Fitch Ratings added SoFi, also known as Social Finance, to its special report containing operational assessments of U.S. residential loan aggregators and originators, along with six other entities.
The update to the special report marks the first update since the report was last published in July 2016, bringing the total number of entities covered in the report to 31.
Back in December, Fitch rated SoFi’s first-ever residential mortgage-backed security transaction, which it launched just two years after breaking into the mortgage business.
And according to Fitch, the pool contained a lot of positives. After a geographical concern, the pool consisted of high-quality mortgage pool, solid due diligence results, straightforward deal structures and high credit enhancement floor.
Fitch notes that because SoFi is now one of the largest online residential mortgage retailers, it deemed it prudent to expand its prime coverage by completing an operation risk review of the SoFi residential mortgage origination program.
Here’s a quick overview of Fitch’s take on SoFi:
While originally rooted as a marketplace or peer-to-peer lender, SoFi quickly developed a need for a greater institutional funding footprint that could be accessed faster and more efficiently. By 2012, SoFi’s funding strategy had evolved to more traditional sources, such as banks and other large financial institutions. As of Nov. 30, 2016, SoFi had $850 million in mortgage warehouse capacity. Fitch does not perceive SoFi’s current funding strategy to be materially different from many other mortgage originators.
SoFi’s mortgage production to date has consisted primarily of standard full-documentation prime jumbo loans. They were approved earlier this year as a seller and servicer by Fannie Mae, but agency volume remains relatively low.
The report added that as of Sept. 30, 2016, SoFi originated $7.9 billion in student loan refinancing, $3.3 billion in personal loans, and $900 million in prime jumbo mortgage loans.
Additionally, as of Sept. 30, 2016, portfolio delinquency has been low, and there has been no class-action litigation against the company.
