impeding a change in control under circumstances that otherwise could provide the holders of our common stock with the opportunity to realize a premium over the then-prevailing market price of our Class A common stock. These provisions may also prevent or discourage attempts to remove and replace incumbent directors.

We cannot predict the potential effects our dual class structure may have on our Class A common stock, such as a lower or more volatile market price. In 2017, S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell announced that they would begin excluding most newly public companies with multiple classes of shares of common stock from being added to certain indices, including the Russell 2000, the S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400 and the S&P SmallCap 600. As a result, our dual class capital structure would make us ineligible for inclusion in any of these indices, and mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles that attempt to passively track these indices likely will not invest in our stock. Furthermore, we cannot assure you that other stock indices will not take a similar approach to S&P Dow Jones or FTSE Russell in the future. It is unclear what effect, if any, these policies will have on the valuations of publicly traded companies excluded from these indices. Given the sustained flow of investment funds into passive strategies that seek to track certain indices, however, it is possible that exclusion from such indices could make our Class A common stock less attractive to investors. As a result, the market price of our Class A common stock could be adversely affected.

Our quarterly and annual operating results and other operating metrics have fluctuated in the past and may in the future fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control and may be difficult to predict. Period-to-period variability or unpredictability of our results could result in our failure to meet our expectations or those of any analysts that cover us or investors with respect to revenue or other operating results for a particular period. If we fail to meet or exceed such expectations for these or any other reasons, the market price of our Class A common stock could decline significantly, and we could face litigation, including securities class action litigation.

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting and for evaluating and reporting on our system of internal control. We are required to furnish annually a report by management on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Also, as a publicly-traded company, we are required to maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that we file with, or submit to, the SEC is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms.

In our Annual Report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, we reported having a material weakness because we did not have a sufficient complement of personnel with requisite experience in the design and operation of controls and did not perform an effective risk assessment, including risk of fraud. During fiscal year 2022, we developed and executed measures to remediate this material weakness and our management concluded that this material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting was remediated as of December 31, 2022.

None.

We manage cybersecurity risk through our enterprise-wide risk framework as described below.

Within our enterprise-wide risk framework, we maintain programs that assess, identify, and manage information technology (IT) risk generally and material risks from cybersecurity threats specifically. Our cybersecurity risk program is designed by our IT governance team in collaboration with our risk committee and executive officers to ensure that risks from cybersecurity threats are identified, multiple layers of protection are operating effectively, detection and response to cyber security threats are in place, and recovery of core business processes and systems is documented and tested. Our cybersecurity risk program follows the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cyber Security Framework (NIST CSF). We also use third-party service providers to help enhance our cybersecurity capabilities and to assist us with cybersecurity program assessments and penetration testing, including providing the function of a Chief Information Security Officer.

Specific features of our cybersecurity risk program include (1) periodic assessment of risks arising from cybersecurity threats, including a NIST CSF risk assessment, application risk assessment, and a business continuity and disaster recovery impact assessment; (2) initiatives relating to the design, operation and monitoring of the IT risk management program and the cybersecurity risk program; (3) creation and maintenance of redundancies for core business systems such as Guild’s originations and servicing systems; (4) training for all personnel on aspects of cybersecurity threats, cybersecurity awareness campaigns company wide, and additional training for certain other employee groups; (5) an incident response plan that outlines the steps we will take to respond to a cybersecurity incident; and(6) periodic cybersecurity exercises and internal cybersecurity incident simulations.

Our Board of Directors and Audit Committee oversee our risk management program which includes cybersecurity risk along with other operational and compliance risks. Information provided covers various aspects of our cyber defense including incident analysis and third party reports. We have a process in place so that information regarding potentially material cybersecurity incidents is escalated to the Audit Committee and Board of Directors.

Our Chief Information Officer leads our information security department, which is primarily responsible for implementing and maintaining our cybersecurity risk management program. The Chief Information Officer has over 30 years of experience in information technology in the mortgage origination and servicing industry, including prior service as the CIO for other mortgage institutions. The cybersecurity risk management program includes teams focused on information security, IT governance and IT operations. The information security program is also supported by personnel in legal and compliance, and application development. Guild personnel that work on cybersecurity risk management have achieved such professional certifications as Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP).

The Chief Information Officer also is a member of our risk committee. The risk committee oversees on an enterprise-wide basis Guild’s risk management framework, including cybersecurity risk. The IT security and IT governance teams report regularly to the risk committee on KRIs that track Guild’s monitoring of key cybersecurity risks and remediation initiatives. The other members of the risk committee include the Chief Executive Officer, President and Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer.

Our principal executive office is located in San Diego, California. In addition to our San Diego office, we operate from approximately 350 branch offices and 180 satellite offices located throughout the United States as of December 31, 2023. We lease our principal executive office under a lease that expires in November 2030. We also lease each of our branch and satellite offices. The square footage of our principal executive office is 141,696 square feet and the average square footage of our branch offices is approximately 2,400 square feet. Our financial obligations under our leases are not material to the scope of our operations.

We are, and from time to time may become, involved in legal and regulatory proceedings or subject to claims arising in the ordinary course of our business. We operate within highly regulated industries on a federal, state and local level and are routinely subject to various examinations and legal and regulatory proceedings in

Not Applicable.

We have two classes of common stock: Class A common stock and Class B common stock. The Class A common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “GHLD.” There is no public market for our Class B common stock. However, under the terms of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, the holder of Class B common stock may convert any portion or all of the holder’s shares of Class B common stock into an equal number of shares of Class A common stock at any time.

As of March 7, 2024, there were 15 stockholders of record of our Class A common stock. The actual number of stockholders is greater than the number of record holders and includes stockholders who are beneficial owners but whose shares are held in street name by brokers and other nominees. As of March 7, 2024, we had one record holder of our Class B common stock, MCMI.

Although the Company has issued special dividends in the past, the payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our future financial performance, capital requirements, potential alternative uses of cash, and our general financial condition. The payment of any cash dividends will be within the discretion of our Board of Directors at such time. Further, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants in connection with our indebtedness.

The following table provides information with respect to Guild’s repurchases of shares of its Class A common stock during the three months ended December 31, 2023:

Equity Compensation Plan Information

For information regarding securities authorized for issuance under the Company’s equity compensation plans, see “Part III, Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.”

Guild is a growth-oriented mortgage company that employs a relationship-based loan sourcing strategy to execute our mission of delivering the promise of homeownership in neighborhoods and communities across the United States. Our business model is centered on providing a personalized mortgage-borrowing experience that is delivered by our knowledgeable loan officers and supported by our diverse product offerings.

Our operations consist of two distinct but related reportable segments that we refer to as our origination and servicing segments. In addition, one of our business strategies is to seek to recapture mortgage transactions when our borrowers prepay their loans. Purchase recapture rate is calculated as the ratio of (i) UPB of our clients that originated a new mortgage with us for the purchase of a home in a given period, to (ii) total UPB of our clients that paid off their existing mortgage as a result of selling their home in a given period. Refinance recapture rate is calculated as the ratio of (i) UPB of our clients that originated a new mortgage loan for the purpose of refinancing an existing mortgage with us in a given period, to (ii) total UPB of our clients that paid off their existing mortgage as a result of a refinance in the same period. Overall recapture rate for a given period is calculated as the ratio of (i) UPB of our clients from both purchase and refinance transactions in a given period, to (ii) the total UPB of our clients that paid off their existing mortgage and originated a new mortgage in a given period. This calculation excludes clients to whom we did not actively market due to contractual prohibitions or other business reasons. Our calculation of purchase recapture rate and overall recapture rate may be different than or otherwise not comparable to similarly named rates used by other companies.

This executive summary highlights selected 2023 and 2022 financial information that should be considered in the context of the additional discussions below. The UPB of our servicing portfolio excludes any subserviced loans.

Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Earnings Per Share, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Return on Equity and Tangible Net Book Value Per Share are not measures calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”), and should not be considered an alternative to, or more meaningful than, net income as an indicator of our operating performance. Please see “—Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for further information regarding our non-GAAP measures and reconciliations to the nearest comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

The Federal Reserve aggressively raised the Federal Funds rate during 2022 by 425 basis points and further raised it by an additional 100 basis points through July 2023 in an effort to curb inflation and slow economic growth. While the Federal Reserve has left rates unchanged since July 2023, decisions about changes in interest rates by the Federal Reserve could be assessed on a month-to-month basis as the Federal Reserve gains confidence in taming inflation. The Federal Reserve has recently suggested that inflation may be coming under control; therefore, we could see mortgage interest rates decline gradually in 2024. While the Federal Reserve does not directly control mortgage interest rates, a higher Federal Funds rate and higher inflation usually lead to increases in the 10-year treasury yield, which leads to higher mortgage interest rates. During the year ended December 31, 2023, the 10-year treasury yield increased 60 basis points and the 30-year mortgage interest rate increased 70 basis points. The continued increases in mortgage interest rates have led to fewer refinancings and lower prepayment activity in 2023. The MBA's February 2024 Mortgage Finance Forecast projects that throughout 2024, the 10-year treasury yield will decrease by 60 basis points and the 30-year mortgage interest rate will decrease by 120 basis points. The MBA is also forecasting mortgage originations for purchases to increase by 15.5% in 2024 to $1.5 trillion from $1.3 trillion in 2023 and are predicting refinance originations to increase by 50.0% in 2024 to $470 billion from $300 billion in 2023.

Home-buying affordability challenges remain as elevated home prices and mortgage rates cause some buyers to delay purchase plans. Many homeowners with mortgage interest rates well below the current rates are choosing not to sell, further tightening available inventory. As a result of the foregoing market and economic conditions, we have experienced lower origination volume through December 31, 2023. This trend may continue in future periods.

According to the MBA's February 2024 Mortgage Finance Forecast, average 30-year mortgage interest rates increased by 70 basis points during the year ended December 31, 2023 and increased by 340 basis points during the year ended December 31, 2022. These mortgage interest rate changes affect the fair value adjustments and assumptions used within the MSR valuation model. Historically, increases in average mortgage interest rates have generally resulted in lower prepayment speeds. Additionally, increases in average mortgage interest rates may result in subsequent upward adjustments to the fair value of our MSRs for the loans that still exist in our portfolio, depending on the other inputs to the MSR fair value model. For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, we recorded a loss of $139.6 million and a gain of $217.6 million, respectively, for changes in the fair value of our MSRs. See discussion below under “—Results of Operations—Revenue—Valuation Adjustment of Mortgage Servicing Rights”.

The continued elevated rates in 2023 and the tight housing supply have led to higher levels of competition and lower gain on sale margins and profitability. Margins may continue to decrease in the future due to higher interest rates and increasing competition among mortgage providers, which has placed additional pressure on pricing. However, future margins will depend on future market demand, capacity and other macroeconomic factors.

On February 12, 2024, the Company entered into an asset purchase agreement to acquire certain retail lending assets of privately held Utah-based lender Academy Mortgage Corporation (“Academy Mortgage”) and the transaction closed on February 26, 2024. The addition of Academy Mortgage will extend Guild’s market share across its national footprint and will increase the Company’s branches and origination staff. See “Note 22

The primary components of our revenue and expenses are described below.

In addition, within general and administrative expense, we record any adjustments to the fair value of the contingent liabilities related to our completed acquisitions, commonly known as “earn-out payments.” These payments are estimated based on the present value of future cash flows during the earn-out period. We also record within general and administrative expense the adjustment to the fair value of the note receivable issued in connection with the CCM acquisition, which is offset with its earn-out payment.

Management reviews several key performance indicators to evaluate our business results, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate projections and inform our strategic business decisions. We use these key performance indicators to develop operational goals for managing our business.

Our origination metrics enable us to monitor our ability to generate revenue and expand our market share across different channels. In addition, they help us track origination quality and compare our performance against the nationwide originations market and our competitors. Our servicing metrics enable us to monitor the size of our customer base, the characteristics and related value of our MSRs, the health of the business as measured by the average MSR delinquency rate and help drive our customer retention efforts. We believe that the net additions to our portfolio are indicators of the growth of our mortgage loans serviced and our servicing income.

We believe that these key performance indicators provide useful information to investors and others by allowing for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision-making. These metrics may be used by investors in understanding and evaluating our operating results and enhancing the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects. Summary data for these key performance indicators is listed below. Please refer to “—Results of Operations” for additional metrics that management reviews in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements.

To supplement our financial statements presented in accordance with GAAP and to provide investors with additional information regarding our GAAP financial results, we have presented in this Annual Report Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Earnings Per Share, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Return on Equity and Tangible Net Book Value Per Share which are non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are not based on any standardized methodology prescribed by GAAP and are not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies.

We use these non-GAAP financial measures (other than Tangible Net Book Value Per Share) to evaluate our operating performance, to establish budgets and to develop operational goals for managing our business. These non-GAAP financial measures are designed to evaluate operating results exclusive of fair value and other adjustments that are not indicative of our business’s operating performance. Accordingly, we believe that these financial measures provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results, enhancing the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects. In addition, management uses the non-GAAP financial measure of Tangible Net Book Value Per Share to evaluate the adequacy of our stockholders’ equity and assess our capital position and believes tangible net book value provides useful information to investors in assessing the strength of our financial position.

The following tables reconcile Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA to net income, Adjusted Earnings per Share to earnings (loss) per share, Adjusted Return on Equity to return on equity, and Tangible Net Book Value Per Share to book value per share, the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP:

The table below provides additional detail regarding the loan origination fees and gain on sale of loans, net for the periods presented.

The decrease in loan origination fees for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 are consistent with our loan origination volume decline of 21.8%, offset by increases in the volume of loan products originated which generate higher loan origination fees.

During the year ended December 31, 2023, gain on origination and securitization related to our reverse mortgage portfolio was $8.2 million. There was no comparable activity relating to a reverse mortgage portfolio in the year ended December 31, 2022 because we began originating reverse mortgages in 2023.

The table below provides additional details regarding our loan servicing and other fees for the periods presented.

Servicing fee income increased by 10.6% for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 mostly due to the 9.4% increase in the average UPB of our servicing portfolio and the increase in the number of loans serviced.

As of December 31, 2023, loans representing approximately 0.1% of the loans in our servicing portfolio

The table below presents the components of our MSR valuation adjustment for the periods presented.

The fair value of our MSRs generally increases as interest rates increase and prepayments decrease. The weighted average estimated prepayment speed of loans in our servicing portfolio increased to 8.5% at December 31, 2023 compared to 7.5% at December 31, 2022, driven by a decrease in short-term interest rates in December 2023. This also led to a decrease in interest earnings on escrow balances we held, further resulting in a lower valuation. The higher estimated prepayment speed indicates that prepayments will increase in the future, which results in a decrease in the value of the MSR asset.

Interest income, funding for the year ended December 31, 2023 increased due to higher weighted average note rates on loans originated, offset by declines in volume of 21.8%. The weighted average note rate of originated loans increased from 4.9% during the year ended December 31, 2022 to 6.8% for the year ended December 31, 2023. Interest income earnings credit increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 due to our cash balances yielding a higher earnings credit rate, which is set by our banking partners on non-interest bearing deposits and applied against other banking fees as an offset.

Interest expense, funding facilities increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 primarily due to an increase in interest costs due to rising interest rates. The weighted average interest rate for warehouse lines of credit increased from 3.3% during the year ended December 31, 2022 to 7.0% for the year ended December 31, 2023, partially offset by a decline in average warehouse line of credit balances. The decline in warehouse line of credit balances also contributed to the lower bank servicing charges as the facility fees were reduced.

Interest expense, other financing increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 primarily due to an increase in weighted average interest rates from 4.8% to 8.3%, while the average balances on our MSR borrowings remained relatively flat.

Salaries expense decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily due to a decrease in origination support costs of $26.3 million associated with lower headcount as a result of lower origination volume, partially offset by an increase in employee salaries and headcount associated with acquisitions completed during 2023.

Incentive compensation expense decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily due to the decrease in origination volume of 21.8%. Incentive compensation is generally correlated with changes in volume but is also variable in nature as it is dependent upon achievement of certain performance measures. During the year ended December 31, 2023 incentive expense decreased more than volume due to performance based measures not being met from low production and market conditions.

Occupancy costs generally consist of fixed costs and remain consistent except any increases associated with new acquisitions, expansion into new territories and entry into new material building leases or any decreases associated with downsizing office space.

The nominal changes in total occupancy, equipment and communication expense during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, were in line with expectations as we acquired new operating leases in connection with recent acquisitions and exited or reduced the size of our remaining facilities during the year ended December 31, 2023.

Depreciation and amortization expense is expected to remain consistent as most furniture, equipment and leasehold improvements are depreciated on a straight-line basis and intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis. Depreciation and amortization expense remained relatively flat from $15.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 to $14.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Our 60-plus days delinquency rate was 1.8% and 1.7% at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The delinquency rate remained relatively flat during the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the prior year. We continue to monitor foreclosure reserves and potential losses regularly to assess if further changes are needed.

Our operations are comprised of two distinct but related reportable segments that we refer to as our origination and servicing segments. We operate our origination segment from approximately 350 office locations. Our licensed sales professionals and support staff cultivate deep relationships with our referral partners and clients and provide a customized approach to the loan transaction, whether it is a purchase or a refinance. Although our origination and servicing segments are separated for this presentation, management sees the two segments as intricately related and interdependent. We believe that our servicing segment provides a steady stream of revenue to support our origination segment and that, more importantly, our servicing segment positions us to build longstanding client relationships that drive repeat and referral business back to the origination segment to recapture our clients’ future mortgage transactions. In particular, the growth of our servicing segment is dependent on the continued growth of our origination volume because our servicing portfolio consists primarily of originated MSRs.

Financial results from our acquisitions are integrated into their respective segments after the close of the transactions. Revenues and expenses from our acquisitions are allocated primarily to our origination segment. See below for an overview and discussion of each of our segments’ results for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022. These results do not include unallocated corporate costs. See “Note 21—Segments” of the “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report for additional information about our segments.

The decrease in the origination segment's net revenue for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 was primarily driven by decreased revenue from loan origination fees and gain on sale of loans, net of $196.0 million, or 28.1%. The decrease in gain on sale of loans was primarily driven by a $5.6 billion, or 27.3%, decrease in loan sales and a decrease in gain on sale margins of 28 basis points.

Salaries, incentive compensation and benefits expense decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 due to decreased variable incentive compensation paid to our origination teams and reduced headcount due to declines in origination volume.

General and administrative expense increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to a gain of $45.1 million related to the valuation adjustment on our contingent liability during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to an expense of $2.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2023.

Interest income, net decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to a decrease in production of 21.8% and compression of interest rate margin.

We recorded a $139.6 million downward adjustment to the fair value of our MSRs for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to a $217.6 million upward adjustment for the same time period in 2022. See discussion above under “—Results of Operations—Revenue—Valuation Adjustment of Mortgage Servicing Rights”.

Loan servicing and other fees increased due to the increases in the UPB of our servicing portfolio and the number of loans serviced at December 31, 2023 compared to 2022.

Loan origination fees and gain on sale, net decreased within the servicing segment due to modified loan sales as well as lower margins driven by market conditions and rising interest rates.

The increase in interest income primarily relates to a $32.9 million increase in interest income earnings credit for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended 2022 due to our cash balances yielding a higher earnings credit rate, which is set by our banking partners on non-interest bearing deposits and used to offset bank fees.

Historically, our primary sources of liquidity have included:

Historically, our primary uses of funds have included:

We are also subject to contingencies that may have a significant effect on the use of our cash. We believe that our cash flows from operations and other available sources of liquidity will be sufficient to fund our operations and meet our material cash requirements for the next 12 months. We believe we will meet longer-term expected future cash requirements and obligations through a combination of existing cash and cash equivalent balances, cash flow from operations, and amounts available for borrowing under our loan funding facilities.

In order to originate and aggregate loans for sale into the secondary market, we use our own working capital and borrow or obtain money on a short-term basis, primarily through committed and uncommitted loan funding facilities that we have established with large national and global banks. We fund substantially all of the mortgage loans we close through borrowings under our loan funding facilities.

Our loan funding facilities are primarily in the form of master repurchase agreements, which we refer to as “warehouse lines of credit.” Loans financed under these facilities are generally financed at approximately 97% to 98% of the principal balance of the loan (although certain types of loans are financed at lower percentages of the principal balance of the loan), which requires us to fund the balance from cash generated from our operations. Once closed, the underlying residential mortgage loan that is held for sale is pledged as collateral for the borrowing or advance that was made under these loan funding facilities. In most cases, the loans will remain in one of the loan funding facilities for only a short time, generally less than one month, until the loans are pooled and sold. During 2023, our loans remained on warehouse lines of credit for an average of 18 days. During the time the loans are held for sale, we earn interest income from the borrower on the underlying mortgage loan. This income is partially offset by the interest and fees we must pay under the loan funding facilities.

When we sell a pool of loans in the secondary market, the proceeds received from the sale of the loans are used to pay back the amounts we owe on the loan funding facilities. We rely on the cash generated from the sale of loans to fund future loans and repay borrowings under our loan funding facilities.

As of December 31, 2023, we had nine different loan funding facilities in different amounts and with various maturities, including an early buyout facility. The early buyout facility allows us to purchase certain delinquent GNMA loans that we service and finance them on the facility until the loan is cured or subsequently sold. As of December 31, 2023, the aggregate available amount under our loan facilities was approximately $1.8 billion, with combined outstanding balances of approximately $833.8 million. We are continually assessing our financing arrangements to ensure they are aligned with our business needs and make adjustments as necessary. We intend to renew our warehouse lines of credit maturing in 2024.

The amount of financing advanced on each individual loan under our loan funding facilities is determined by agreed upon advance rates but may be less than the stated rate due to fluctuations in the market value of the mortgage loans securing the financings. If the lenders providing the funds under our loan funding facilities determine that the value of the loans serving as collateral for our borrowings under those facilities has decreased, they can initiate a margin call to require us to provide additional collateral or reduce the amount outstanding with respect to those loans. Our inability or unwillingness to satisfy such a request could result in the termination of the related facilities and a potential default under our other loan funding facilities. In addition, a large unanticipated margin call could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity.

The amount owed and outstanding under our loan funding facilities fluctuates significantly based on our origination volume, the amount of time it takes us to sell the loans we originate and the amount of loans we are self-funding with cash. We may from time to time post surplus cash as additional collateral to buy-down the effective interest rates of certain loan funding facilities or to self-fund a portion of our loan originations. As of December 31, 2023, we had posted $8.7 million in cash as additional collateral. We have the ability to draw

Our loan funding facilities and MSR notes payable generally require us to comply with certain operating and financial covenants and the availability of funds under these facilities are subject to, among other conditions, our continued compliance with these covenants. These financial covenants include, but are not limited to, maintaining a certain (i) minimum tangible net worth, (ii) minimum liquidity and (iii) a maximum ratio of total liabilities or total debt to tangible net worth and (iv) satisfying certain adjusted pre-tax net income requirements. We may need to seek waivers or amendments of covenants depending on future operating performance. A breach of these covenants could result in an event of default under our funding facilities, which would allow the related lenders to pursue certain remedies. In addition, each of these facilities includes cross default or cross acceleration provisions that could result in all of our funding facilities terminating if an event of default or acceleration of maturity occurs under any one of them. We were in compliance with each of these covenants as of December 31, 2023 and 2022.

Our debt obligations are summarized below by facility as of December 31, 2023:

See “Note 13—Warehouse Lines of Credit, Net” and “Note 14—Notes Payable” of the “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” included in Part II, Item 8 in this Annual Report for information on debt obligation.

The investors to whom we sell mortgage loans we originate in the secondary market require us to abide by certain operating and financial covenants. These covenants include maintaining (i) a certain minimum net worth, (ii) a certain minimum liquidity, (iii) a certain minimum of total liquid assets, (iv) a certain maximum ratio of adjusted net worth to total assets and (v) fidelity bond and mortgage servicing errors and omissions coverage. A breach of these covenants could result in an event of default and could disallow us to continue selling mortgage loans to one or all of these investors in the secondary market, which in turn could have a significant impact on our liquidity and results of operations. We were in compliance with each of these covenants as of December 31, 2023 and 2022.

Our cash flows are summarized below:

Our cash flows from operating activities are primarily influenced by changes in the levels of inventory of loans held for sale, as shown below:

For the year ended December 31, 2023 our loan sales were less than our loan originations with loan sales at $14.9 billion and loan originations at $15.3 billion. For the year ended December 31, 2022 our loan sales exceeded our loan originations with loan sales at $20.5 billion compared to loan originations at $19.3 billion. When loan sales are higher than loan originations we typically experience a net cash inflow and when loan originations are higher than loan sales we typically experience a net cash outflow. Therefore, in the year ended December 31, 2022 we experienced a net cash inflow from our loans held for sale compared to the year ended December 31, 2023 during which our cash used was minimal. The decrease in cash used by other operating sources was primarily due to lower operating expenses driven by overall lower production.

Our investing activities primarily consist of originations and payment activity on loans held for investment, strategic acquisitions and purchases of property and equipment. Cash used in investing activities increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the prior year period, primarily due to the origination and purchase of $109.6 million in reverse mortgage loans and advances held for investment as we recently began originating reverse mortgage loans. We also used $8.0 million to fund the acquisitions of Legacy, CCM and FCM and issued a note receivable for $11.3 million in connection with the acquisition of CCM.

Our cash flows from financing activities are primarily influenced by changes in the levels of warehouse lines of credit used to fund loan originations, which were consistent with the changes in loan origination volume.

Borrowings under warehouse lines of credit move directionally with our mortgage loans held for sale. When our loan originations are higher than our loan sales, borrowings on our warehouse lines of credit would typically exceed our repayments on those lines and when our loan sales exceed our loan originations, our repayments on those lines would typically be higher than our borrowings. During the year ended December 31, 2023 our loan originations slightly exceeded our loan sales causing the net cash provided by warehouse lines of credit to be minimal as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 where our loan sales exceeded our loan originations which caused there to be a net cash outflow of repayments on our warehouse lines of credit. The change in cash used in other financing sources was primarily driven by net borrowings of $22.5 million during

On May 5, 2022, our Board of Directors authorized us to repurchase up to $20.0 million of our outstanding Class A common shares over the next 24 months. The share repurchase program allows us to repurchase our Class A common shares from time to time on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. We are not obligated to purchase any shares under the share repurchase program and the timing of any repurchases will depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, stock price, trading volume, market conditions, and other general business considerations. The share repurchase program may be modified, suspended or terminated by our Board of Directors at any time. We intend to fund any repurchases under the share repurchase program with cash on hand. Through December 31, 2023, we repurchased and subsequently retired 830,262 shares of our Class A common stock at an average purchase price of $10.65 per share. As of December 31, 2023, $11.2 million remains available for repurchase.

We enter into IRLCs with borrowers who have applied for residential forward mortgage loans and who meet certain credit and underwriting criteria. These commitments expose us to market risk if interest rates change during the period of time in which the loan is not economically hedged or committed to be sold to an investor. We are also exposed to credit loss if a loan for which we entered into an IRLC is originated and is not sold to an investor and the related client does not perform. The collateral upon extension of credit typically consists of a first deed of trust in the mortgagor’s residential property. Commitments to originate loans do not necessarily reflect future cash requirements as some commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon. Total commitments to originate forward mortgage loans, adjusted for pull-through, were approximately $710.9 million and $757.0 million as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. See “Note 18—Commitments and Contingencies” of the “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report.

The preparation of our financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Certain of these estimates significantly influence the portrayal of our financial condition and results, and they require us to make difficult, subjective or complex judgments. Although we believe that the judgments, estimates and assumptions used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements were appropriate given the circumstances at the time they were made, actual results could materially differ from those estimates.

Our critical accounting estimates primarily relate to the fair value estimates of our MSRs, reverse mortgage loans held for investment and HMBS-related borrowings, IRLCs and goodwill. See “Note 1—Business, Basis of Presentation, and Accounting Policies” of the “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” included in Part II, Item 8 in this Annual Report for information on our critical accounting policies related to these critical accounting estimates.

We believe these critical accounting estimates are subject to uncertainty because of the difficulty in observing certain significant inputs affecting our fair value assets and liabilities. As a result, we are required to make subjective judgments regarding the fair values of these items. Different persons in possession of the same facts may reasonably arrive at different conclusions as to the inputs used in valuing these assets and liabilities and their fair values. Such differences may result in significantly different fair value measurements. Likewise, due to the general illiquidity of some of these assets, subsequent transactions with respect to them may be at values significantly different from those we record.

Due to the difficulty and complexity in measuring certain of our fair value assets and liabilities, we may engage third parties to assist management in determining their values. We have also established controls in which management reviews and discusses these valuations with our accounting department and any third parties that we have engaged for this purpose to ensure accuracy over financial reporting. We re-measure the fair value of these assets and liabilities on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis by evaluating certain observable information, which may include current market pricing, recent trade activity, and industry data.

Below is a summary of our Level Three assets recorded at fair value compared to our total assets and stockholders’ equity as of December 31, 2023 and 2022. See “Note 2—Fair Value Measurements” of the “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report for additional information.