loanDepot, Inc. (LDI) FY 2023 MD&A

Item 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes included under Part II. Item 8 of this report. The results of operations described below are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future periods. This discussion includes forward-looking information that involves risks and assumptions which could cause actual results to differ materially from management’s expectations. See our cautionary language at the beginning of this report under “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and for a more complete discussion of the factors that could affect our future results refer to Part I. “Item IA. Risk Factors”

Overview

We are a customer-centric, technology-empowered residential mortgage platform. Our goal is to be the lender of choice for consumers and the employer of choice by being a company that operates on sound principles of exceptional value, ethics, and transparency. Since our inception, we have significantly expanded our origination platform as well as developed an in-house servicing platform. Our primary sources of revenue are derived from the origination of conventional and government mortgage loans, servicing conventional and government mortgage loans, and providing ancillary services.

Residential Real-Estate Market

The residential real-estate market and associated mortgage loan origination volumes are influenced by economic factors such as interest rates, housing prices, and unemployment rates. Purchase mortgage loan origination volume can be subject to seasonal trends as home sales typically rise during the spring and summer seasons and decline in the fall and winter seasons. This is somewhat offset by purchase loan originations sourced from our joint ventures which typically experience their highest level of activity during November and December as home builders focus on completing and selling homes prior to year-

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end. Seasonality has less of an impact on mortgage loan refinancing volumes, which are primarily driven by fluctuations in mortgage loan interest rates.

Increases in interest rates may affect affordability and the ability for potential home buyers to qualify for a mortgage loan. As interest rates increase, rate and term refinancings become less attractive to consumers. However, rising interest rates during periods of inflationary pressures can make real assets, including real estate, an attractive investment. Demand for real estate may result in ongoing support for purchase mortgages and home price appreciation creating borrower equity that could result in opportunities for cash-out refinancings or home equity lines of credit.

Our mortgage loan refinancing volumes (and to a lesser degree, our purchase volumes), balance sheet, and results of operations are influenced by changes in interest rates and how we effectively manage the related interest rate risk. The majority of our assets are subject to interest rate risk, including LHFS, IRLCs, servicing rights, forward sales contracts, interest rate swap futures and put options. We refer to such forward sales contracts, interest rate swap futures and put options collectively as “Hedging Instruments.” As interest rates increase, our LHFS and IRLCs generally decrease in value while our Hedging Instruments utilized to hedge against interest rate risk typically increase in value. Rising interest rates cause our expected mortgage loan servicing revenues to increase due to a decline in mortgage loan prepayments which extends the average life of our servicing portfolio and increases the value of our servicing rights. Conversely, as interest rates decrease, our LHFS and IRLCs generally increase in value while our Hedging Instruments decrease in value. In a declining interest rate environment, borrowers tend to refinance their mortgage loans, which increases prepayment speed and causes expected mortgage loan servicing revenues to decrease, which reduces the average life of our servicing portfolio and decreases the value of our servicing rights. Changes in fair value of our servicing rights are recorded as unrealized gains and losses in changes in fair value of servicing rights, net, in our consolidated statements of operations.

During 2022 and 2023, the Federal Reserve implemented a series of rate adjustments, resulting in a cumulative increase of 5.25 percentage points in the Federal Funds rate. The associated increase in mortgage interest rates has impacted mortgage loan origination volumes, impacting affordability and qualification for homebuyers. Total loan originations for 2023 were $22.7 billion, a decrease of $31.1 billion, or 58% compared to $53.8 billion for 2022. The primary driver of this decrease was refinance volume, which decreased by $18.2 billion, or 75%. The mortgage industry continues to face decreased volumes due to elevated mortgage rates and low inventory of existing homes for sale, driven in part by a large number of existing homeowners benefiting from low-interest rates from previous purchases or refinance. In response to the challenges posed by these market dynamics, we introduced our Vision 2025 Plan in July 2022. Since the initial announcement of Vision 2025, we have consolidated our retail and corporate locations, exited our wholesale business, and expanded offerings on the HELOC platform. We established a joint venture with National HomeCorp, dedicated to extending credit to underserved communities and partnered with Habitat for Humanity to enhance housing conditions. We transitioned our servicing portfolio to an in-house platform; streamlined our leadership structures; and realigned other aspects of our cost structure, resulting in a 35.6% reduction in total expenses of which 30.6% was attributable to non-volume related expenses, compared to a 22.4% decrease in revenue in 2023. These non-volume related reductions were achieved through measures such as headcount reduction, business process optimization, and the consolidation of real estate assets. In November 2023, we announced an additional $120 million annualized cost reduction target, including $100 million in non-volume related expenses such as vendor contract termination and renegotiation, optimized marketing spending, and corporate real estate cost reductions, that we expect will benefit our 2024 results.

Key Performance Indicators

We manage and assess the performance of our business by evaluating a variety of metrics. Selected key performance metrics include loan originations and sales and servicing metrics.

Loan Origination and Sales

Loan originations and sales by volume and units are a measure of how successful we are at growing sales of mortgage loan products and a metric used by management in an attempt to isolate how effectively we are performing. We believe that originations and sales are an indicator of our market penetration in mortgage loans and that this provides useful information because it allows investors to better assess the strength of our core business. Loan originations and sales include brokered loan originations not funded by us. We enter into IRLCs to originate loans, at specified interest rates, with customers who have applied for a mortgage and meet certain credit and underwriting criteria. We believe the volume of our IRLCs is another measure of our overall market share.

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Gain on sale margin represents the total of (i) gain on origination and sale of loans, net, and (ii) origination income, net, divided by loan origination volume during period.

Pull through weighted gain on sale margin represents the total of (i) gain on origination and sale of loans, net, and (ii) origination income, net, divided by the pull through weighted rate lock volume. Pull through weighted rate lock volume is the principal balance of loans subject to interest rate lock commitments, net of a pull-through factor for the loan funding probability.

Servicing Metrics

Servicing metrics include the unpaid principal balance of our servicing portfolio and servicing portfolio units, which represent the number of mortgage loan customers we service. We believe that the net additions to our portfolio and number of units are indicators of the growth of our mortgage loans serviced and our servicing income, but may be offset by sales of servicing rights.

(1)Original principal balance

(2)The UPB of loans that are 60 or more days past due as of the dates presented, according to the contractual due date, or are in foreclosure.

(3)Amount represents the fair value of servicing rights, net of servicing liabilities, which are included in accounts payable, accrued expenses, and other liabilities in the consolidated balance sheets.

(4)Excludes other Non-Agency.

(5)Amounts represent the fair value of servicing rights, net, divided by the weighted average annualized servicing fee.

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Results of Operations

The following table sets forth our consolidated financial statement data for 2023 compared to 2022. A comparative discussion of results for 2022 compared to 2021 is provided in the "Results of Operations" section within the Company’s Annual Report of loanDepot, Inc. on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Net loss of $235.5 million for 2023 reflects a decrease of $374.9 million compared to net loss of $610.4 million for 2022. The decrease is attributable to a $693.4 million decline in total expenses, including personnel, marketing, and servicing expense as well as volume-related reductions from the decline in loan originations. Total originations were $22.7 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to $53.8 billion for the year ended December 31, 2022, representing a decrease of $31.1 billion or 57.8%, reflecting decreased demand for mortgage loans due to the elevated rates. Total revenue decreased $281.8 million from a 52.5% decrease in pull-through weighted lock volume that resulted in a $224.0 million decrease in gain on origination and sale of loans.

Income

Net Interest Income. Net interest income includes interest income earned on LHFS, offset by interest expense incurred on amounts borrowed under warehouse lines for loan financing as well as warehouse line commitment fees. These commitment fees are amortized on a straight-line basis over the duration of the warehouse line agreement. The decrease in net interest income reflects our cost of funds, which are tied to short-term interest rates, increasing more than the yield on our LHFS, which are tied to long-term interest rates.

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Gain on Origination and Sale of Loans, Net. Gain on origination and sale of loans, net was comprised of the following components:

Gain on origination and sale of loans, net includes several key components. The estimated change in value of a loan from the time we enter into a commitment to lend to the borrower (IRLC) to the closing of the loan (LHFS) up until its eventual sale is recorded in “Fair value gains or losses on IRLC and LHFS.” Various factors, such as mortgage volume, the duration a loan remains at stages in the origination process, and shifts in interest rates, influence fair value changes on IRLC and LHFS. We utilize a hedge strategy to manage the impact of interest rate changes in IRLC and LHFS, "Fair value gains or losses from Hedging Instruments" represents the unrealized gains or losses on Hedging Instruments. When a loan is sold, the difference between proceeds received and the UPB is included in “Premium or discount from loan sales.” Additionally, “Discount points, rebates, and lender paid costs” are recognized at closing of the loan. The fair value of servicing rights retained on loan sales is included in “Fair value of servicing rights additions.” The "Provision for loan loss obligation for loans sold” is established to cover potential losses from a breach of representation or warranty made to purchasers or insurers of the sold loans. The $224.0 million or 29.9% decrease in gain on origination and sale of loans, net was primarily attributable to lower volume due to higher interest rates and lower demand.

Origination Income, Net. Origination income, net, reflects the fees that we earn, net of lender credits we pay, from originating loans. Origination income includes loan origination fees, processing fees, underwriting fees, and other fees collected from the borrower at the time of funding. Lender credits typically include rebates or concessions to borrowers for certain loan origination costs. The $64.5 million, or 49.7%, decrease in origination income was the result of lower loan origination volume.

Servicing Fee Income. Servicing fee income reflects contractual servicing fees and ancillary and other fees (including late charges) related to the servicing of mortgage loans. The increase of $43.7 million, or 9.7%, in servicing income between periods was the result of higher ancillary income due to an increase in interest income earned on custodial funds as a result of higher short-term interest rates, partially offset by a decrease in servicing fees resulting from a decrease of $6.1 billion in the average UPB of our servicing portfolio and a decline in servicing fee income related to excess servicing sales during 2023.

Change in Fair Value of Servicing Rights, Net. Change in fair value of servicing rights, net include (i) fair value gains or losses net of Hedging Instrument gains or losses; (ii) fallout and decay, which includes principal amortization and prepayments; and (iii) realized gains or losses on the sales of servicing rights. The increase of $9.9 million reflects an $81.2 million decrease in prepayments due to the higher rate environment and a $14.1 million increase in gain on sales of servicing rights, partially offset by an $85.4 million decrease in fair value gains, net of hedging losses.

Other Income. Other income includes our pro rata share of the net earnings from joint ventures and fee income from title, escrow, settlement services for mortgage loan transactions performed by LDSS, fair value gains or losses on trading securities, and bank interest income on cash balances. The decrease of $0.6 million, or 0.9%, in other income between periods was attributable to a decrease of $42.1 million in escrow and title fee income due to decreased volume, partially offset by an increase in fair value gains on trading securities of $25.7 million, an increase in bank interest income of $15.0 million, and a $3.9 million increase in income from joint ventures.

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Expenses

Personnel Expense. Personnel expense includes salaries, commissions, incentive compensation, benefits, and other employee costs. The $454.0 million or 44.2% decrease in personnel expense included volume-related declines in commissions of $188.9 million. The remaining decrease of $265.1 million was attributable to lower salaries & benefits. As of December 31, 2023, we had 4,250 employees, as compared to 5,194 employees as of December 31, 2022.

Marketing and Advertising Expense. The $103.9 million or 43.9% decrease in marketing expense reflects cost savings measures affecting lead aggregators. With the elevated interest rates, we adapted our marketing strategy to target increased purchase and cash-out refinance volume. Our approach still relies on selected online lead aggregators, alongside search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, banner advertising, and organic content generation to cultivate organic online leads.

Direct Origination Expense. Direct origination expense reflects the unreimbursed portion of direct out-of-pocket expenses that we incur in the loan origination process, including underwriting, appraisal, credit report, loan document and other expenses paid to non-affiliates. The $53.7 million or 44.4% decrease in direct origination expense was the result of decreased loan originations during the period.

General and Administrative Expense. General and administrative expense includes professional fees, data processing expense, communications expense, and other operating expenses. The $52.9 million or 19.9% decrease in general and administrative expense included a $28.2 million decrease in real estate exit costs, an $8.9 million decrease in office and equipment expenses, a $5.9 million decrease in communications expense, a $5.3 million decrease in professional and consulting services, and a $1.3 million decrease in data processing expense.

Servicing Expense. In early 2023, we completed the transition of our servicing portfolio to our in-house platform. The decrease of $25.4 million or 47.9% in servicing expense reflects our shift to in-house servicing and a decrease in non-performing servicing expense.

Other Interest Expense. The $50.0 million or 40.3% increase in other interest expense was the result of higher rates on secured credit facilities, and an $8.8 million decrease in gain on extinguishment of Senior Notes.

Income Tax Expense (Benefit). The decrease in benefit for income taxes of $36.8 million reflects lower net losses, partially offset by non-deductible impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets for the year ended December 31, 2022.

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Balance Sheet Highlights

Loans Held for Sale, at Fair Value. Loans held for sale, at fair value, primarily consist of fixed and variable rate, 15- to 30-year term first-lien loans secured by residential property. The decrease of $240.5 million, or 10.1%, reflects $23.1 billion in loan sales, partly offset by $22.7 billion in loan originations, and a $64.9 million increase in fair value.

Servicing Rights, at Fair Value. The $37.7 million, or 1.8%, decrease comprised a $180.7 million reduction from the sale of $181.8 million in UPB and $149.2 million from principal amortization and prepayments, partially offset by $277.4 million of capitalized servicing rights from servicing-retained loan sales, and an increase in fair value.

Warehouse and Other Lines of Credit. The decrease of $199.5 million, or 9.3%, was the result of loan sales outpacing originations by $468.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2023, partially offset by an increase in financing for loans that were previously funded with cash.

Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities. The decrease of $108.7 million, or 22.2%, reflects a $42.2 million decrease in the deferred tax liability and a $38.8 million decrease in the loan repurchase reserve due to a decrease in charge-offs. The remaining portion of the decrease was attributed to a decline in other accrued expenses, including interest and professional services.

Debt Obligations, net. The decrease of $15.3 million, or 0.7%, included a reduction in secured credit facilities of $11.4 million and the $5.4 million repurchase of Senior Notes.

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Equity. The decrease of $217.0 million, or 23.5%, was primarily attributed to a net loss of $235.5 million and the repurchase of treasury shares, at cost of $3.2 million to net settlement and withholding tax on vested RSUs. This was partially offset by stock-based compensation of $22.0 million and an increase to additional paid in capital of $2.8 million, primarily related to deferred taxes.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Liquidity

Our liquidity reflects our ability to meet current and potential cash requirements. We forecast the need to have adequate liquid funds available to operate and grow our business. As of December 31, 2023, unrestricted cash and cash equivalents were $660.7 million and committed and uncommitted available capacity under our warehouse and other lines of credit was $1.2 billion.

Our primary sources of liquidity have been as follows: (i) funds obtained from our warehouse and other lines of credit; (ii) proceeds from debt obligations; (iii) proceeds received from the sale and securitization of loans; (iv) proceeds from the sale of servicing rights; (v) loan fees from the origination of loans; (vi) servicing fees; (vii) title and escrow fees from settlement services; (viii) real estate referral fees; and (ix) interest income from LHFS.

Our primary uses of funds for liquidity have included the following: (i) funding mortgage loans; (ii) funding loan origination costs; (iii) payment of warehouse line haircuts required at loan origination; (iv) payment of interest expense on warehouse and other lines of credit; (v) payment of interest expense under debt obligations; (vi) payment of operating expenses; (vii) repayment of warehouse and other lines of credit; (viii) repayment of debt obligations; (ix) funding of servicing advances; (x) margin calls on warehouse and other lines of credit or Hedging Instruments; (xi) repurchases of loans under representation and warranty breaches; and (xii) costs relating to servicing.

At this time, we currently believe that our cash on hand, as well as the sources of liquidity described above, will be sufficient to maintain our current operations and fund our loan originations capital commitments for the next twelve months. However, we will continue to review our liquidity needs in light of current and anticipated mortgage market conditions and we have taken various steps to align our cost structure with current and expected mortgage origination volumes.

Financial Covenants

Our lenders require us to comply with various financial covenants including tangible net worth, liquidity, leverage ratios and profitability. As of December 31, 2023, we were in full compliance with all financial covenants. However, we expect that we will need to amend or obtain waivers in order to maintain compliance with such financial covenants in 2024. Our lenders are not required to grant any such amendments or waivers and may determine not to do so. Although these financial covenants limit the amount of indebtedness that we may incur and affect our liquidity through minimum cash reserve requirements, we believe that these covenants currently provide us with sufficient flexibility to operate our business and obtain the financing necessary to achieve that purpose.

Seller/Servicer Financial Requirements

As a seller and servicer, we are subject to minimum net worth, liquidity, and other financial requirements. In 2022, both FHFA and Ginnie Mae revised these requirements. Effective from September 30, 2023, minimum net worth requirements for FHFA and Ginnie Mae include a base of $2.5 million plus percentages of the seller/servicer’s residential first lien mortgage servicing UPB serviced for each agency and a percentage of other non-agencies servicing UPB. Base liquidity for the agencies depends on the remittance type and includes specific percentages of the seller/servicer's residential first lien mortgage servicing UPB for each agency, along with a percentage for other non-agencies servicing UPB. Large non-depositories require a liquidity buffer based on UPB for FHFA and Ginnie Mae. The capital ratio for FHFA and Ginnie Mae requires tangible net worth/total assets to be equal to or greater than 6% for both agencies. Effective from December 31, 2023, revised FHFA and Ginnie Mae seller-servicer minimum financial eligibility requirements include origination liquidity and third-party ratings. As of December 31, 2023, we were in compliance with these financial requirements.

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FHFA also requires an annual capital and liquidity plan effective March 31, 2024 and Ginnie Mae is implementing a risk-based capital requirement effective December 31, 2024. We are assessing the impact of these upcoming requirements but anticipate no significant change in our ability to meet financial eligibility requirements.

Warehouse and Other Lines of Credit

We primarily finance mortgage loans through borrowings under our warehouse and other lines of credit. Under these facilities, we transfer specific loans to our counterparties and receive funds from them. Simultaneously, there is an agreement in place where the counterparties commit to transferring the loans back to us, either at the date the loans are sold or upon our request, and we provide the funds in return. We do not recognize these transfers as sales for accounting purposes. During the year ended December 31, 2023, our loans remained on warehouse lines for an average of 18 days. Our warehouse facilities are generally short-term borrowings and our securitization facility, with an original three-year term, is scheduled to mature in October 2024. We utilize both committed and uncommitted loan funding facilities and we evaluate our needs under these facilities based on forecasted volume of loan originations and sales. Our liquidity could be affected as lenders may reassess their exposure to the mortgage origination industry and potentially limit access to uncommitted mortgage warehouse financing or increase associated costs. Moreover, there may be reduced demand from investors to acquire our mortgage loans in the secondary market, further impacting our liquidity. Approximately 76% of the mortgage loans that we originated during the year ended December 31, 2023 were sold in the secondary mortgage market either directly to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or securitized into MBS guaranteed by Ginnie Mae. We also sell loans to many private investors.

As of December 31, 2023, we maintained revolving lines of credit with eight counterparties providing warehouse and other securitization facilities with a total borrowing capacity of $3.1 billion, of which $901.0 million was committed. As of December 31, 2023, we had $1.9 billion in outstanding borrowings and $1.2 billion in additional availability under our facilities. Warehouse and other lines of credit are further discussed in Note 11- Warehouse and Other Lines of Credit.

When we draw on our warehouse and securitization facilities we must pledge eligible loan collateral. Our warehouse line providers require us to make a capital investment, or “haircut.” upon financing the loan, which is generally based on product types and the market value of the loans. The haircuts are normally recovered from sales proceeds. As of December 31, 2023, we had a total of $7.0 million in restricted cash posted as collateral with our warehouse and securitization facilities, of which $4.3 million was the minimum requirement.

Debt Obligations

MSR facilities and Term Notes provide financing for our servicing portfolio investments. As of December 31, 2023, the outstanding balance of our MSR facilities was $980.8 million net of $2.7 million deferred financing costs. The outstanding balance of Term Notes was $200.0 million. MSR facilities are secured by Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac MSRs, which amounted to $1.3 billion as of December 31, 2023 and Term Notes are secured by specific participation certificates relating to Ginnie Mae MSRs totaling $617.9 million as of the same date.

Securities financing facilities provide financing for the retained interest securities associated with our securitizations. As of December 31, 2023 there were outstanding securities financing facilities of $76.0 million, secured by trading securities with a fair value of $92.9 million.

Servicing advance facilities provide financing for our servicing agreements. As servicer, we are required to fulfill contractual obligations such as principal and interest payments for certain investor as well as taxes, insurance, foreclosure costs, and other necessities to preserve the serviced assets. For GSE-backed mortgages, this obligation extends up to four months, and for other government agency-backed mortgages, it may extend even longer, especially for clients under forbearance plans. The size of servicing advance balances is influenced by delinquency rates and prepayment speeds. As of December 31, 2023, the outstanding balance on our servicing advance facilities was $27.9 million secured by servicing advance receivables totaling $84.5 million.

Unsecured debt obligations as of December 31, 2023 consisted of Senior Notes totaling $1.0 billion net of $7.8 million of deferred financing costs. Periodically, and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, we may take actions to reduce or repurchase our debt. These actions can include redemptions, tender offers, cash purchases, prepayments, refinancing, exchange offers, open market or privately-negotiated transactions. The decision on amount of debt to be reduced or repurchased depends

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on several factors, including market conditions, trading levels of our debt, our cash positions, compliance with debt covenants, and other relevant considerations. During 2023, we repurchased $5.4 million of Senior Notes at 67.5% of par which resulted in a $1.7 million gain on extinguishment of debt. Debt obligations are further discussed in Note 12- Debt Obligations of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Item 8.

Dividends and Distributions

As part of our balance sheet and capital management strategies, we suspended our regular quarterly dividend effective March 31, 2022 and for the foreseeable future.

Cash dividends are subject to the discretion of our board of directors and our compliance with applicable law, and depend on, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, level of indebtedness, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, including the satisfaction of our obligations under the TRA, restrictions in our debt agreements, business prospects and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. Our ability to pay dividends depends on our receipt of cash dividends from our operating subsidiaries, which may further restrict our ability to pay dividends as a result of the laws of their jurisdiction of organization or agreements of our subsidiaries, including agreements governing our indebtedness. Future agreements may also limit our ability to pay dividends.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

Our estimated contractual obligations as of December 31, 2023 are as follows:

(1)    Amounts exclude deferred financing costs.

(2)    Represents lease obligations for office space under non-cancelable operating lease agreements.

In addition to the above contractual obligations, we also have interest rate lock commitments, forward sale contracts, loan loss obligation for sold loans and obligation for sold MSRs. Commitments to originate loans or repurchase loans do not necessarily reflect future cash requirements as some commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon and, therefore, those commitments have been excluded from the table above. Refer to Note 5- Derivative Financial Instruments and Hedging Activities and Note 19 - Commitments & Contingencies of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” for further discussion on derivatives and other contractual commitments.

At this time, we currently believe that our cash on hand, as well as the sources of liquidity described above, will be sufficient to fund our contractual obligations.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of December 31, 2023, we were party to mortgage loan participation purchase and sale agreements, pursuant to which we have access to uncommitted facilities that provide liquidity for recently sold MBS up to the MBS settlement date. These facilities, which we refer to as gestation facilities, are a component of our financing strategy and are off-balance sheet arrangements.

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Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP, which requires us to make judgments, estimates and assumptions that affect: (i) the reported amounts of our assets and liabilities; (ii) the disclosure of our contingent assets and liabilities at the end of each reporting period; and (iii) the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during each reporting period. We continually evaluate these judgments, estimates and assumptions based on our own historical experience, knowledge and assessment of current business and other conditions and our expectations regarding the future based on available information which together form our basis for making judgments about matters that are not readily apparent from other sources. Since the use of estimates is an integral component of the financial reporting process, our actual results could differ from those estimates. Some of our accounting policies require a higher degree of judgment than others in their application. Our accounting policies are described in Note 1 - Description of Business, Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.” At December 31, 2023, the most critical of these significant accounting policies were policies related to the fair value of loans held for sale, servicing rights, and derivative financial instruments. As of the date of this report, there have been no significant changes to the Company's critical accounting policies or estimates.

When reading our consolidated financial statements, you should consider our selection of critical accounting policies, the judgment and other uncertainties affecting the application of such policies and the sensitivity of reported results to changes in conditions and assumptions. Refer to “Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk - Sensitivity Analysis” for an analysis of the impact of a hypothetical shift in market interest rates on the fair value of loans held for sale, servicing rights, and derivative financial instruments. The sensitivity of servicing rights to various changes in assumptions is also reflected in Note 4 - Servicing Rights, at Fair Value of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To provide investors with information in addition to our results as determined by GAAP, we disclose certain non-GAAP measures to assist investors in evaluating our financial results. We believe these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to investors regarding our results of operations because each measure assists both investors and management in analyzing and benchmarking the performance and value of our business. They facilitate company-to-company operating performance comparisons by backing out potential differences caused by variations in hedging strategies, changes in valuations, capital structures (affecting interest expense on non-funding debt), taxation, the age and book depreciation of facilities (affecting relative depreciation expense), and other cost or benefit items which may vary for different companies for reasons unrelated to operating performance. These non-GAAP measures include our Adjusted Total Revenue, Adjusted Net Income (Loss), Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) Per Share (if dilutive), and Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA). We exclude from these non-GAAP financial measures the change in fair value of MSRs and related hedging gains and losses as they represent non-cash, unrealized adjustments resulting from changes in valuation assumptions, mostly due to changes in market interest rates, and are not indicative of the Company’s operating performance or results of operation. We also exclude stock-based compensation expense, which is a non-cash expense, gains or losses on extinguishment of debt and disposal of fixed assets, non-cash goodwill impairment, and other impairment charges to intangible assets and operating lease right-of-use assets, as well as certain costs associated with our restructuring efforts, as management does not consider these costs to be indicative of our performance or results of operations. Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA) includes interest expense on funding facilities, which are recorded as a component of “net interest income (expense)”, as these expenses are a direct operating expense driven by loan origination volume. By contrast, interest expense on our non-funding debt is a function of our capital structure and is therefore excluded from Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA). Adjustments for income taxes are made to reflect historical results of operations on the basis that it was taxed as a corporation under the Internal Revenue Code, and therefore subject to U.S. federal, state and local income taxes. Adjustments to Diluted Weighted Average Shares Outstanding assumes the pro forma conversion of weighted average Class C shares to Class A common stock. These non-GAAP measures have limitations as analytical tools, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for revenue, net income, or any other operating performance measure calculated in accordance with GAAP, and may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure reported by other companies. Some of these limitations are:

•they do not reflect every cash expenditure, future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;

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•Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA) does not reflect the significant interest expense or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payment on our debt;

•although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced or require improvements in the future, and Adjusted Total Revenue, Adjusted Net Income (Loss), and Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA) do not reflect any cash requirement for such replacements or improvements; and

•they are not adjusted for all non-cash income or expense items that are reflected in our statements of cash flows.

Because of these limitations, Adjusted Total Revenue, Adjusted Net Income (Loss), Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) Per Share, and Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA) are not intended as alternatives to total revenue, net income (loss), net income (loss) attributable to the Company, or Diluted Earnings (Loss) Per Share or as an indicator of our operating performance and should not be considered as measures of discretionary cash available to us to invest in the growth of our business or as measures of cash that will be available to us to meet our obligations. We compensate for these limitations by using Adjusted Total Revenue, Adjusted Net Income (Loss), Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) Per Share, and Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA) along with other comparative tools, together with U.S. GAAP measurements, to assist in the evaluation of operating performance. See below for a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to their most comparable U.S. GAAP measures.

(1)Represents the change in the fair value of servicing rights attributable to changes in assumptions, net of hedging gains and losses.

(1)Reflects net loss to Class A common stock and Class D common stock from the pro forma exchange of Class C common stock.

(2)loanDepot, Inc. is subject to federal, state and local income taxes. Adjustments to the benefit (provision) for income taxes reflect the income tax rates below, and the pro forma assumption that loanDepot, Inc. owns 100% of LD Holdings.

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(3)Represents the change in the fair value of servicing rights due to changes in valuation inputs or assumptions, net of gains or losses from derivatives hedging servicing rights.

(4)Management fees were discontinued after 2021. During 2021, Management fees were $0.2 million.

(5)Reflects employee severance expense and professional services associated with restructuring efforts subsequent to the announcement of Vision 2025 in July 2022.

(6)Amounts represent the income tax effect using the aforementioned effective income tax rates, excluding certain discrete tax items.

(1)Represents other interest expense, which includes gain on extinguishment of debt and amortization of debt issuance costs, in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations.

(2)Represents the change in the fair value of servicing rights due to changes in valuation inputs or assumptions, net of gains or losses from derivatives hedging servicing rights.