Constitution Lending & Sila
Lending Compliant and Operational In 8 Months
Without Sila, this part of our corporate history could have easily dragged out for years and cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal and other fees. Sila not only had all these requirements figured out and rolled into a complete payment platform available as a service; they also are a bank agent, which allows us to stay out of the funds flow completely.
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Constitution Lending & Sila:
At a Glance
Sila saved Constitution Lending a potential of hundreds of thousands of dollars through faster time-to-market and big reductions in potential legal and other fees.
Implemented solution for Constitution Lending to completely stay out of the funds flow in about 8 months
Sila’s pre-existing integration with Plaid sped up bank account authentication significantly.
As a bank agent, Sila stepped in to offer that functionality out-of-the-box.
Sila’s dedication and industry expertise helped founders hone in quickly on the right path to launch.
The Goal
Get up and running fast in the highly-regulated payment industry
Constitution Lending’s founders set out to democratize access to real estate loans for average investors. Their goal was to empower individuals to invest in asset classes that until recently were reserved for hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Before long, they realized that in order to do so, they would need to get up to speed quickly on all the laws and ordinances governing the highly regulated payment industry in the U.S., as well as finding a banking partner that would support a small up-and-coming firm.
Constitution Lending met with lawyers and the Sila team early on. Through months of development, they were able to realize many of their goals and more through the Sila platform.
Top Payment IaaS Obstacles
- Compliance under U.S. payment regulations
- Compliance under U.S. payment regulations
- KYC/KYB with minimal hassle
- Quick approval processes and closing times
- No upfront fees
- Cost (up to $220,000 in legal fees)
Without Sila
- Complicated, expensive, and time-consuming compliance under U.S. payment regulations
- Elaborate KYC/KYB processes, need to coordinate multiple providers
- Lengthier payment approval times
- Higher payment fees that customers have to pay
- Cost (up to $220,000 in legal fees)
With Sila
- OFAC screenings, audits, suspicious activity filings are taken care of
- KYC/KYB with minimal hassle
- Quick approval processes and payment closing times
- Ability to charge flexible fees
- Significant savings
A new financial world, built by you.
Sila offers a simple, secure, and scalable banking API to make money programmable with built-in regulatory compliance.
The Results
Constitution Lending also took advantage of Sila’s smart contract technology for flexible term loans and quick and reliable closing periods.
Much like Sila, Constitution Lending’s mission was to remove many of the barriers that people experience when accessing capital. Constitution Lending founder and CEO Richard Sims’ idea to democratize property investment has created new avenues for what’s possible in the tightly regulated finance and real estate industries.
Thankfully, Constitution Lending can fulfill its mission with the infrastructure as a service solution and accessibility that Sila provides.
Sims and fellow founders knew that Constitution Lending’s products would fall under federal financial regulations, but there was also a flurry of state regulations that as a financial company they must follow. It was business-critical for Constitution Lending to remain compliant even across state lines.
The founders correctly realized that financial compliance was critical to the company when building the firm and that Sila’s payment infrastructure as a service would be able to provide immediate compliance and ongoing banking services. Not only that, but they could not spend $220,000 in legal fees and years becoming compliant.
Now, Constitution Lending can provide hard money lending options for families, fixer-uppers, bridge loans, vacation loans, and foreclosure loans. And, with Sila as its banking partner, Constitution Lending had access to immediate KYC/KYB compliance and smart contract technology for fast and reliable loan closing.
“Time is money,” said Shamir Karkal. “That is why Sila has put a lot of effort into building a powerful and complete payment infrastructure solution. And in cases where additional capabilities are required, our customers can easily connect with our vast network of partners assembled in our fintech marketplace.”
Result 1
Constitution Lending wanted to provide a variety of hard money lending options (primarily property loans) fast for real estate investment transactions to low-income individuals, people in debt, and people with bad credit.
Result 2
With Sila as its banking partner, Constitution Lending not only provides real estate transactions, but can also expand to Foreclosure Prevention Loans, Bridge Loans, Airbnb or Vacation Rental Loans, and Fix and Flip Loans.
Result 3
Sila’s immediate compliance set-up enabled Constitution Lending’s customers the ability to easily fill out a loan application that requires no credit check, a simple income verification through integrated KYC/KYC, and no real estate experience.
Result 4
Constitution Lending also took advantage of Sila’s smart contract technology for flexible term loans and quick and reliable closing periods.
A new financial world, built by you.
Sila offers a simple, secure, and scalable banking API to make money programmable with built-in regulatory compliance.