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Once again, Los Angeles-based Privlo announced it is expanding into a new state: Illinois.
The lender aims to serve Illinois’ small business owners, self-employed workers, entrepreneurs, contractors and Millennials with non-traditional career paths.
This follows the lender's recent moves into Texas, California, Washington and New Mexico.
Privlo noted that approximately one in three workers in the greater Chicago metro area are self-employed and, parallel to that, roughly one in three traditional purchase loan applications in Chicago get denied.
“When the recession hit and unemployment soared in the state, that midwestern work ethic kicked in and Illinoisans began starting businesses, turning to self-employment and freelancing,” said Privlo CEO Michael Slavin.
“No doubt it’s helped pave the path to economic recovery but it’s also left thousands of deserving borrowers out of homes. Most lenders don’t understand how to accurately evaluate those without a W2 or typical tax return, and that’s where we excel,” said Slavin.
In a recent interview with HousingWire, Slavin explained that the lender operates in a unique niche of borrowers that occupy only about 5% of the mortgage lending market.
Instead of attempting to make a name in the broader mortgage lending industry, Privlo chooses to serve high-quality borrowers with complicated incomes or financial histories.
“At a high level, we are a company that solves credit dislocation. We are finding those borrowers who fall just outside of agency guidelines,” said Slavin. “For instance, our average FICO in our portfolio is 706 and average loan is $300,000.”
