Flexible Financing Solutions Q&A with Money360’s Gary Bechtel

By Money360’s Gary Bechtel

Q: We understand Money360 recently entered a $150-million repurchase facility with JPMorgan Chase. How will this help achieve your goal of originating more than $1 billion in loans in 2019?
A: We continue to be very successful in originating a high volume of high-quality loans through our dedicated origination personnel. In addition, our Capital Markets group continues to raise capital from the institutional investment community and to expand our line capacity. This new repo facility is consistent with their efforts. As we continue to grow and works toward our goal of $1B in annual production, these efforts, as well as other initiatives in process, will enable Money360 to continue to provide competitive loan programs and increased loan sizes.

Q: Money360 has grown rapidly since launching. What is fueling the expansion as a growing group of CRE borrowers seek more flexible financing solutions?
A: We have been fortunate to continue to experience substantial year-over-year growth and I think a lot of credit goes to the highly experienced team, both out in the field sourcing loans and in the home office handling credit/underwriting, that we have been able to assemble as we have built the business over the past four years. The bridge lending space has become increasingly crowded, with upwards of 200 active lenders in the space, from the very small to the very large.

In our space alone (small- to mid-balance lenders of $3M-$25M) there are probably 30-40 lenders currently operating. A number of them have entered the market in the last 1-2 years. Several of these new entrants don’t have the track record of closing loans or the decades of experience that the team at Money360 can bring to bear. I think that is a major reason why we have been able to ramp the business so rapidly and why borrowers and brokers continue to come back to us with their financing needs, especially on those transactions that need to close quickly or require structure, which our team has accomplished on multiple occasions.

Q: How does Money360’s lending model differ from traditional bank lenders and how has technology played a role as it fills voids in the marketplace?
A: The non-bank/alternative lending space has grown exponentially since Money360 began closing loans in 2014 and is able to satisfy unique borrower situations in transition to traditional bank financing. What sets our company apart is our speed and the ability to offer custom solutions in the bridge lending space. Our proprietary technology platform, 360Live, enables us to review, underwrite and close loans in a rapid, efficient and transparent manner. Our recently launched My360 enables all the parties involved in the loan closing process to utilize a dashboard to see the status of the loan and any outstanding items as well as upload information outstanding. I don’t know of any other bridge lender that provides this level of transparency.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser