Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Kelsey, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome you to the Better Home and Finance Holding Company second quarter 26 results. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. I would now like to turn the conference over to Tarek Afifi corporate finance and investor relations manager. Tarek, please go ahead.

Tarek Afifi: Welcome to Better Home and Finance Holding Company's second quarter 26 earnings conference call. My name is Tarek Afifi. On Better's corporate finance team. Joining me on today's call are Daniel Lewis, interim chief executive officer of Better and Loveen Advani, chief financial officer of Better. In addition to this conference call, please direct your attention to our second quarter earnings release. Which is available on our Investor Relations website. Also available on our website is an investor presentation Certain statements we make today may constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws that are based on current expectations and assumptions. These expectations and assumptions are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors as discussed further in our SEC filings, that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our historical results. We assume no responsibility to update forward looking statements other than as required by law. During today's discussion, management will discuss certain non GAAP financial measures, which we believe are relevant in assessing the company's financial performance. These non GAAP financial measures should not be considered replacements for and should be read together with our GAAP results. These non GAAP financial measures are reconciled to GAAP financial measures in today's earnings release and investor presentation. Both of which are available on the Investor Relations section of Better's website and when filed in our quarterly report on Form 10 Q with the SEC. More information as of and for the period ended 06/30/2026 will be provided upon filing our quarterly report on Form 10 Q with the SEC. I will now turn the call over to Daniel.

Daniel Lewis: Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. This week, the board announced a leadership change. And asked me to serve as interim chief executive officer. Better is not new to me. I have been working alongside management for the past 3 months after Vishal invited me to work directly with the business. I have attended virtually every management meeting in that time, and contributed to many of the strategic initiatives we will be discussing today. I have been a significant shareholder for some time, I have worked closely with our founder, Vishal Garg, over the past year. My initial mandate was straightforward. Help strengthen execution and improve operational efficiency delivering the company's strategic priorities. That work expanded into enterprise partnerships development and the day to day operations of the business. Along the way, I developed a deep understanding of the business. Its leadership team, and the opportunities and challenges in front of us. I spent the last 30 years as an investor, board member, founder, and operator at highly regulated financial institutions. I want to address our forward outlook at the beginning of this call. Our third quarter guidance reflects the muted refinancing environment, and the uncertain timing of several partnership launches. In Q3, we expect loan volume of 1.375 billion to 1.525 billion. Total net revenues of $49 million to $52 million and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $18 million to $15 million. Regarding our previously guided goal of reaching adjusted EBITDA breakeven by September, we now expect to fall short. I remain optimistic about Better's opportunity but our objective is to establish credibility through execution. I do not want to anchor adjusted EBITDA breakeven expectations to a specific month, because achieving it depends on transaction volumes, revenue mix, and the timing of our cost reductions. Our cost reductions are expected to continue to flow through the P&L over the remainder of the year. At the same time, the timing of partnership launches and other revenue initiatives will naturally influence quarterly results. Sustainable profitability is a clear priority. We will strengthen our financial position without sacrificing the opportunity in front of us. We now expect our annual cost savings to exceed $45 million well above our original target of $25 million. That represents meaningful progress, it is not where we intend to stop. Better has always been innovated, defined by our founder spirit and creativity. But as is often the case, an organization moving into an enterprise strategy needs focus as complexity slows execution. Going forward, we will concentrate on fewer priorities and execute them exceptionally well. No group is more excited about that focus than our AI engineering team. I am pleased to say that July was our most productive month for engineering in some time, largely because of clearer prioritization. Sustainable profitability and long term growth are not competing priorities. When capital is allocated with discipline, and execution is consistent, they reinforce 1 another. Gives me the greatest confidence is the team. Better has exceptional people who are energized by the opportunity ahead. Across the company, I see leaders who are eager to build, move fast, and execute at a higher standard. Just as importantly, we will not depend on a refinancing cycle or wait interest rates to fall. We already have a compelling HELOC product. What we need is thoughtful distribution and continued improvement in customer acquisition costs, not additional demand or a different macro environment. We are building operating leverage in businesses where demand already exists. Our growth will come from better execution, not from waiting for the market to improve. I know our enterprise results can improve significantly. Our partnership support infrastructure still requires work, which reflects our direct to consumer heritage. The expansion from direct to consumer to an enterprise model is not a simple evolution. So why are the board and I enthusiastic about Better's future? The demand for Tin Man and Betsy is no longer in question. It is coming from enterprise customers, independent mortgage brokers, and our own loan officers. Independent mortgage brokers have expressed interest in our Tinman solution, built specifically for the wholesale channel and we are now preparing for launch. We have demonstrated product market fit in 1 of the largest financial markets in the world, spanning first lien mortgages, home equity lending, and an enterprise mortgage infrastructure. That brings me to our operating priorities. Our first priority is distribution. We will focus on enterprise partners whose businesses naturally align with Tinman and our API driven operating model. We will win by manufacturing mortgages efficiently not by outspending competitors on customer acquisition. That includes consumer platforms like Credit Karma and Coinbase, our NEO operation, as well as wholesale brokers and other enterprise partners whose customers can move seamlessly onto the Tinman platform. We are not simply interested in partnership announcements. Our objective is to build an organization that consistently implements supports, and grows them. Since my appointment, we have spoken with each of our enterprise partners and those that are still in the pipeline. We talked about the exciting future ahead and those conversations reinforced my conviction about this opportunity. We are excited about a few select verticals, and today, will highlight the wholesale channel. There is real interest from independent mortgage brokers who are already waiting for Tinman. We intend to serve them, but only when we can deliver a best in class loan officer experience faster funding, lower cost, and better customer outcomes. We are interested in winning for the long term. Our second priority is product. We will continue investing aggressively in HELOC. Our offering combines sophisticated underwriting with a differentiated experience for both borrowers and loan officers. The wholesale market's interest has exceeded our expectations, and we intend to pursue the opportunity aggressively but thoughtfully. Today, HELOC is still largely a direct to consumer product. Over time, we expect it to become an important enterprise product as well. Our third priority is Tinman. Tinman is an AI native modular, end to end solution supporting the mortgage process from lead to fund. It is not a wrapper on someone else's technology. It is the manufacturing system itself. Further automation reduces expense. But it also enables a faster closing experience for customers. Near term objectives are simple. Give loan officers the best experience and continue driving automation throughout the platform. Let me explain why we expect to win here. D2C and neo are our innovation platform. And our feedback loop on the loan officer experience. Every day, our loan officers tell us what works, what does not, and what needs to improve. That feedback loop is how Tinman becomes an AI platform built by loan officers rather than just for them. And ultimately a platform that enterprise customers and independent brokers can adopt with confidence. Because our AI strategy is fundamental to Better's long term success, I have asked our board member, Prabhu Narasimhan, to continue serving as a strategic adviser on enterprise artificial intelligence. As the founder and CEO of Brahma AI, Prabhu brings deep experience helping enterprises deploy AI at scale. Finally, we will continue simplifying operations. Our NEO and Better Mortgage operations are being combined, creating efficiencies while improving execution. A more focused company needs clear priorities, aligning engineering resources disciplined capital allocation, and an operating model built around execution. Let me turn to how we intend to communicate with you, our shareholders. Today, I am signaling confidence in Better's future but our objective is to establish credibility through execution. We will report on our prospects, our progress against stated objectives, and our cost structure, including the impact of stock based compensation. At my request, I will receive the minimum salary permitted by law and no cash bonus. My compensation will consist of performance based equity with the final terms to be determined by the board and disclosed in our public filings. That is the structure I requested because I believe in Better's future and I want my incentives aligned with those of our shareholders. The board's incentives are also aligned with yours. They have elected to receive their compensation in equity rather than cash. The board and I are aligned on my interim designation. The interim designation provides complete flexibility for the board as it considers the company's long term leadership while allowing us to devote our full attention to executing the plan in front of us. My confidence is not built on hope. But on the information and experience I have gained over the past several months. It comes from employees rallying around a clear plan and shared sense of purpose. It comes from the opportunities I see to grow this business. And it comes from my belief that Better has the people, technology, and foundation to execute if we remain disciplined and focused. We will build partnerships we can support properly and put our engineers on the work that matters most. Better exists to solve deeply human problems. Helping someone buy a first home giving a growing family more space, enabling a retiree to lower monthly payments, or allowing a business owner to invest by unlocking home equity. The strongest impression I formed at Better was not about the technology. Was about the people who do that work. Finally, I want to thank Vishal Garg. Better would not exist without his vision, and the technology we are discussing today is the product of years of investment and innovation under his leadership. I appreciate his partnership through this transition. With that, I will turn the call over to Levine.

Loveen Advani: Thank you, Daniel, for clearly laying out the priorities ahead. We look forward to supporting you on their execution. On the macro environment, the rate backdrop got more difficult as the quarter progressed. And mortgage application activity has softened industry wide. We do not expect this to be a short term blip. We are planning for an elevated rate environment to persist over the medium term, and we are adapting accordingly. Despite the macro environment in Q2, Bettor's loan volume grew 38% year-over-year to $1.67 billion. And total net revenues increased 28% year over year and 15% quarter over quarter to $54.7 million. This quarter, HELOC represented 18% of our loan volume, up from 12% last quarter. that is a direct reflection of how we are responding to this rate backdrop. HELOC enable homeowners to access liquidity without giving up a lower rate that they have already locked in. Even though HELOC carry smaller average loan sizes than first liens, they generate higher average revenue per loan so they have an outsized impact on revenue. Turning to Neo. In Q2, our Neo business grew 60% in loan volume year over year, and continues to recruit top loan officer teams across the country. In Q2, our adjusted EBITDA loss was $14 million. This $14 million loss is a 39% improvement year over year and a 26% improvement quarter over quarter. The adjusted EBITDA benefits from a 1-time $6.5 million trade reserve release related to loans originated prior to June 2022. Looking at product trends in Q2, refinance loan volume grew 239% year-over-year to $549 million. Home equity volume grew 23% year-over-year to $294 million. And purchase loan volumes grew 3% year-over-year $824 million. By product mix, refinance made up 33% of Q2 loan volume. Home equity made up 18% of Q2 loan volume. And purchase made up 49% of loan volume. By channel, in Q2, 55% of loan volume came from the Tinman AI platform, and 45% from direct to consumer. Now turning to third quarter guidance. We expect loan volumes of 1.375 billion to 1.525 billion. Of which the midpoint represents 20% growth year over year. We expect total net revenues of $49 million to $52 million, of which the midpoint represents a 22% growth year over year. We also expect an adjusted EBITDA loss in the range of $18 million to $15 million, of which the midpoint represents a 28% improvement year over year. The range is wider than in prior quarters for 2 reasons. Refinance volume is more rate sensitive at current levels, and our revenue mix is actively shifting towards HELOCs. As our HELOC partnerships ramp and season, we expect that product to become a more predictable contributor to give us better visibility into our forecast. Building on Daniel's earlier statement, on the September breakeven target, the cost reductions we have executed will continue to flow to the P&L over the remainder of the year. But the timing of the HELOC partnership ramps and launches and the pace of the refinance market will determine when we cross over. Rather than re anchor to a specific month, we will report our progress each quarter and let the results speak for themselves. On the balance sheet, we ended Q2 26 approximately $102 million in cash and cash equivalents, and $10 million in restricted cash. We believe the balance sheet today is appropriately positioned to support our path towards profitability. In addition, our total warehouse capacity is stands at approximately $850 million a 48% increase from year end 2025. That capacity reflects both the belief in the platform and the infrastructure required to support future partnership growth. Our warehouse vendors continued to expand their commitments alongside us which we see as a strong vote of confidence in the direction we are headed. We continue to pursue the sale of our UK bank subsidiary, Birmingham Bank, to a process led by FD Partners. We will provide an update when there is a material development. We will continue to give you clear visibility into these numbers each quarter and let the results speak for the progress we are making. I will turn it back to the operator for Q&A.

Operator: We will now begin the question and answer session. Please limit yourself to 1 question and 1 If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Kartik Mehta with Northcoast Research. Your line is open, Kartik. Please go ahead.

Kartik Mehta: Let's start off just looking at third quarter guidance. When looking at the third quarter guidance, it kind of assumes lower loan volume and revenue sequentially. Yet the implied EBITDA performance suggests that you are realizing meaningful benefit from the cost initiatives. And so I was wondering if you could discuss much of that improvement is already visible versus how much you can realize over the next 12 months?

Loveen Advani: Hey, Gautam. This is Loveen. Thanks for the question. Yeah. So in our Q2, if you adjust for the trade, our OpEx was around $75 million. And the midpoint of our Q3 guidance has OpEx about $67 million. So, say, about $8 million of savings, from quarter over quarter. We saw the cost cuts later in the quarter, so we could not get the impact of majority of them in 2Q. But we see a meaningful impact in our cost cuts in Q3. Which is why despite lower volumes and lower revenue in Q3, we should get better EBITDA.

Kartik Mehta: And Daniel, you talked about obviously partnerships Some of them are delayed. I am wondering if you could talk about maybe your pipeline of new partnerships. And is it a delay because of just because it takes time to implement them? And or is it a delay because maybe demand is different today than it was 6 months ago for those partnerships.

Daniel Lewis: Thanks for the question. The answer is that when you deal with large enterprises, you are subject to their rollout schedule, both in terms of the percentages of leads we would get the actual launch dates, etcetera. So it is not a lack of demand at all for Tinman. In fact, we made some announcements about our HELOC product coming to market. I think it is our first partnership from the D2C. So the pipeline is very robust. We spoken to all the partners this week, and we feel that we are in a great position But in terms of guiding you for Q3, it becomes difficult. So we decided we were not gonna include the impact of any launches in those numbers. But certainly, as we head into the second I guess, Q4 this year is when I think you will really start to see some activity. The other thing I would just Thanks.

Kartik Mehta: So it is good to hear. Go ahead. Oh, I apologize. Go ahead.

Daniel Lewis: No. Just I think the other thing is, again, leaning into the HELOC side. Because right now, our enterprise partnerships are very skewed towards the refinancing. That obviously has the macro headwind. So the ones in the second half of the year we think are going to start to more meaningful because they are the right kind of partner, it is the right kind of product, which is our HELOC.

Kartik Mehta: Perfect. Thank you. Good to hear the pipeline is still pretty strong.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Kyle Peterson with Needham. Your line is open, Kyle. Please go ahead.

Kyle Peterson: Great. Good afternoon. Thank you for taking the questions. Wanted to dig into the third quarter guide a little bit, but more on the top line base. Just wanted to see if you guys could help us you know, maybe bridge in a little more detail in terms of kinda how we get from you know, the 2 q level to 3 q, I assume there is a good amount of mix that will probably be changing there with, you know, less refi, more home equity, but any more color that you guys could give in terms of what to expect on the mix and kinda the puts and takes to get to the third quarter revenue would be really helpful.

Loveen Advani: Hey, Kyle. Thanks. Yeah. that is a great question. You know, as we said in our on our first year earnings call, we expect the percentage of HELOC in our total volumes to increase And we saw that in the second quarter. We went from 12% of volumes in the first quarter 12% of volumes in the first quarter. To being 18% of volumes in the second quarter. We expect HELOC to be meaningfully higher in the third quarter. We do not want to kind of give exact pinpoint guidance, for a couple of reasons. 1 is if factored in no HELOC partnerships in our 3 q guide. Right? it is purely D2C. And the second piece is the macro environment affects the refi business. So that makes is uncertain as well.

Kyle Peterson: Okay. That is helpful. And then you know, as a follow-up, you know, I hear you on not including you know, any of the HELOC contribution with partnerships. So I did wanna ask a little bit about what that could look like, you know, in the future, specifically with Credit Karma. I guess, how are you guys thinking about how long it would take a partnership like this to get up and running and, you know, when that could start to contribute to volumes? Is that, you know, in the fourth quarter of this year, or, is that more of a next year event, Just any directional rough timing on the ramp time there would be great.

Daniel Lewis: So the answer, is multiple partnerships should start to kick in HELOC in the fourth quarter. So far this quarter, we have done no, partner launches. And no HELOC launches specifically. So hopefully, that gives you a sense of why the bridge on revenue. We basically still have the refi environment in our largest enterprise segment. And we do not have anything really additional in terms of channel development in the HELOC product.

Kyle Peterson: Got it. Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Joseph Vafi with Canaccord Genuity. Your line is open, Joseph. Please go ahead.

Joseph Vafi: Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Welcome onboard, Daniel. The maybe could we talk a little bit about ramping HELOC volume? You know, it sounds like it is gonna continue to ramp here on a mix shift basis into Q3, but it does not sound like we are necessarily signing any new partners right now. So we are going to just double-click on where HELOC volume growth is coming from in a more detailed way across you know, your existing channels? Is it just is it direct, you know, B2C or you know, is there a channel benefit here? Thanks.

Daniel Lewis: I think just to correct that point, we have signed HELOC partnerships. They just have not launched or ramped yet. So that is why I am giving you towards the fourth quarter when you start to see some impact. And the HELOC product itself, we have a very competitive offering vis a vis our competition. Tinman is a great solution for HELOC, as is our loan operation. So, again, I think we are really excited about the HELOC partnership. We want to be thoughtful about Q3 guide just because we are not in control of those start dates. We know that they are coming, but they are not coming in this quarter.

Joseph Vafi: Okay. that is helpful. Thank you. And then are there any channels that you think maybe Better is going to deemphasize moving forward relative to previously? Thanks very much.

Daniel Lewis: I think that echoes my comments on focus. there is the kind of partnership we want and the 1 that we really do not think makes a ton of sense for the business right now. When you are thinking about ripping out existing systems and training other people's loan officers on the use of Tinman, those are very long sales cycle. They are very expensive in terms of customer support. it is the partnerships where we are using our API driven culture to plug in Tinman. We can provide a white label solution. And that includes the wholesale channel which I think is going to be starting towards the end of September, and it includes the enterprise platform, the platforms that we have. So there is a wide market that covers most of the TAM of the industry, particularly in HELOC. But it is the really complicated enterprise integrations that we think so far have not yielded material results. And the cost associated with them has been high. Great. Thanks.

Joseph Vafi: And then maybe just if I could sneak 1 more in. Can you just give us an update on your pricing strategy in the market? I know when Tinman launched, it was a little disruptive. You know, an update on the outlook there would be helpful. Thank you very much.

Daniel Lewis: Absolutely. We are going to price to-- we are going to keep our price Our pricing methodology is more on contribution margin. We are gonna keep our pricing methodology around the 20 to 25% incremental contribution margin across all channels and products. I think the way we want you all to start thinking about the company is less about loan volume because of the change in mix of HELOC versus first lien. We want you to think less about simply revenue growth but look at contribution margin, which is less our marketing expense or the loan platform fees we have to pay. that is a proper metric rather than seeing if we are buying business in the marketing DTC channel.

Joseph Vafi: Great. Thank you very much.

Operator: As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. The next question comes from the line of Ramsey El-Assal with Cantor Fitzgerald. Your line is open, Ramsey. Please go ahead.

Ramsey El-Assal: Hi. Thank you very much for taking my question this evening. Daniel, congratulations on the new role. I guess my first question is why now on the CEO transition? Why did the board decide to act now? And then maybe I will ask a 2-parter here also, you were listed as interim CEO, but your prepared remarks sounded more permanent. And I was just wondering if the board's running a search for a permanent CEO or whether the interim title is I do not know, itself interim, if that makes sense.

Daniel Lewis: The board is committed to running a search for a full time CEO and part of my service on the board of directors of stepping into this role is giving them the most flexibility that they need. They have also given me the total authority to act against a strategic plan. Which is why I probably sound more less interim today. We have a strategic plan. We are acting, and we have a search firm. In terms of the decision of why now, I think the board concluded that we are really in a transitional phase between a founder mode based company, which is creativity and many different projects, versus an enterprise stage of executing against very select ideas that have a demonstrated product market fit. that is the transition moment. Obviously, Vishal has been an incredible founder for the company, and we are all very grateful. Fantastic.

Ramsey El-Assal: Let me squeeze 1 more quick 1 in. I mean, given your background, is the board exploring any kind of strategic alternatives for the business? Is that on the table, or is that not something that is been contemplated?

Daniel Lewis: there is no formal strategic alternative process at this time.

Ramsey El-Assal: Fantastic. Thank you very much.

Operator: We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to Daniel Lewis for closing remarks.

Daniel Lewis: Thank you all for joining us. I am grateful to our team for all the hard work. We are focused on executing with discipline and delivering on the opportunity ahead. Look forward to speaking to you all again next quarter.

Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.