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Marketing Pulse May 28

Lead today's send with the 15-year breaking under 6%

The 5-handle on a 15-year is the psychological anchor borrowers register; the 3 bp daily ease on the 30-year is not. Send the milestone, save Trump Accounts for next week.

Thursday, May 28, 2026 30Y 6.54%15Y 5.85%5/1 ARM 6.32%

Two marketing-relevant developments today, both with different audience targets. First: Treasury launched the Trump Accounts app this morning — the federal savings program with a $1,000 newborn seed contribution, qualified withdrawals for higher education, first home purchase, or small business start-up. For LOs, this is the rare program-launch worth a one-time FYI send to younger-family contacts (clients with 2025-or-later newborns). The down-payment math is 18 years out, but being the first financial-services source the family hears about it from is the relationship-positioning win. Second: the 15-year mortgage rate broke under 6% on Bankrate today (5.95%, first sub-6 print in 90 days). That is a psychological floor borrowers anchor on, and it is the marketing message worth landing today — not the 3-bp daily ease on the 30-year, which is too small to register.

The math on the 15-year sub-6 print for the typical 30-year borrower: a $400K mortgage at today's 5.95% 15-year rate carries a payment of about $3,373/mo P&I — versus $2,548/mo at today's 6.59% 30-year. The 15-year costs $825 more per month, BUT it pays off the loan 15 years earlier with about $315K less total interest paid. The conversation flips when the borrower has the cash flow to absorb the higher monthly: the 15-year is no longer "the option I cannot afford" — it is "the option that pays a quarter-million less in interest for $825 more a month, on a rate I can talk about as starting with a 5 not a 6." That framing is fresh; the under-6 number on the 15-year has not been available for borrowers to react to since February.

The send today is segmented. The 15-year-curious cohort gets the under-6 milestone email; everyone else gets nothing today (yesterday's SMS counter-narrative covered them). Subject line is the milestone, not the offer: "15-year mortgage rate dropped below 6% today" or "the 5-handle on a 15-year refi." The body should pivot quickly to the cash-flow conversation — most 15-year-curious borrowers self-select OUT on the monthly affordability before the math is run, so the message that lands is "$800-ish more per month, $315K less in interest." Separately, save the Trump Accounts touch as a Tuesday-next-week send to the younger-family contact tag — the app launch is news today, but the audience does not need a same-day touch for a long-horizon product.

Do this today

write ONE email — under 250 words — leading with "the 15-year mortgage rate dropped under 6% today for the first time in three months." Send it to every past client AND every active pipeline contact tagged as 15-year-curious OR currently in a 30-year quote at 6.50% or above. Save the Trump Accounts copy for Tuesday morning's send to the younger-family tag — same data, but a different cadence (today's window is rate-driven, not program-driven).

Borrower segments to act on today

15-year refi candidates: conventional 30Y closings at 6.50%+

Today's 15-year at 5.95% (first sub-6 print in 90 days) makes the term-shift math compelling for any borrower currently paying 6.50%+ on a 30-year — and the "5-handle" psychological anchor is the message that registers, not the 3 bp daily ease on the 30-year. The cash-flow filter (can absorb +$825/mo on $400K) is the qualifying conversation, not the rate itself.

closed loans · rate ≥6.50% · conventional
Active FHA purchase pipeline — ARM now priced below FHA fixed

The 5/1 ARM at 6.12% (7/6 SOFR on MND) sits below FHA 30-year fixed at 6.17% for the first time this cycle. For active FHA purchase deals where borrower cash flow can handle ARM reset risk, today's pricing makes the side-by-side worth running — what was a non-conversation last month is genuinely competitive today.

active loans · purchases · fha

Today’s content angles

Email

Email: "5-handle on a 15-year refi" for the cash-flow-flexible cohort

Short email — under 250 words — leading with the milestone. Subject: "15-year mortgage rate broke under 6% today, {client}". Body: Hi {client} — quick FYI. The 15-year mortgage rate dropped under 6% today for the first time in three months; it is now at 5.95%. On the $400K loan we discussed, that puts the payment at about $3,373/mo, vs the 30-year at $2,548/mo. The 15-year is about $825 more per month BUT saves over $315K in interest if you carry it to payoff. If your cash flow has the room and you would consider closing the loan in 15 years instead of 30, today's number makes the math real for the first time in a while. Reply if you want me to run your specific number today.

Tactics worth stealing

Lead the message with the borrower's anchor, not the day-over-day

The 30-year was 3 bp lower today than yesterday — too small for any borrower to register from a same-day send. The 15-year crossed under 6% today — that IS the message that lands because borrowers anchor on round numbers and on the first digit of a rate, not on basis-point moves. When the daily change is small, lead with what crossed: a psychological floor (sub-6%), a comparison (ARM below FHA), or a relative position (15Y now below 1-week-ago 30Y). Same data, very different recall when the borrower processes the message tomorrow.

HubSpot State of Inbound; Daniel Kahneman anchoring research