Commercial Lenders' FAQ
- How is Lendicom different from other applications of this sort for commercial lenders?
- What kinds of lenders can use Lendicom.com?
- What's the difference between a Lender Administrator and a Loan Officer?
- How are a lender's guidelines saved in the database?
- How does Lendicom define a "loan program"?
- What if my lender doesn’t have set "loan programs"?
- How do I get started?
- What if my lender has different branches?
- What does it cost?
- Once I'm registered as a commercial lender, how do I receive loan proposals?
- How does Lendicom decide which loan programs from which commercial lenders to show to a broker or borrower who is requesting a loan?
- What is the Lender Effectiveness Score and how can I improve my score?
- Now that I'm looking at a loan proposal, what’s next?
- I closed a loan with the help of Lendicom.com. How does Lendicom's fee get paid?
- What if I receive a loan proposal through Lendicom and another online application? Do I have to pay twice?
- How is this different from buying leads?
- How do I know that dozens of other lenders aren't working with the same proposal?
How is Lendicom different from other applications of this sort for commercial lenders?
Our application is distinguised primarily by its versatility, sophistication, and by the degree of control it gives the user. Because the process we use to gather, store and compare information about your programs and loan proposals submitted by brokers and borrowers is far more detailed and versatile than that of any competing application, we can achieve a much closer and more accurate match between your products and submitted loans. Second, we give you complete, immediate control over all the information stored here. You can be as specific or as general as you want to be in representing your programs. You can decide who in your company received proposals for which loan programs. You can view, modify, deactivate or delete programs at any time.
What kinds of commercial lenders can use Lendicom.com?
Any entity or individual that originates loans secured by commercial real estate can use Lendicom.com. This includes commercial banks, life insurance companies, conduit lenders, sub-prime lenders, mezzanine and bridge lenders, construction lenders, private money lenders, and even private real estate investors. Please note, however, that brokers are not permitted to sign up as lenders, only as brokers. For a full list of commercial loan types, commerical real estate property types, and locations serviced at Lendicom, click here.
What's the difference between a Lender Administrator and a Loan Officer?
Lender Administrators and Loan Officers both operate on Lendicom as representatives of commercial lenders. Lender Administrators are able to oversee the operations of a company branch on Lendicom. Whereas Loan Officers can only modify their own contact information and review and process commercial mortgage loan proposals sent to them, Lender Administrators can add new loan programs for their lender, modify existing loan programs, add or delete Loan Officers, and change the specifications for existing Loan Officers.
For smaller commercial lenders, there may be only one person involved in handling commercial mortgage requests from Lendicom. If this is the case, that lender will just have one Lendicom user, a Lender Administrator. However, larger lenders may want requests of different types to go to different people. In this case the lender would have one Lender Administrator who would approve accounts for multiple Loan Officers. For example, the Lender Administrator could specify one Loan Officer as the recipient for construction loans, and another Loan Officer as the recipient for take-out loans. In addition, the Lender Administrator can oversee each Loan Officer's account and check on the status of the commercial mortgage proposals that have been submitted to him or her.
How are a lender's guidelines saved in the database?
A commercial lender's commercial lending guidelines are saved as any number of Loan Programs. A lender administrator can add a loan program to their lender's profile by clicking "Create New Loan Program" button under the Loan Programs section on the My Accunt page.
How does Lendicom define a "loan program"?
Essentially, we don't. The point is that you define your loan programs, and have complete control over how your products are represented. Generally, a "loan program" is a set of commercial mortgage loan specifications (range of rates, loan terms, maximum LTV, etc.) that apply to a certain combination of: (1) A particular loan type or funds source (e.g. portfolio, conduit, governmental, private money) (2) A particular property type, or (3) A particular use of funds (e.g. acquisition, refinance).
What if my lender doesn’t have set “loan programs”?
We understand that not all commercial lenders arrange their products into a set of commercial mortgage loan programs with distinct, official names. However, for the purposes of Lendicom operations, a 'loan program' is just a set of loan guidelines that corresponds to a combination of property type and use of loan proceeds. So if your lender doesn't already have a set of loan programs, think about the different kinds of commercial mortgages you make: Do you have, for example, a certain set of guidelines (max LTV, rates, etc.) if the proceeds will be used for construction? Or if the proceeds will be used to purchase flex-space or raw land? These are your loan programs. In the end you may only have one loan program (if you are a private money lender, for instance), with only one set of guidelines for all the loans you make. That's just fine. You can enter those guidelines as your loan program and leave it at that. Arranging the lender data in loan programs merely allows us the opportunity to more accurately match loans proposals to the right lenders. But ultimately it's up to you how specific you want to be.
How do I get started?
Go to the Get Started page and choose "Lender" from the User Type list. Enter the requested contact infromation.
On the following page, choose your lender from the list, or, if you do not see your company in the list of commercial lenders, click Create a New Lender. Choose your branch from the list. If your branch is not in the list, Create a New Branch. If you create a new branch, by default you will be the Lender Administrator for that branch, and will immediately be able to go to your My Account page and begin creating loan programs.
If your lender is already in the database, a notification email will be sent to the administrator(s) for your account, requesting that you be added. When an administrator activates your account you will be sent a notification email and you will be able to begin receiving loan proposals.
What if my lender has different branches?
Commercial lenders may choose to configure their account in different ways, depending on how much autonomy they want to give each branch. For example, a national lender with 50 branches could choose to create a single administrator at a central location, in charge of maintaining the company's program and officer information. The administrator would then create a user for each existing branch, presumably, and any number of programs for each branch. Each program would then be tied to one of the branch users.
Alternatively, if a lender wants to give more independence to its employees, then each branch could create a separate account and enter its own program information.
What does it cost?
Commercial lenders pay nothing for being included in Lendicom's database and using our commercial mortgage tools; in other words there are no subscription fees. When you close a commercial loan you acquired through Lendicom.com, we charge you a fee equal to 0.25% (25 basis points) of the loan amount.
Once I'm registered, how do I receive loan proposals?
If you are a Loan Officer, the Lender Administrator for your lender will have designated you as a recipient for proposals that match one or more of the commercial lender's loan programs. When a broker or borrower submits a commercial loan proposal that matches the guidelines of one of these programs, you will be sent an email notifying you that there is a new loan proposal for you to review. After signing in you will reach your My Account page, where you will be able to access full details of the new loan request in the section "Loan Proposals". Lender Administrators receive loan proposals in just this same way, and can designate themselves as recipients for whatever loan programs they like.
How does Lendicom decide which loan programs to show to a broker or borrower who is requesting a loan?
Once a broker or borrower has completed the loan proposal questionnaire and all the pertinent details about the loan have been gathered, the submission engine compares these details with the parameters of each loan program in Lendicom's database. A list of matching loan proposals is then compiled and presented to the broker or borrower. Certain information concerning the loan request is considered "critical" in this matching process: if the proposal does not match your program because of the loan amount, property type, property location, loan-to-value ratio, or other such criteria, the program is excluded as a match. Certain other fields concerning the borrower's loan specification preferences, such as desired amortization schedules and loan term, are considered "non-critical": if your program matches the proposal in both critical and non-critical criteria, the program is presented to the submitter as an "exact match". If the program matches the proposal in all critical criteria, but does not match in one or more non-critical criteria, the program is presented to the submitter "close match".
What is the Lender Effectiveness Score and how can I improve my score?
The lender effectiveness score is a measure of your efficiency as a Lendicom lender user. There are several different factors in determining your lender's score, and in order to keep your effectiveness score as high as possible, the following will help: (1) Respond to all your loan requests promptly; after three days of non-response your score will be negatively affected; (2) Keep the status of each loan request up-to-date; and (3) Define your loan programs carefully, in order to make sure they loan proposals you receive closely match your true lending capacities. If you define your programs very broadly, so that you receive many proposals, but are able to actually close very few, this will hurt your score.
Now that I've received a loan proposal, what’s next?
To view the details of the proposal, click the View icon next to the proposal summary in the Recent Proposals table. On the following page you will be able to review the details of the loan proposal, and decide whether to "Decline" or "Follow Up". If you decline the proposal, a generic message will be sent to the broker/borrower to that effect; you may also attach a customized message. If you choose to "Follow Up" you will see the broker's/borrower's contact information. You can then send a message to the broker/borrower through the site, or contact him/her directly using the contact information. As you work with the broker/borrower, make sure to update the status of the proposal at Lendicom as needed.
I closed a loan with the help of Lendicom.com. How does Lendicom's fee get paid?
When a loan is reported closed by a commercial lender, a representative of Lendicom Inc. will usually contact the lender administrator concerning payment. If for some reason a representative does not contact you, please send a message to contact@lendicom.com or call 800-971-2454 to arrange payment.
What if I receive a loan proposal through Lendicom and another online application? Do I have to pay twice?
No. We will never ask you to pay a fee twice. All we ask is that you pay us if you received the submission first through Lendicom. If you receive the submission first through another service, we would not require payment.
Lendicom discourages simultaneous submission through multiple online services. However, we can make no guaranty concerning the operations of borrowers and brokers on other sites.
How is this different from buying leads?
It couldn’t be more different. When you buy leads, you have no way of knowing whether those leads are fresh or appropriate to your business and for that matter that they haven’t been sold over and over again. When you use Lendicom, you are making direct real-time connections with parties that have been deemed to be appropriate to your needs/qualifications (as defined by you). Leads are static. Lendicom is dynamic.
How do I know that dozens of other lenders aren't working with the same proposal?
Borrowers and brokers are only able to have a proposal submitted to a 4 lenders concurrently, so there is always a maximum of 3 other lenders considering a proposal you're pursuing.