Kentucky DSCR and Hard Money Loans: 7.625% Median, 12% Tail

Kentucky’s investor-loan record: three loan markets and one outlier lender

Other state pages on this site split investor loans into short-term “hard money” and 30-year DSCR. We took the FFIEC and CFPB loan-level Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) file for 2025, Kentucky rows, conventional originations only: 76,665 loans, 9,043 on investment property and 5,592 of those marked as made for a business or commercial purpose. HMDA has no “hard money” or “DSCR” field, so we use the proxy of our Alabama, Indiana and Nevada pages: first lien, 1-4 units, closed-end, not a reverse mortgage, investment property, business purpose, and no debt-to-income ratio. That leaves 4,702 base loans, 3,574 of them with no debt-to-income ratio (890 business-purpose investment loans were set aside as open-end lines, reverse mortgages, junior liens or buildings of five or more units).

Within the 3,574 loans the terms fall into three blocks: 532 loans of 36 months or less, 1,484 of 37 to 359 months and 1,556 of 360 months or more. Four entries from one lender, Emporium TPO LLC, have a term of 30 or 40, which looks like years keyed as months; we count them as 360- and 480-month loans, the same convention as our DSCR lender ranking. Without that convention the 360-month group would be 1,552 loans, not 1,556; our MM Lending review, which counted Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky together, reports 1,553 for Kentucky under its own cut, and the difference is a handful of loans, not the picture. Lender names come from the FFIEC 2025 filer list.

Points, fees and prepayment terms for business-purpose loans are not in HMDA: both fields read “NA” for every one of the 532 short-term and 1,556 DSCR-type loans, so the note rate understates the cost. Our hard money loan calculator turns a quote into a total cost, and our national rate page covers the whole market. The public file rounds each loan amount to the midpoint of a $10,000 band.

Kentucky business-purpose investor loans by term, 2025 (HMDA, our filters)

“Loans to entities” counts applicants whose age is reported as 8888, the file’s code for an applicant that is not a natural person. “Bank-named” is our own label for a lender whose filer name includes bank, trust, savings, credit union or FCU; it is a name test, not a charter check, and it is our arithmetic. Farm Credit Mid-America, an agricultural credit association, is not counted as a bank.

Who sets Kentucky’s rate: 216 loans from one Louisville lender

The page you would expect to write starts from the median: 7.625% is the second-highest median tier in the country. The median is the wrong lens. In the 51 state files we pulled with the same filter, six jurisdictions have a median of 7.625% or more (Michigan 7.75%; Alaska, Kentucky, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont 7.625%), and Michigan, Ohio and Indiana have far more loans. What no other state shows is Kentucky’s upper tail: a 90th percentile of 11.75%, against 10.0% in Indiana, 9.0% in Ohio and 8.875% in Michigan, and a mean of 8.147%, against 7.903% in Indiana, 7.889% in Ohio and 7.845% in Michigan.

All of that traces to one lender. MM Lending, LLC reported 216 DSCR-type loans in Kentucky: 13.9% of the count and 13.7% of the dollars. All 216 are coded to entities, all are interest-only, all carry a balloon payment, all report a 360-month term and a loan purpose of “not applicable”, 140 are at exactly 12.0%, and the middle half runs from 11.75% to 12.0% on a $155,000 median loan at a 69.99% median loan-to-value. Not one other Kentucky lender has a loan at 11% or more: all 200 loans at 11% or higher are MM Lending’s. A 360-month term field on an interest-only balloon loan is a coding quirk of this lender, not a 30-year rental loan; our MM Lending review covers the lender’s own account of its product, its footprint in Ohio and Indiana and why term-based counts of its loans differ.

Kentucky DSCR-type loans with and without one lender, 2025 (HMDA, our arithmetic)

On a $155,000 loan, the DSCR-type median loan, one year of interest only at MM Lending’s 12.0% is $18,600.00 and at the other lenders’ 7.5% it is $11,625.00, a difference of $6,975.00 (our arithmetic, before points and fees, which HMDA does not report). The products are not the same, and we do not suggest a borrower could have chosen either: an interest-only balloon loan to an entity is a bridge-style product, and the HMDA field cannot show what the borrower was refinancing or buying. The point for a reader is what a statewide median means. A Kentucky “average DSCR rate” that includes this lender is 0.125 points higher at the median and about 0.58 points higher at the mean than the rate on the other 1,340 loans.

DSCR-type note rates in the states where the tail differs, 2025 (HMDA, our filters and arithmetic)

Kentucky without MM Lending would have a mean (7.565%) below those of 15 other jurisdictions and a 7.5% median shared with 10 others. The same lender lends in Ohio and Indiana, which is why those two states also have fatter tails than Michigan or Alabama; see our Indiana page and Ohio hard money lenders page.

The rest of the price level is set by two lenders to individuals. United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) made 220 loans and Northpointe Bank 116, none coded to an entity, at medians of 7.75% and 7.875%, both above the 7.5% median of the 1,340 loans excluding MM Lending. UWM’s own Kentucky median of 7.75% is higher than its 7.5% in Alabama and equal to its 7.75% in Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey (our arithmetic, same filter, states where UWM made 50 or more loans). HMDA does not say why a borrower landed on one step.

Louisville and Northern Kentucky: where the loans are

HMDA reports a county, not a city. Jefferson County is Louisville, Fayette County Lexington, and Kenton, Campbell and Boone counties are the Northern Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati. County names come from the Census Bureau county codes. The county code is missing for 22 short-term, 84 DSCR-type and 4 mid-term loans, mostly from RCN Capital (12 short-term and 55 DSCR-type), so those loans are in the statewide totals but not in any county row.

Jefferson County has 21.1% of the 76,665 conventional originations in Kentucky (16,168) but 42.9% of the DSCR-type loans: investor lending is twice as concentrated in Louisville as mortgage lending overall. Its 667 DSCR-type loans come from 47 lenders, and three made half of them: MM Lending 128, UWM 123 and Northpointe Bank 84 (335 of 667, 50.2%). American Heritage Lending made 39 of its 59 Kentucky loans in the county, Northpointe 84 of 116, UWM 123 of 220 and MM Lending 128 of 216.

Kentucky investor loans by county, 2025 (HMDA, our arithmetic)

The counties split into two kinds. In the Louisville and Northern Kentucky ring the rental market is a specialist-lender market: Kenton, Campbell and Boone together have 338 DSCR-type loans, 72 of them MM Lending’s, and Velocity Commercial Capital made 24 of Campbell County’s 104 at an 8.49% median (a median of 8.49% across its 41 Kentucky loans, on a $95,000 median loan, the smallest of the large lenders). Without MM Lending the median in Jefferson County falls from 7.75% to 7.5% and in the three Northern Kentucky counties from 7.75% to 7.5%. Fayette (Lexington), Warren, Daviess and Hardin counties are different: they are bank counties. Fayette has 204 mid-term loans against 102 DSCR-type loans, Daviess 84 against 19, and the short-term medians (7.5%) are bank prices; Kiavi’s short-term loans are concentrated in Jefferson (33), Kenton (33) and Boone (10) counties. A county median in this record is a lender’s price list, not a local market rate.

Short-term loans: banks at 7.5%, specialists at 10.5%

The short-term group is smaller than in most states: 532 loans, 42 lenders, a 7.75% median and a middle half of 7.5% to 10.25%. It splits by lender type. 336 loans (63.2%) came from 26 lenders with a bank, trust or credit union name, at a 7.5% median and a middle half of 7.25% to 7.625%, and a $185,000 median loan; 196 came from 16 others at 10.5% (9.95% to 11.35%). The medians are 3.0 points apart. On the short-term median loan of $175,000, one year of interest only at 10.5% is $18,375.00 and at 7.5% it is $13,125.00, a difference of $5,250.00 (our arithmetic, before points and fees). Of the 531 short-term loans with a reported rate, 215 (40.5%) were above 8% and 136 above 10%.

Largest lenders of Kentucky short-term investor loans, 2025 (HMDA, names from the FFIEC 2025 filer list)

Kiavi is the largest single name: 102 of 532 loans (19.2%) and $20.3 million of the $114.5 million, against a third of the count in Alabama. All 102 are coded to entities, 96 have a 12-month term and 95 are purchases, and its middle half of 9.95% to 11.49% is close to that of the 94 loans from other non-bank lenders that are not Kiavi (10.5% median), so Kiavi is the shape of the specialist market, not an outlier. Our reviews cover Kiavi, Loan Funder, RCN Capital and Temple View Capital.

The banks are not all small-balance flip lenders. South Central Bank made 81 short-term loans at a $245,000 median, 53 of them with a 36-month term, and 27 of the 81 are in Scott County; Traditional Bank, with a $245,000 median loan, made 18 of its 43 in Fayette County. Bank-named lenders’ short-term loans were 189 with a 12-month term, 85 with 36 months and 24 with 18 months, and 237 of the 336 were coded to entities. HMDA does not show whether these are bridge loans, construction draws, renewals or relationship loans, or the fees. A 7.5% note rate on a 12- or 36-month loan is not an offer. Lenders under HMDA’s reporting thresholds do not appear, so every count is a floor; our private money lender page explains who is missing.

Louisville’s credit unions and the 10-to-25-year bank loan

Between 36 months and 30 years sits a group larger than the short-term group: 1,484 loans, 41.5% of the three groups, 96.9% of them from bank-named lenders (1,438 loans from 60 lenders, median 7.125%), $328.8 million in all. In Alabama this group is mostly one product, the five-year balloon. In Kentucky it is four.

Kentucky investor loans of 37 to 359 months by term, 2025 (HMDA, our filters)

The five-year loan is 443 of the 1,484; the 120-, 180-, 240- and 300-month loans are 956 (median rate 7.125%, 366 with a balloon). The 240- and 300-month loans are the notable ones: 440 loans from banks, nearly all without a balloon, which means a fully amortizing 20- or 25-year loan with no refinance risk at maturity, to a mostly entity-coded borrower base (147 of the 246 and 154 of the 194). That is a product the specialist lenders in the 30-year table do not offer at these prices, and HMDA does not show the collateral, the guarantees or the relationship requirements that a community bank may attach.

The largest lenders of the group are Independence Bank of Kentucky (154 loans, 6.95%), Community Trust Bank (143, 7.25%), Commonwealth Federal Credit Union (111, 6.75%), South Central Bank (107, 7.5%), Stock Yards Bank & Trust (103, 7.0%, $225,000 median loan), Traditional Bank (98, 7.25%) and Peoples Exchange Bank (80, 7.5%); the top three made 408 of the 1,484. Credit-union-named lenders made 293 loans in all. The most unusual single lender is Commonwealth Federal Credit Union: 111 loans, 110 of them 120-month terms, all 111 flagged as balloon loans, 110 coded to entities, a 6.75% median with a middle half of 6.75% to 6.75% and a $205,000 median loan, 55 of them in Fayette County. A flat 6.75% on 111 loans looks like a rate sheet, not a negotiation; we do not know the eligibility rules, and the federal record does not tell us. Park Community Credit Union (45 loans, 7.0%, 38 in Jefferson County) and Liberty Federal Credit Union (37 loans, 6.63%, $275,000 median loan) are the other Louisville-side credit unions in the table. Stock Yards Bank & Trust made 61 of Jefferson County’s 258 mid-term loans.

For a reader the practical consequence is that the cheapest note rates in Kentucky’s 2025 file for loans without a debt-to-income ratio belong to banks and credit unions at 10 to 25 years, 6.75% to 7.25% at the medians, not to the 30-year lenders at 7.5% to 7.875%. The price is what the loan asks of you: a business entity, local relationships, and for the 60- and 120-month loans a balloon that must be refinanced. Our BRRRR method page explains the refinance step.

The 30-year lenders: UWM, MM Lending and the people lenders

The rental side of Kentucky is a three-way split. 82 lenders made at least one DSCR-type loan, 31 made ten or more and 25 made exactly one. The largest, UWM, made 220 loans (14.1%); the top three made 552 (35.5%), the top five 707 (45.4%) and the top ten 963 (61.9%).

Largest lenders of Kentucky DSCR-type loans, 2025 (HMDA, our filters)

Only one bank-named lender is large here: Northpointe Bank, 116 of the 140 loans from bank-named lenders (median 7.75% for the group), none coded to an entity; 84 of the 116 are in Jefferson County. The people lenders, UWM, Northpointe and American Heritage Lending, together made 395 loans coded to natural persons out of 840 in the state. The natural-person median is 7.5% and the entity median 7.75%, but the entity group contains all of MM Lending’s loans; without them the 500 entity-coded loans have a 7.487% median, and entity-coded and person-coded loans price almost the same. For what the federal record says about UWM nationally, read our UWM DSCR investor loans review; our reviews also cover American Heritage Lending, Deephaven, BPL Mortgage, CV3 Financial Services, Dominion Financial Services and Velocity Financial.

Smaller loans carry higher note rates. The median DSCR-type loan is $155,000; 221 of 1,556 (14.2%) are under $100,000 at an 8.25% median (the 41 Velocity loans have a $95,000 median loan and an 8.49% median rate), 928 are $100,000 to $199,999 at 7.625%, 286 are $200,000 to $299,999 at 7.457%, 99 are $300,000 to $499,999 at 7.375% and 22 are $500,000 or more. Purpose is a cash-out story as much as a purchase story: 512 loans (32.9%) are cash-out refinances, 462 (29.7%) purchases and 307 (19.7%) other refinances, with a 7.5% median for both cash-out and purchase loans; 216 loans (13.9%) carry the “not applicable” purpose, and all 216 are MM Lending’s. 301 loans are interest-only, 216 of them MM Lending’s. Only 13 lenders made both a short-term and a DSCR-type loan, and of the eight largest DSCR-type lenders only three (Kiavi, RCN Capital and BPL Mortgage) made short-term loans, so in Kentucky a flip loan from a bank and a rental refinance from UWM or Northpointe usually come from different lenders. Read the requirements in our DSCR requirements guide.

Fewer denials, and what we did not read

In a second pull of the 2025 file with originated and denied applications, Kentucky had 1,869 decided DSCR-type applications: 1,557 originated and 312 denied, a denial rate of 16.7%. The second pull has one more originated loan than the first, which is why this section’s 1,557 differs from the 1,556 used everywhere else. Our state denial-rate page puts Kentucky’s rate at the bottom of the places it ranks, and counts it slightly differently (310 of 1,866); that comparison, not this page, is the place to read denial reasons by state. A low denial rate in HMDA can mean a friendly market or applicants who are screened before they apply; the file cannot tell them apart.

We tried to read Kentucky’s interest-rate statute (Kentucky Revised Statutes chapter 360), mortgage recording tax and foreclosure provisions. The Kentucky Legislature’s site did not load for our tools and the commercial copies and Internet Archive copies we tried were blocked or empty, so the statute was not read. We give no maximum rate, no tax figure, no foreclosure timeline and no licensing conclusion. The only conclusion the data allow is descriptive: in 2025, 464 of 1,556 DSCR-type loans and 215 of 531 short-term loans with a reported rate were above 8%, so a rate above 8% was ordinary in this market. Before you sign a note, ask the lender for its Kentucky license or the exemption it relies on, and ask a lawyer licensed in Kentucky about interest, recording tax, foreclosure and redemption. Our extension and default interest page lists the clauses that decide what a loan costs in practice, and our LLC for rental property page covers the choice of holding entity.

What a Kentucky investor can do with this

1. Find your quote on the right distribution. A Kentucky 30-year DSCR quote of 7.125% to 7.875% is where 1,340 of the 1,556 loans sit; a quote at 11.75% to 12.0% is the MM Lending product, an interest-only balloon bridge, not a rental loan. A short-term quote of 7.25% to 7.625% belongs with the banks, 9.95% to 11.35% with the specialists.
2. Do not take the state median as a benchmark. 7.625% is a median with one lender in it. Without MM Lending it is 7.5%, and the mean falls from 8.147% to 7.565%.
3. In Louisville, ask both kinds of lender. Jefferson County’s 667 loans come from 47 lenders, but MM Lending, UWM and Northpointe made half; the bank and credit-union side (Stock Yards, Park Community, Liberty, Commonwealth, Independence Bank of Kentucky) is mostly 60- to 300-month loans to entities.
4. Look at the 20- and 25-year bank loan. 440 loans of 240 or 300 months at a 7.25% median, almost none with a balloon, are a product that does not appear in the 30-year DSCR table; it usually asks for an entity and a relationship, which HMDA does not show.
5. Price the five- and ten-year balloon honestly. 423 of 443 five-year and 286 of 326 ten-year loans are balloon loans; the loan comes due and must be refinanced at whatever rate applies then.
6. Count the cost HMDA leaves out. Points, fees and prepayment terms are “NA” for all 2,088 short-term and DSCR-type loans. Run your own deal in the fix and flip calculator and compare the total cost, not the note rate.
7. Ask for the license or exemption and read the fees. We did not read Kentucky’s statutes; the extension fee, the prepayment clause and the default rate are decided by the note.

Kiavi pays us a referral fee when a loan closes through its button below. We show it because it is the lender we have a contract with and the largest single name in the Kentucky short-term record; that is volume, not a ranking of price, and the bank-named lenders above reported much lower note rates on 336 loans. Visio Lending and Lima One Capital pay us nothing.

FAQ

Loan data: FFIEC/CFPB HMDA 2025 loan-level data, Kentucky rows from the Data Browser API (action taken 1, conventional loan type; the raw file and our summaries are in the sources folder), a second Kentucky pull with originated and denied investment-property applications for the denial rate, the same filter applied to the other 50 state and DC files for the rate comparison, and the FFIEC 2025 filer list; county names from the Census Bureau 2020 county codes for Kentucky. Kentucky statutes were not read. All counts, shares, medians, means and interest figures are our arithmetic. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal, tax or lending advice, and not a loan offer.