Maxwell product facilitates mortgage offerings for real estate agencies

Mortgage fintech Maxwell hopes its new product can turn more businesses into home lenders by eliminating some of the hurdles in the startup process.

The Denver-based business-to-business loan services provider announced the introduction of Maxwell Private Label Origination, a suite of its tools and support, designed to provide the components needed for real estate or financial services companies to add mortgage lending to their product lines. While bringing new entries into the home finance space, Maxwell also expects the offering to provide an easy path for existing clients who wish to add products or move into different channels. 

Photo by Toni Axelrod Photography

“The goal is for us to manage as much of running a mortgage operation as we can with a very light lift from them overall,” said John Paasonen, cofounder and CEO of Maxwell, in an interview with National Mortgage News.

The company currently serves over 300 small to midsize credit unions, community banks and mortgage banks with lending software and support, including processing, underwriting, enacting quality-control and integration of those components into loan-origination systems. The new private-label product is aimed at opening up mortgages to similar financial institutions as well as fintechs, neobanks and real estate companies, while also providing current mortgage providers the opportunity to completely outsource the back end of originations.

As a white-label solution, the lender would maintain control over customer-facing relationships, with Maxwell solely responsible for post-sales activities, including closing, funding and shipping to secondary markets. Paasonen also said Maxwell would oversee  regulatory details for new lenders, including assistance to set businesses up as an entity and meet licensing requirements. 

“Our goal is to offer everything in a compliant way to our customers, so they're able to deliver launch-to-market. We have our own legal and compliance team that will be there, supporting them and helping them with the filings,” Paasonen said.

While Maxwell’s products have been available a la carte, the pivot toward an all-inclusive package represents a new strategy as lenders seek ways to increase profits while confronting tightening margins and a steep reduction in originations this year. But despite industry predictions of further slowdowns, the current cycle represents a “renormalization” of the market, Paasonen said, and outsourcing tools such as Maxwell’s can be used to respond to adjustments in demand. 

A streamlined outsourced solution would ease entry into mortgage banking without adding excessive overhead, he said. And, for existing lenders, Maxwell’s services opens the door for them to quickly roll out HELOCs and a variety of other potential products, as well as develop new lending channels. 

With interest rates expected to remain elevated in 2022, diminishing incentives for refinances, lenders are also turning their focus to higher-margin channels and products. Several lenders this spring announced their intentions to offer more non-QM loans or launch HELOCs this year, allowing customers to tap into home equity without losing out on low interest rates. 

“That's probably the most interesting segment we have today,” Paasonen said.

He sees those clients driving initial interest in the private-label product, with some trying to introduce wholesale and direct-to-consumer units in the near future.

“We're able to provide that flexibility and scalability as they launch that and grow it,” Paasonen said.

The product introduction is the latest business move from Maxwell following a Series B funding round in the fourth quarter of 2021. Late last year the company appointed a new general counsel, and in April it entered into an agreement with Snapdocs to increase eClosing capabilities of its platform.