Kind Lending champions enhanced non-QM process

This article was created in partnership with Kind Lending.

Kind Lending launched an updated non-QM product last month and while it’s already gaining traction, garnering positive feedback from brokers, and experiencing fantastic growth, there’s already change on the horizon. From adding more product and refining things over the next few months, Kind is focusing on “smoothing the stone and making sure everything’s working the right way,” said William Fisher (pictured), EVP non-QM at Kind Lending. But one thing the lender doesn’t have to refine, he noted, is Kind’s technology.

“Our pricing and product in the loan portal came out of the box beautifully after testing,” Fisher said of Kwikie, Kind’s bespoke online platform. As its tagline says, Kwikie is “ready when you are” and it’s one of the reasons Fisher joined Kind: the lender’s technology seemed so much further ahead than anything else he’d seen in his 10 years of doing non-QM.

“I believed it was revolutionary and unique in the space, and it’s definitely turning out to be that way,” Fisher said. “The next step in today’s market was coupling it with non-QM, and that’s exactly what Kind has done.”

Best-in-class tech for non-QM ‘the next evolution’

Many brokers may have experienced working with a non-QM lender that wasn’t as tech-forward as Kind, and the difference is marked. The technology used has a significant impact on the experience and the bar should be set at dynamic. Kind adapted its existing pricing engine by adding “a substantial non-QM side to it,” Fisher noted. 

Kwikie provides a whole menu for brokers, listing life events and the dates on which those happened, which credit scores and expense ratios work, LTVs, loan amounts, prepayment penalties — “It’s all factored in to get precise, accurate pricing all the way down to short-term rentals.”

“There are a lot of pricers out there that might have difficulty with that, but our Kwikie engine does not; from there brokers can turn that into a loan with simple, fun to work with applications and menus,” he said. “Kwikie is far and away a pleasure to work with. Everything’s laid out where you want it to be — intuitive is an understatement — and as you work through your loan, whether it’s changing the product, confirming fees, or drawing in vendors, you can do it all within our portal.”

When the user reaches the submissions step, everyone is alerted which is another differentiator with Kind’s technology. Kwikie offers a dashboard and, at any point in time, you can go back to the summary of what you’re doing, the credit, fees or notes, and it’s not just able to submit and lock the loan: it can also order the appraisal. It truly streamlines the process, ensuring the right people are getting the right information at the right time.

“It helps things move in a proper cadence to get that loan funded as quickly as possible and get that borrower into their home or that cash in their hand,” Fisher summed up.

Championing a secure and transparent process

The feedback on Kwikie and its expansion into non-QM has been overwhelmingly positive, but one thing Kind hears a lot is that users really like the open access to the team involved with the loan. At no point in time are you wondering  who your funder is, who’s drawing the documents, who’s underwriting the loan, who your account manager is or who their assistant is, if they have one. If there’s an issue or things aren’t moving along as expected, names, email addresses, and phone numbers are all laid out in the contact information. The broker can see exactly who their team is — and there’s something to be said for that level of transparency, Fisher noted.

“For a long time, many lenders in the non-QM space — including companies I’ve worked for — have held back that information or simply didn’t consider a spot for it, but now you have all of it at your fingertips,” he said.

On top of that, Kind leverages top-of-the-line security by staying on top of required protocols to ensure borrower information is protected from the outside world. Some highly marketed lenders can become targets for bad actors, but because Kind’s pricing engine is customized and has the support of a large and dedicated in-house IT team, the company is able to deliver an experience that is not only fast, but also secure.

Delivering what brokers are looking for

Fisher noted that Kind provides the experience brokers are hoping a non-QM lender could give — and best-in-class tech should be foundational in that equation. Embracing state-of-the-art systems with the Kwikie engine together with the non-QM market is the next evolution, and if your current lender isn’t providing that, there are many other out there who will.

The technological component is critical, because non-QM is here to stay, he stressed, and it requires a tool that allows brokers to be as efficient as possible. 

“Kwikie provides for more communication and a faster process — and that’s the edge we believe originators are looking for,” Fisher said. “I’m excited to be here at Kind to show how Kwikie  works in the non-QM product space, and we look forward to bringing on more loans.”