Privlo targets self-employed borrowers with new mortgage program

The Los Angeles-based company has launched alternative mortgages in the state of Washington.

Privlo, an online alternative mortgage lender that serves small business owners, entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals, is expanding into the Washington market. The company provides non-QM mortgages to creditworthy homebuyers who don't fit today's narrow lending requirements because their careers and finances are considered too complicated to prove to traditional lenders.

"There's a gap right now between an outdated lending industry that judges you merely by tax returns and W2s, and an American workforce that is increasingly defining new and alternative career paths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,” Privlo CEO Michael Slavin said. “Small businesses make up over 98% of all Washington businesses, which means that gap is even more pronounced in the state.”

Privlo uses a wide range of information that most banks exclude from the mortgage process—information that can reveal a creditworthy borrower when a credit score may fall short. Its online platform considers alternative documentation, unique financial factors, and hundreds of untapped data points to get a more complete picture of an applicant's financial capability.

"We're so confident in our process and credit science model that we retain lifetime interest in every loan we make," he 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,”

Privlo's Chief Credit & Product Officer Saro Vasudevan, added. “Banks just look at your financial past, but we also find ways to see what you're capable of in the future."

According to Privlo, its focus on complex incomes allows it to serve people in Washington's biggest industries, including technology, aerospace, clean tech, maritime, health and agriculture, where many are seasonal or contract-based workers locked out of homeownership:
  • Nurses, tradesmen, engineers, lawyers and others with spiky or seasonal income
  • 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 recent 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 a limited credit history
  • Foreign nationals with work visas
"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," Slavin said.

Privlo is active in eight states and is planning a quick expansion to over 90% of the housing market (21 states) by the end of the year.