Most DSCR lenders hide their rates until you talk to a loan officer. Here's how the market actually stacks up on the criteria that matter.
All 9 lenders evaluated against the same six criteria. VestedNest is listed first.
| Lender | Live rates w/o contact | Rate calculator (actual rate) | Online apply (no LO) | Time to first quote | Rate sheet by FICO/LTV | Self-serve score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VestedNest | Yes | Yes | Yes | Instant | Yes | 8/10 |
| Defy Mortgage | Yes | No | Partial | ~24h (call required) | Yes | 4/10 |
| Kiavi | No | No | Partial | 24–48h | No | 3/10 |
| New Silver | No | No | Partial | 24–48h | No | 3/10 |
| Griffin Funding | Partial | No | No | 24–48h | No | 2/10 |
| Easy Street Capital | No | No | No | 24–72h | No | 2/10 |
| Truss Financial | No | No | No | 24–72h | No | 2/10 |
| Visio Lending | No | No | No | 24–72h | No | 1/10 |
| Lima One Capital | No | No | No | 24–72h | No | 0/10 |
What each competitor does well, where the self-serve gap is, and who they're best suited for.
Defy is the closest competitor to VestedNest on transparency. They publish a rate matrix broken out by FICO band and LTV, and their website lists live indicative rates without requiring you to register or schedule a call. That puts them miles ahead of most DSCR lenders on the disclosure front, and earns them credit for being genuinely upfront about how pricing is structured.
The gap shows up when you want an actual personalized quote. Despite the rate sheet, Defy routes interested borrowers into a phone consultation before issuing a final quote. The calculator on their site is more of a qualification screener than a rate engine — it tells you whether your deal is in range, not what your rate will be. That mandatory call adds roughly 24 hours to the time-to-quote for a borrower who just wants a number.
Defy is a strong fit for borrowers with more complex scenarios — foreign nationals, unique property types, or situations where a loan officer conversation is actually helpful. Investors who want to evaluate 3–4 deals in an afternoon without a callback queue will find the process slower than they'd like.
Kiavi has invested heavily in their borrower portal and it shows. Returning borrowers report a genuinely clean experience for tracking an existing loan, submitting documents, and managing draws on construction products. The brand is well-established in the fix-and-flip and bridge loan market, and they've extended into DSCR term loans with a recognizable name and decent origination volume behind them.
The self-serve gap is real and specific: Kiavi does not publish rates online, and their rate calculator produces a DSCR ratio output, not an actual rate. Borrowers who run the numbers hit a "connect with a loan officer" prompt to get the rate applied to their scenario. There's also an incentive fee — ranging from 1.15% to 2% — that is unusual in the market and that borrowers sometimes don't discover until the loan estimate stage.
Kiavi is best for investors who already have a relationship with them and are using the portal for its document management strengths, or for borrowers who need a bridge or fix-and-flip product where Kiavi's core product is well-suited. See the full VestedNest vs Kiavi comparison →
New Silver has built one of the more genuinely technology-forward origination platforms in the private lending space. They've invested in automated underwriting tooling and an online application that moves faster than most competitors at the document-intake stage. For fix-and-flip and bridge products, their speed-to-approval reputation is legitimate.
For DSCR term loans specifically, the rate transparency is limited. New Silver does not publish a live rate matrix, and the rates visible on their site appear to represent idealized scenarios rather than typical borrower outcomes. Getting a real rate for a specific deal requires going through the application intake, where a specialist is in the loop before a number is confirmed.
New Silver is best for experienced investors doing volume in the fix-and-flip or short-term bridge space, where their automation around ARV and project cost assessment genuinely adds value. For buy-and-hold investors who want a DSCR term loan and transparent pricing upfront, the experience is less differentiated from traditional lenders than the tech-first branding suggests.
Griffin Funding publishes partial rate information — general starting-rate disclosures that indicate ballpark territory — which is more than most lenders on this list. They're a legitimate DSCR originator with a broad product suite including bank statement loans and asset-depletion products, giving them genuine breadth for borrowers with unconventional income profiles.
The self-serve gap is significant on the application side. Griffin does not offer a true online application pathway for DSCR — the process routes through a loan officer engagement model, and the partial rate information visible publicly doesn't constitute an actual quoted rate for your scenario. FICO floors are listed as 640–660 depending on the product variant, and time to a real quote is typically 24–48 hours after initial contact.
Griffin is best for borrowers with complex income documentation needs who want a single lender handling multiple non-QM product types. If your situation is straightforward and you want to price out a DSCR loan quickly, a lender with published rates will save you time.
Easy Street Capital markets aggressively on rate — their website has quoted "from 5.75%" as a DSCR teaser, a low-end headline that attracts comparison shoppers. They're an active lender in the real estate investor space with a social media presence that generates brand awareness particularly among newer investors discovering DSCR products.
The teaser rate is the key issue: the headline number is not the rate most borrowers receive, and the path from "I saw 5.75%" to "here is your actual rate" involves a loan officer contact, soft credit pull, and consultation before a real quote is available. No published rate matrix, no calculator that returns an actual rate, no self-serve application pathway.
Easy Street is best for newer investors who want an approachable brand and are comfortable with the loan officer process, or for borrowers whose scenario genuinely needs a human review before pricing is possible. Experienced investors doing scenario analysis will find the teaser-rate model wastes time.
Truss Financial operates as a broker/aggregator model for non-QM and DSCR products, which gives them access to multiple capital sources and can produce competitive pricing for borrowers whose scenarios fit well within a given wholesale channel. Their loan officers have real knowledge of the DSCR product space, and the broker model means they can shop a deal across multiple lenders rather than being constrained by a single balance sheet.
The tradeoff of the broker model is direct: Truss does not publish rates because they can't — pricing comes from wholesale channels that aren't publicly listed. There is no calculator, no rate sheet, and no self-serve application. FICO requirements vary by the wholesale channel a deal gets routed to, typically 640–680. The process looks like working with any mortgage broker: you call, they gather information, they shop it, and you get a quote in 24–72 hours.
Truss is best for borrowers who want a human advocate shopping their deal across multiple wholesale channels, or for scenarios complex enough that a broker's product knowledge adds value. Investors who want to run numbers independently before engaging a human will not find that workflow here.
Visio has originated more than $4.2 billion in rental loans and markets itself as the "#1 DSCR lender" by volume. That track record is real, and their AirDNA partnership for short-term rental underwriting is a genuine product differentiator — STR investors who need income projections backed by AirDNA data will find that Visio can underwrite their scenario in a way many lenders can't.
Volume does not equal transparency. Visio publishes no rates publicly, has no rate calculator, and requires a loan officer conversation before any quote is produced. Their FICO minimum is 680 — higher than most competitors — and the time from first inquiry to first real rate quote is 24–72 hours. With a self-serve score of 1/10, Visio's online presence is essentially a lead capture funnel.
Visio is best for experienced STR investors who specifically need AirDNA-backed income projections and are comfortable with LO-driven process. See the full VestedNest vs Visio comparison →
Lima One is a well-capitalized private lender with a broad product suite spanning fix-and-flip, new construction, multifamily bridge, and DSCR term loans. They lend nationally and have institutional-grade infrastructure — dedicated account managers, a borrower portal for pipeline tracking, and capital depth for large loan amounts. Their brand is particularly strong in fix-and-flip where they've been active for over a decade.
On DSCR specifically, Lima One is the least self-serve lender on this list, scoring 0/10. FICO requirements are notably higher than peers — best pricing requires 740+ FICO — and no rate information is published. There is no public-facing calculator, no rate sheet, and no application path that doesn't go through a loan officer from first interaction. The entire process is human-mediated.
Lima One is best for experienced investors doing large, complex deals where the full-service loan officer model is genuinely useful — higher loan amounts, construction draws, or multifamily scenarios where institutional execution capability matters. For a single-family DSCR term loan where pricing transparency is the first step, Lima One will require more time and human engagement than alternatives that publish their rate matrices.
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