🛡️ Lender fraud protection
We know how it feels to lose money to a fake lender, so protecting borrowers comes first.
We don't vet or approve lenders and can't guarantee any of them. We flag warning signs and show you how to verify.
Red flags
- Upfront fees requested before a term sheet or appraisal
- Pressure to decide or pay fast
- Requests to wire money to an individual's account
- No verifiable business entity (state registry, address, phone)
- Contact only by cold email, with no verifiable office or website
1. Occupancy & purpose check
Required before any numbers are shown.
Sample answers are test assumptions for deal #20.
2. Your deal SAMPLE deal #20
ARV $210k is the broker's unverified figure; county value $173,976 is used as a sanity check. Rent and rehab are estimates.
3. Loan offers (up to 3)
SAMPLE — fictional lenders, not real offers, not market data.
4. Comparison
"Comparison cost" is a normalized annual cost for apples-to-apples comparison; it is not a legal APR. Minimum-loan and rate-cap items are flags only, not legal conclusions. Interest assumes the full loan is outstanding for the hold; taxes, insurance and carrying costs are not included.
Questions to ask each lender
- Is this a written, signed term sheet? When does it expire?
- All points and every fee: origination, underwriting, doc, processing, draw, inspection.
- Max LTV/LTC and LTARV, and whose ARV/appraisal is used?
- How are rehab draws funded, inspected and charged? Is interest on drawn balance or full loan?
- Extension terms and cost if the project runs past the term.
- Prepayment penalty or minimum-interest period?
- Required reserves, cash to close and proof of funds?
- Is any fee due before closing? What is refundable?
- Legal entity name, state of registration, and licenses held?
- Who funds the loan, and to which escrow/title company do funds go?
Disclaimers
LogicalRate is not a lender, broker or advisor. We do not make, arrange or negotiate loans and receive no compensation from lenders. This tool is informational only and is not legal, tax or investment advice. No data is stored: everything runs in your browser and disappears when you close the page. Sample offers are fictional. Owner-occupied or consumer-purpose loans are outside this tool; talk to a licensed loan originator.