Commercial loan volumes have increased heavily early this year, with growth encouraged by inflation and a rise in deferred investments. Business owners have been keen on borrowing more, and a strong indication of that is U.S Bancorp, where commercial loans increased 8% from the previous quarter, while Wells Fargo saw a 5.3% rise as well.
With this strong market trend, it is no surprise to see the tech sector (led by startups) getting involved in providing a faster, digitalized, and more simplified solution to commercial loans. One startup that has caught our attention was LoanBase which has built an all-in-one digital marketplace for commercial real estate financing. The startup has integrated modern-day technology into the old-school legacy market of commercial real estate. Their platform provides borrowers with a simple and easy-to-use dashboard that guides them through the loan application process and provides them with a lending matchmaking infrastructure based on their personal needs. We had the chance to interview LoanBase's Co-Founder & CEO, Ari Shpanya, and ask him further questions about their product.
Hi Ari, LoanBase's claim to fame is that it has helped so far provide an 81% increase in the acceptance rate for loans submitted via LoanBase's platform. Can you please elaborate on the key features that contribute to that?
- LoanBase allows borrowers to apply for a loan with a complete and convincing loan package sent once with all the required information.
- The borrower also gets the benefit of an automated underwriting process.
- Borrowers have access to our database of past lender performance, allowing them to choose lenders with a good track record of closing loans.
- LoanBase's data-driven engine matches lenders with borrowers that meet their credit box requirements, asset type, and other lending parameters.
- Lenders are connected with qualified borrowers only. The borrower goes through pre-screening of the loan application.
LoanBase lets borrowers see all relevant lenders in one centralized dashboard. This helps simplify the borrowing process for borrowers who, in the past, needed to joggle around between several loan opportunities at a time, with different time to loan estimations. How does LoanBase make sure to keep up to date with all relevant lending opportunities in the market?
Lenders have the ability to update their program terms and rates through their LoanBase lender portal. Our loan officers maintain a high level of data integrity by contacting lenders on a bi-weekly basis to confirm that the terms we are showing are up to date. This ensures borrowers a seamless experience with reliable data. Bear in mind that all these rates and terms are indicative rates, so each deal would eventually be different, but the initial shopping and zeroing in on the top 10 lenders now takes seconds, not months, as with traditional commercial mortgage brokers.
Commercial loan volumes have increased heavily in early 2022, where loan providers like U.S Bancorp and Wells Fargo saw an 8% and 5.3% increase in commercial loans from the previous quarter. How has that impacted LoanBase's operation in terms of user acquisition, user experience, and time to close metrics?
As a fast-growing startup, LoanBase is experiencing an increase well above the industry average in the number of loans we are handling. Yet, our automation allows us to scale without impacting the borrower experience or the time to close.
LoanBase provides solutions fitted for a variety of loan types such as; Residential loans, Multi-family loans, Industrial loans, etc. What has been the most streamlined and natural market fit for LoanBase in terms of value-added to borrowers? What loan type have you seen more success with?
We have had success across all asset types, including residential loans, multi-family, retail, office, industrial, and land.
Comments / 0