DSCR Loan North Carolina 2026: Rates and Lenders (4,791 Loans)

Who pays what in North Carolina: the loan-by-loan record behind “dscr loan north carolina”

Lender websites show the rate offered to the best file. The federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) record shows what North Carolina borrowers closed at. Most mortgage lenders report every loan they originate each year, with the note rate, amount, loan-to-value ratio, purpose, property type and county, and the FFIEC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publish the loan-level file. We downloaded the North Carolina files for 2024 and 2025 on October 20, 2026 and computed every HMDA figure on this page from them (our arithmetic). For the product itself see what a DSCR loan is, rates by borrower tier and lender requirements. The same method, on the same definition, is on our Michigan, Ohio and Georgia pages. This page is the North Carolina record, and its second half is North Carolina law: what the interest statutes let a lender charge a business borrower, and what they do not forbid.

The definition, and what HMDA cannot tell you

There is no “DSCR” field in HMDA, so we build the group from fields that do exist. A business-purpose loan is reported only in some cases: the Regulation C commentary says it “is a covered loan only if it is a home improvement loan under § 1003.2(i), a home purchase loan under § 1003.2(j), or a refinancing under § 1003.2(p) and no other exclusion applies.” A lender that does not use the borrower's debt-to-income ratio reports that field as not applicable, “since no debt-to-income ratio was relied on in connection with the credit decision.” DSCR lenders underwrite on the property's rent, so their loans show up as business-purpose investment loans with DTI “NA.” A DSCR-type loan here is:

• originated, conventional (not FHA, VA or USDA), first lien, closed-end, not a reverse mortgage;
• occupancy type 3 (investment property), 1 to 4 units;
• business or commercial purpose = yes;
• debt-to-income ratio = NA;
• loan term of 360 months or longer, which leaves out the 12- to 36-month bridge and fix-and-flip loans (counted separately as “short-term”).

In 2025 North Carolina had 210,054 conventional originations, 23,317 of them on investment property; 16,816 of those were for a business purpose and 9,748 of those had DTI reported as NA. The 4,791 DSCR-type loans are the part of that group with a term of 30 years or more; another 2,806 no-DTI business loans ran 36 months or less (median rate 10.2%, the bridge and fix-and-flip market covered on our fix-and-flip loans page).

The proxy has limits:

• Not a clean DSCR count. Other no-DTI business loans fall in it, and so do loans to LLCs, trusts and corporations. Entity borrowers are 38.1% of the 2025 North Carolina loans (the FFIEC coding for a “non-natural person”), down from 47.5% in 2024.
• Note rate, not total cost. The prepayment-penalty term is NA on 100% of these loans, and the public file has no credit score, DSCR or rent. A lower note rate with points or a heavy prepayment penalty can cost more than a higher rate without them.
• Rounded amounts. Public loan amounts are band midpoints, and the FFIEC field list says property values are “Rounded to the midpoint of the nearest $10,000 interval for which the reported value falls,” so medians land on multiples of $5,000.
• Who is missing. Lenders below HMDA's reporting thresholds do not file, and a loan is listed under the institution that reported it.
• Two vintages. The 2024 file is the FFIEC one-year dataset and 2025 is the snapshot dataset, both downloaded October 20, 2026, and HMDA 2025 is last year's loans, not today's quotes.

North Carolina DSCR-type loans, 2024 vs 2025

The count rose 47% and the dollars 53.6% while the median note rate fell from 7.625% to 7.25%. The share of conventional investment-property loans that look like DSCR loans rose from 15.6% to 20.5%. Cash-out refinances were 37.3% of the loans against 38.2% for purchases, so a large part of this market is existing owners pulling equity out of rentals rather than new buyers; our page on cash-out refinancing an investment property covers that side.

The $195,000 loan: what a rate gap costs

The median North Carolina DSCR-type loan was $195,000, which is 68.4% of the $285,000 median property value (property value is reported as a $10,000 midpoint, so read this as approximate). On a 30-year fixed $195,000 loan (our arithmetic):

• at the 25th percentile rate of 6.875% the principal and interest is $1,281.01 a month;
• at the median 7.25% it is $1,330.24 a month;
• at the 75th percentile of 7.75% it is $1,397.00 a month.

The 25th-to-75th percentile gap on one loan is $115.99 a month, $1,392 a year. Against an income-qualified conventional investor loan at the 6.875% median, the DSCR median costs $49.23 a month, $591 a year.

That payment is also the denominator of the ratio that gives the loan its name. At $1,330.24 a month a month in principal and interest, a property needs rent of $1,330.24 to reach a 1.00 ratio on that part alone, and $1,662.80 for 1.25 (our arithmetic; taxes, insurance and association dues also count in most lenders' calculations, see our DSCR calculator).

Loans under $100,000 were only 5.8% of the state (277 loans) and carried a 7.5% median, against 7.49% for $100,000 to $149,999 and 7.25% for $150,000 to $299,999. North Carolina's market sits in the mid-size band, and the rate does not fall as the loan grows: the $1,000,000-plus band had a 7.375% median.

Which loans got the lower rate

Three patterns stand out (all our arithmetic). Purchases had a 7.25% median, cash-out refinances 7.375% and rate-and-term refinances 7.233%. Loans at 60% combined LTV or less had a 7.175% median and loans over 75% to 80% had 7.375%, a spread smaller than the spread between lenders below. Loans through brokers and correspondents (2,383 loans) had a 7.375% median and direct applications (2,408 loans) 7.25%. Entity borrowers had a 7.225% median (1,823 loans) and natural persons 7.375%. For how an LLC changes the file, see DSCR loans for an LLC.

Kiavi is the largest lender, but no one lender dominates

Kiavi Funding, Inc. made 369 North Carolina DSCR-type loans in 2025 (7.7%) at a 7.125% median and a $155,000 median loan, up from 229 in 2024. Only 7.3% came through brokers. The second lender, United Wholesale Mortgage, made 337 (7%), all through brokers, at 7.5%. The top 10 lenders made 44.4% and 142 lenders filed at least one.

Two cautions apply. First, the FFIEC name is the legal entity that reported the loan, which is not always the brand a borrower saw. Kiavi's own licensing page says: “All DSCR and Rental Loans are originated and funded by Figure Lending LLC dba Figure effective 9/1/2026.” Figure Lending's address on Kiavi's North Carolina page is “Figure Lending LLC dba Figure, 5200 77 Center Drive, Suite 400, Charlotte, NC 28217,” so a Kiavi DSCR loan closed today is funded by a company based in Charlotte; the 2025 HMDA figures above are Kiavi Funding's loans from before that date. We cover the ownership in Figure Technology Solutions and Kiavi and the lender in our Kiavi review. Second, RCN Capital's loan-to-value field is not usable in the file (it reports fractions such as 0.75), so we do not show its LTV.

The lenders investors search for by name

Reading this table (all HMDA, our arithmetic): Visio's affiliate Investor Mortgage Finance made 168 DSCR-type loans at 7.281%, down from 246 in 2024; LendingOne made 70 at 6.87%; Lima One Capital made 96 at 7.138% and 162 short-term loans at 10.675%; Easy Street Capital made 0 DSCR-type loans but 175 short-term loans at 9.9%, a hard-money lender rather than a 30-year DSCR lender here; and Griffin Funding made 2. Velocity Commercial Capital's 118 loans carried a 9.865% median (82 loans at 10.553% in 2024): 90 percent of its 118 loans have rates between 8.865% and 10.615% (5th to 95th percentile). That is a different price band from every other lender, so it is probably a different product (for example loans with larger or mixed collateral that still fit our filter); we do not claim to know. The state median is median note rate 7.25% when Velocity is removed, so one outlier moves it very little. Our lender pages: Visio, Lima One, LendingOne, Deephaven, Angel Oak, Velocity, RCN and Griffin; the national comparison is in best DSCR loan lenders.

Where in North Carolina: Charlotte leads, and a fifth of the loans are outside any metro area

Mecklenburg County made 631 loans (13.2%) at a $255,000 median loan, up from 427 in 2024. The Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metro area (the part in North Carolina; the OMB delineation also covers South Carolina counties) made 1,204, 25.1% of the state. 21.8% of the state's loans (1,046) were outside any metropolitan area or division, a small-town and rural market that most “Charlotte and Raleigh” DSCR pages never mention.

The loan sizes differ sharply by county (our arithmetic): 631 DSCR-type loans; share under $150,000 9.5%; share for purchase 33.0%; median property value $375,000. 273 DSCR-type loans; share under $150,000 53.5%; share for purchase 40.7%; median property value $205,000. In Cumberland County, which holds Fayetteville, 273 loans were made at a $145,000 median loan, up from 200 in 2024. Guilford County (Greensboro and High Point) made 296 loans at $150,000: 296 DSCR-type loans; share under $150,000 50.0%; share for purchase 36.8%; median property value $205,000. Wake County (Raleigh) made 282 at $255,000 and 7.125%: 282 DSCR-type loans; share under $150,000 6.4%; share for purchase 61.3%; median property value $375,000. The Wilmington metro area on the coast roughly doubled, from 147 loans in 2024 to 300 in 2025. Whatever the county, DSCR lenders underwrite on market rent or lease rent, not on a housing voucher limit; our note on Section 8 landlord rules explains how those limits are set.

North Carolina law: what the interest statutes say about a business-purpose loan

We read the statute text on October 20, 2026. The state legislature's own site (ncleg.gov) blocked our automated reader with a Cloudflare error, so the text below is from Onecle's reproduction of the General Statutes, whose pages are stamped “Last modified: March 23, 2014.” Statutes change, so treat this as a reading of an older copy and confirm each section against the current General Statutes before you rely on it. This is not legal advice.

Usury: the $25,000 line and the “exempt loan”

The default rule is a legal rate of interest: G.S. 24-1 is titled “Legal rate is eight percent.” For written contracts, G.S. 24-1.1(a) lets parties agree to interest up to a rate set by the Commissioner of Banks where the principal is “twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or less,” and to “Any rate agreed upon by the parties where the principal amount is more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000).” A DSCR loan on a rental is above that line almost always (the median is $195,000).

G.S. 24-9 goes further. It defines an “exempt loan” as one in which “The loan amount is three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) or more,” or “The borrower is a person other than a natural person,” or “The loan is obtained by a natural person primarily for a purpose other than a personal, family, or household purpose.” For an exempt loan the statute says that, “Notwithstanding any other provision of this Chapter or any other provision of State law, any borrower in an exempt loan transaction” may agree, and the lender “may charge and collect from the borrower, interest at any rate and fees and other charges in any amount that the borrower agrees to pay.” It adds: “A claim or defense of usury is prohibited in an exempt loan transaction.” A DSCR loan to an LLC meets the second test; a DSCR loan to an individual for a rental will usually meet the third, which the statute says is “guided by the standards established by the federal Truth In Lending Act”. In both cases the borrower has no usury defense on the text, and the note rate is what the two sides agree. HMDA says 38.1% of the 2025 loans were to entities and 1% of loans were above 10%, with the highest at 11.99% (lowest 4.44%), so the market, not the statute, is what holds prices near the median.

Late fees and prepayment penalties

Two protections that sound general are narrower than they look. G.S. 24-10.1 limits a late charge on “a loan or extension of credit governed by the provisions of G.S. 24-1.1, 24-1.2, or 24-1.1A”: no late charge “In excess of four percent (4%) of the amount of the payment past due,” and none “Unless past due for 15 days or more.” But G.S. 24-9, as quoted above, says that in an exempt loan the lender may charge “fees and other charges in any amount that the borrower agrees to pay.” On that text, the 4% cap is not an assumption a DSCR borrower can make; read the note's late-fee clause.

For prepayment, G.S. 24-1.1A(b) says “a lender and a borrower may agree on any terms as to the prepayment of a home loan,” with one exception: no prepayment fee may be contracted where “the principal amount borrowed is one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) or less, (ii) the borrower is a natural person,” the debt is for personal, family or household purposes, and the property is one that “is or will be occupied by the borrower as the borrower's principal dwelling.” A rental is not the borrower's principal dwelling and the debt is not for household purposes, so that ban does not reach a DSCR loan on the text. HMDA records no prepayment-penalty term on any of these loans, so the clause is something you must find in the note. Many DSCR notes carry a stepped prepayment penalty; our DSCR loan requirements page explains the common structures.

Out-of-state lenders and borrowers

G.S. 24-2.1(a) says a loan is made in North Carolina if “the lender offers or agrees in this State to lend to a borrower who is a resident of this State.” For a borrower who is not a resident, subsection (d) says an offer, acceptance or communication made in or received from North Carolina is subject to this Chapter, applicable federal law, “law of the situs of the contract, or law of the residence of any such borrower as the parties may elect.” An out-of-state investor buying a Charlotte rental can therefore sign a note that elects another law; and because the loan is business-purpose, North Carolina's usury statute would not have helped that borrower in any case.

What a North Carolina investor can do with this

1. Anchor on the median, not the advertised floor. The 6.875%-to-7.75% middle half is what borrowers closed at in 2025; a quote far outside it needs a reason (points, a prepayment clause, a lower DSCR or credit score).
2. Price the gap. On a $195,000 loan the 25th-to-75th gap is $115.99 a month, $1,392 a year; the DSCR premium over an income-qualified conventional investor loan is $49.23 a month, $591 a year. If you qualify conventionally, ask for both.
3. Do not count on a usury or late-fee cap. On the statute text a loan to your LLC, or to you for a rental, is an exempt loan; the protection is the note, so read the late-fee, default-interest and prepayment clauses.
4. Ask which entity funds the loan. Since September 1, 2026, Kiavi says its DSCR and rental loans are funded by Figure Lending LLC; the lender's name on the quote and in HMDA may differ.
5. Compare counties before you copy a headline. Mecklenburg's median loan was $255,000 and Cumberland's $145,000; the rent-to-price relationship, not the state rate, decides whether a property clears a 1.0 or 1.25 ratio.
6. Check whether a cash-out refinance fits. Cash-out refinances were 37.3% of the loans; see DSCR refinance and DSCR vs conventional.

FAQ

This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.

Loan-level data: FFIEC/CFPB HMDA Data Browser, North Carolina originated conventional loans for 2024 and 2025, downloaded October 20, 2026 (request URLs in the data file; scripts in sources/hmda/); definitions from the Regulation C commentary and the FFIEC HMDA field list; lender names from the FFIEC filer lists; county names from the Census Bureau 2020 county list; metropolitan areas from the OMB delineation file (July 2023) published by the Census Bureau; North Carolina General Statutes 24-1, 24-1.1, 24-1.1A, 24-2.1, 24-9 and 24-10.1 as reproduced by Onecle (last modified March 23, 2014; ncleg.gov was unreadable by our tools on October 20, 2026); Kiavi's North Carolina and licensing pages, read October 20, 2026.