A version of this story originally appeared in our sister publication BostInno.
Providence, R.I.-based online mortgage lender Beeline has emerged from stealth with $7.6 million in seed funding from a consortium of real estate professionals and attorneys based in Rhode Island and New York.
Founded in 2019, Beeline promises to streamline the home loan approval process — including loan approvals, titles and closing — from users’ phones in real time. The startup claims this method of providing approvals is more reliable than traditional pre-approvals and can be done in as little as 15 minutes.
The 30-person startup was founded by former investment banker Peter Vasquez, Rhode Island real estate entrepreneur Nick Liuzza and Jess Kennedy, who now serves as the company's general counsel and chief commercial officer.
This is how it works: The Beeline app links directly to a user’s personal bank account, which gives access to employment, payment information and tax history. Using machine learning algorithms based on the data, Beeline creates approvals once the personal and financial information is verified.
Beeline finances these loans with its own lines of credit, which, according to Kennedy, allows the company to be flexible to fund as many loans as they see coming through the platform. The interest rates for Beeline’s two main products, purchase loans and refinancing, average around 3 percent for 15-to-30-year loans.
Still, with mounting job losses, it’s certainly not summer for the economy.
“The job market has an impact on ability to repay loans,” Kennedy said. “But the real estate market areas are hot and prices are still going up, the industry has offered some flexibility to use these products in the marketplace.”
The company follows a loan guide where the terms can be tweaked to a borrower’s creditworthiness.
“The lending standards that came out of 2008 are the same we have today,” Kennedy said. “The AI follows those guidelines so we know with good certainty that the lender is creditworthy.”
So far, Beeline has disbursed 30 loans in 60 days through the founders’ personal networks in Florida, Texas and Massachusetts and Rhode Island. All in all, Beeline operates in Washington, D.C., Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia.
The startup plans to expand to 10 additional states by the end of the year, including Utah, Arizona, Connecticut, Michigan and Missouri.
