Independent credit review for private lenders and note investors
We underwrite private loans the way a bank credit officer would.
Your capital is already at risk. We review the borrower, the collateral, and the structure before you fund, and we tell you in writing whether to proceed, what to fix, or when to walk.
The Problem
Private lending sells yield. It rarely sells protection.
Most private lenders, note buyers, and small fund managers underwrite on gut, collateral value, and borrower relationship. That works until it does not. When a loan goes sideways, the weakness in the original underwriting is what determines whether the capital is recovered or written off. The common gaps we see:
No independent credit pull. The lender relies on the borrower’s summary or a soft pull.
Collateral value taken at face. No defensible valuation methodology behind the number.
Loan structure copied from templates without regard to exit, seasoning, or position priority.
No formal credit policy. Every deal is a one-off judgment call.
No plan for default. The first workout is figured out after the loan is already nonperforming.
What We Do
What does The Mad Lender do?
The Mad Lender is an independent credit review and consulting practice that underwrites private real estate loans and mortgage note purchases for the lenders and investors funding them. We review your deal before you fund, identify the weaknesses in the structure, the borrower, and the collateral, and deliver a written recommendation: Proceed, Proceed with Conditions, or Do Not Proceed.
What that looks like in practice:
- Independent credit analysis on the borrower, including a full tri-merge credit pull when appropriate
- Collateral valuation review against comparable sales and a defensible methodology
- Loan to value and debt service coverage assessment
- Loan structure, position, and exit review
- A written verdict: Proceed, Proceed with Conditions, or Do Not Proceed
This is the review institutional lenders run on every loan. Private lenders rarely run it at all. That is the gap we close.
Who We Serve
Who is The Mad Lender for?
Our clients have already committed real capital to private lending. They understand that yield without underwriting is speculation. They want a second set of trained eyes before they fund.
Direct Private Lenders
Note Investors
Loan Fund Managers
Self-Directed IRA Lenders
The Book
The missing credit expertise, between two covers.
The Mad Lender’s Guide to Private Lending and Note Investing walks through underwriting, the Three C’s of credit, loan structure, documentation, servicing, default, workout, and the note market the way a bank credit officer learned them. 273 pages, written to be read the way you would read a credit policy manual.
Get a Free Excerpt
Leadership
Who runs The Mad Lender?
The practice is led by Doug Smith, a career credit officer with 35 years on the credit side of banking, including time inside three of the largest banks in the world. He has underwritten or made thousands of loans and collected on the ones that went wrong. He wrote The Mad Lender’s Guide to Private Lending and Note Investing.
We are not a course and not a coach. We are a consultant with the same credit background as the underwriters, credit officers, and workout specialists inside the banks your borrowers owe money to.
Doug speaking on an industry panel. He answers questions from lenders and note investors in public forums nearly every day.Ready to protect your capital?
Start with a short intake call at no charge. If we are not the right resource, we will tell you.