Recently a client asked about loan origination software for his business. I reviewed some of the loan origination software out there and have narrowed it down to three that I would recommend. None of them are ideal – mostly because they have all come from a point of trying to create something when they couldn’t find a product that worked for them. That means every one of these were designed for a specific application for a specific company, and then they tried to make it generic enough for everyone to use.
First, I eliminated all those that were on the extreme end of cost, and those on the low end. None of them will integrate with Xero, but they all have a CSV feed we can use to bring the data into Xero.
AutoPal www.autopalsoftware.com This is a cloud-based application that will allow access when you are not in the office and you can give others access to it. This software appears to have originally been designed for auto loans but has since branched out into hard money lenders. It does track the original loan and any escrow accounts associated with them, would be fast to learn, and they had a great demo with trial software you can check out – they also can create custom reports for you to match your needs. The downside is the cost – they have a one-time activation fee of $2995.00, which includes them helping you set up the first few loans to ensure you are using it correctly, or you get a $500.00 discount if you sign a 24-month contract. There is an additional $495.00 activation fee for their loan origination tool. Then, you have a $99.00 per month fee for up to 50 loans, it then goes up from there. Plus, there is a $79.00 per month fee for their loan origination tool.
Lending Pro Software http://www.lendingprosoftware.com/ This one is a desktop software, so you buy it one time and that is it. This software does not have much flexibility in how loans are configured. There are some great reports built in. It costs $395.00 for the 20 account (loans) version, or $495.00 for a 40 account version. You may upgrade to this at any time. They also have an unlimited account version for $995.00 for a single computer or an office network version that you can put on two computers for $1,995.00 with one free year of technical support. Since this is a desktop application, it wouldn’t be as easy to have access.
Bryt Software https://brytsoftware.com/ This seems to be the most reasonable of the three, and the person who showed me the demo was very good and easy to follow. If their customer support is anything like that, they should be easy to work with. They started out as hard money/private money lenders so their software works the way you would expect it to. It will track the loans as well as attached escrow accounts and it’s flexible in how you can set up loans. It is also cloud-based, so it would be easy to access when you can’t be in the office. They do have a one-time setup fee (I can’t find where they sent me the price, but as I recall it seemed to be a reasonable amount). It is $99.00/month for the first user and then you can have up to 5 users for $325.00 per month. They will also create two custom documents for you for free and show you how to create more at the same time. There are also other customization that can be done for you.
There is a fourth option, and that is to hire a programmer to custom build what you specifically want. Then you could potentially re-sell your software to others too. This could be a long and potentially costly process, but it would be exactly what you need.