New Mexico's Self-Employed, Retirees Get Another Chance At Homeownership With Privlo

LOS ANGELES, March 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Online mortgage lender Privlo has expanded into New Mexico today to help the state's underserved retiree, self-employed and small business owner populations. Borrowers like these, who are categorically rejected by banks due to their 'complex' financial histories, now have a new option when buying a home.

New Mexico's self-employed and retiree populations have surged over 40% and 30% respectively since 2000. "That's a huge increase of people who are being left out of the state's housing market," says Privlo CEO Michael Slavin. "Banks still use a very narrow lens. If you're not a W2 employee or your tax returns don't reflect steady income, you're out of luck. But we look beyond that and consider a wide range of alternative documentation to find highly qualified borrowers that are slipping through the cracks."

In places like Santa Fe, Las Cruces and Silver City where many retirees, independent artists and writers are thriving, homeownership has still been far out of reach until now. Privlo is the first mortgage company of its kind to focus solely on self-employed and retiree borrowers, aligning perfectly with New Mexico's greater population, and also specializes in:

• Small business owners, entrepreneurs, and self-employed 1099 workers with spiky income
• Retirees with significant assets who may be lacking in regular income
• Credit rebuilders who have a single negative credit event (bankruptcy or foreclosure as recent as a year old, or a short sale 6 months or older, as compared to the general standard of two years or more among traditional lenders)
• Those with a limited credit history, Millennials with non-traditional career paths, and foreign nationals with work visas

"We know W2s and tax returns don't always tell the whole story, and that's why we dig a lot deeper to help people who deserve to be homeowners but are unfairly turned away," says Privlo's Chief Credit & Product Officer, Saro Vasudevan. "Qualified borrowers like these have given up, and those are exactly the kinds of people we want to bring back into the housing market."

Privlo is operating in 10 states and plans to be active in 21 states (90% of the available market) by the end of the year.

About PrivloLaunched in 2011 by CEO Michael Slavin, Privlo (https://privlo.com/) provides mortgages to high-quality borrowers who aren't eligible for traditional bank loans. The founding team comes from the worlds of consumer finance, real estate and technology startups, and is backed by Spark Capital and QED Investors. Privlo is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA and currently lending in California, Colorado, Idaho, Maryland, Minnesota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and New Mexico with additional states planned in the coming months.

Press ContactJasmine Bina[email protected] (714) 328-3866

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SOURCE Privlo