The Loan Store urges brokers to cast wider net in lean times

It all starts with HELOCs

“Obviously, the first solution for that is going to be home equity lines of credit,” he said. “Our first step into HELOCs is actually a very exciting one because we’ve partnered with a technology company to deliver a really fast and convenient solution for consumers.”

To that end, the lender offers HELOCS ensuring access to funds within five days – a far cry from the time offered by legacy lenders, he noted. What’s more, he said, the process also comes at a better cost than taking out a personal loan. Given such benefits, TLS is training brokers who may not typically do a lot of HELOCs on how to sell them to ramp up volume, he added.

“Obviously, the fastest way for a consumer to get money is to get a personal loan, and they’re going to pay a premium for it,” Pendleton said. “HELOC is in the middle. It’s more efficient and less costly than a personal loan.” The automated, technology-aided method beats traditional methods, he said, in relating personal experience. “I can tell you, being a consumer who built a home a couple of years ago and accessed a traditional home equity line through a bank,” he asserted, “that process took 95 days and three appraisals and was not fun.”

He explained the product’s benefits to loan originators: “If an originator is sending a traditional HELOC, they’re having to collect a lot of documentation and do basically a full underwrite,” he said, contrasting it to the TLS model heavy on automated valuation methodology. “And that’s why it’s so fast,” he said. “It also makes it a light lift for the originator. The originator is not having to pay a processor, they’re netting more compensation for their efforts, and they’re not having to spend the time and energy that a normal, back-and-forth process would demand.”

Other products are extolled

On another front, TLS has heightened awareness of its “Buy Before You Sell” product that essentially offers a zero-interest line of credit to leverage that equity as a down payment on a new home without having to sell their current home as a term of purchasing the new one. Pendleton said TLS is the only wholesale lender offering the product, which will have expanded to 38 states, by the third quarter, from the current seven markets where it’s made available.