The platform focuses on providing credit worthy individuals with non-QM mortgages. These are individuals who fall outside of the traditional parameters of lending requirements.
Michael Slavin, Privlo CEO, commented:
“There’s a gap right now between an outdated lending industry that judges you merely by tax returns and W2s, and an American workforce that is increasingly defining new and alternative career paths outside of a 9 to 5 job. Small businesses make up over 98% of all Washington businesses, which means that gap is even more pronounced in the state.”
Privlo targets professionals who don’t necessarily have a stable income that would allow them to qualify for a mortgage through the traditional system, for example small business owners, entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals. The platform uses a wide variety of factors to determine a borrower’s credit worthiness. It uses alternative documentation, unique financial factors, and hundreds of untapped data points to get a more complete picture of an applicant’s financial capability.
Slavin explained:
“We’re so confident in our process and credit science model that we retain lifetime interest in every loan we make.”
Saro Vasudevan, Privlo’s Chief Credit & Product Officer, added:
“Our process is far more holistic, and in some ways more human, than traditional lending because we’re looking at your whole life picture. Banks just look at your financial past, but we also find ways to see what you’re capable of in the future.”
Washington has a wealth of workers who fit into the Privlo model. This includes:
Nurses, tradesmen, engineers, lawyers and others with spiky or seasonal incomes
Small business owners, entrepreneurs and self-employed 1099 workers
Millennials with non-traditional career paths or blended careers
Credit rebuilders who have a single negative credit event (bankruptcy or foreclosure as recently as a year old, or short sale 6 months or older, as compared to the general standard of two years or more among traditional lenders).
Those with limited credit history
Foreign nationals with work visas
Slavin said:
“We’re looking for the good people slipping through the cracks, so we’re selective. I’m still surprised when we get an applicant with 700 plus credit and a healthy down payment, but not a single lender that will look past their uneven income.”
At the end of January Privlo announced that it would be opening in California. The opportunity in California is clear – 1 in 6 people are self-employed or are a small business owner, exactly the demographic that the platform is aimed at. Privlo has ambitious plans to continue expanding. It is currently active in 8 states and it is planning to operate in over 90% of the housing market (21 states) by the end of the year.
