Louisiana Hard Money and DSCR Loans 2026: Banks Make 54% at 7.75%

What the 2025 federal record shows for Louisiana investors

Most Louisiana hard money pages list lenders that advertise. The federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) file lists loans that were made, with the note rate. We used the FFIEC and CFPB loan-level data for 2025 and took the Louisiana rows: 153,585 rows of all kinds, 60,341 originated first-lien loans, 9,220 of them on investment property and 4,299 of those marked as made for a business or commercial purpose.

HMDA has no “hard money” field. We use the proxy of our other state pages (Oklahoma and Alabama use it too; for a bigger neighbour see Texas): conventional, first lien, closed-end, 1-4 units, investment property, business purpose, no debt-to-income ratio, not a reverse mortgage, originated. That leaves 2,987 loans in the base group. Of those, 1,401 had a term of 360 months or more (rental and DSCR loans), 480 a term of 36 months or less, and 1,073 a term between 37 and 359 months that we leave out of both groups; 33 report no usable term. We set aside 4 short-term entries with a 30-month term, which look like a 30-year loan keyed in months, as the other state pages do. That leaves 476 short-term loans.

The filter matters here. Without the closed-end rule the short-term count is 626, because 146 of those entries are open-end lines of credit, 83 of them from Gulf Coast Bank and Trust. A line of credit is not a one-time flip loan, and we leave it out. The 626 figure, with banks at 64.2%, is the one an earlier draft of this page used; it overstates the bank share. The DSCR-type count of 1,401 is the same under both filters.

We classed a lender as a bank if its filed name contains bank, credit union, savings, FSB, national association or “trust co”. That catches BankPlus and b1BANK (“bank” inside the name), and we count lenders as filers (one legal entity identifier each), so RCN Capital, which files under two identifiers, counts twice in lender counts, and we add loans up under one filed name. Lenders under HMDA’s reporting thresholds do not appear, so every count is a floor. The public file rounds each loan amount to the midpoint of a $10,000 band, so a reported $165,000 is a loan between $160,000 and $169,999.

Louisiana business-purpose investor loans, 2025 (HMDA, our filter)

Most short-term loans are house purchases. By purpose, 308 were purchases (64.7%), 103 refinances, 30 cash-out refinances, 30 home improvement loans and 5 “other”; 375 were on one-unit properties and 101 on two to four units. The median loan-to-value on the 444 loans that report it was 69.14%. The 12-month term is the norm (316 loans), then 36 months (41), 6 months (31), 24 months (25) and 18 months (18). Points, fees and prepayment terms for business-purpose loans are not in HMDA, so use our hard money loan calculator to turn a quote into a total cost, and our national rate page for the whole market.

The top of the range is thin. Of the 475 loans with a reported rate, 287 (60.4%) are above 8%, 180 (37.9%) above 10%, 99 (20.8%) above 11% and 25 (5.3%) above 12%. A quote above 12% was in roughly the top 5% of Louisiana short-term note rates in 2025, though HMDA does not show points.

Louisiana is half a bank market, and the banks are 3 points cheaper

We classed 256 of the 476 short-term loans (53.8%, and 63.0% of the dollars) as bank loans, from 15 banks.

Louisiana short-term investor loans, banks against other lenders, 2025 (HMDA, our name rule)

The gap is not a mix effect. On the 12-month term the two groups differ by 3.24 percentage points (our arithmetic), and both lend a similar median amount. The banks also offer a second product the others do not: every one of the 41 loans with a 36-month term is a bank loan. Not one of the 220 non-bank loans is at or below 8%, while 188 of the 256 bank loans are. HMDA does not show points, draw schedules, speed of closing or borrower track record, and banks may lend to borrowers and collateral that private lenders turn away or the reverse. What the file does show is the price a bank accepted on the same kind of loan.

Largest short-term lenders in Louisiana, 2025 (HMDA, names from the FFIEC 2025 filer list)

Kiavi’s 63 loans are 13.2% of the state’s short-term loans and 28.6% of the non-bank loans (our arithmetic). All 63 went to entities, carry the interest-only and balloon flags, and 57 have a 12-month term. Its median rate, 10.95%, is 3.2 points above the bank median of 7.75%, and its middle half runs from 9.95% to 11.85%. Kiavi’s largest parishes are Orleans (18 loans), East Baton Rouge (13) and Jefferson (12).

BankPlus made 41 loans, 19 of them in East Baton Rouge Parish and 9 in St. Tammany Parish; 16 have a 6-month term and 13 a 12-month term. Gulf Coast Bank and Trust made 32, 16 in Orleans Parish and 10 in Jefferson Parish, at a $230,000 median loan, the largest of the big lenders. Origin Bank has the lowest median of the large lenders (7.5%). The bank that dominates the rest of the state is Evangeline Bank & Trust, with 33 of its 38 loans outside the parishes we break out below and 5 in Lafayette Parish. Velocity Commercial Capital, better known for its 30-year loans (see below and our Velocity Financial review), made 28 short-term loans at an 11.99% median, 17 of them in East Baton Rouge Parish. RCN Capital’s 31 loans (see our RCN Capital review) all lack a parish in the public file, as do its 58 DSCR-type loans; the 23 and 8 loans come from two separate filers sharing the name. Loan Funder also has a review here. Our portfolio loans page shows how a bank that keeps loans on its books prices them nationally.

Kiavi pays us a referral fee when a loan closes through its button below. It belongs in a Louisiana box because the 2025 federal file shows it as the state’s largest short-term lender, and as the 16th-largest maker of 30-year investor loans (27 loans). Visio Lending and Lima One Capital pay us nothing; Lima One made 9 short-term and 18 DSCR-type loans in Louisiana. The data above also says what the button cannot: in Louisiana, the median bank quote was lower than the median Kiavi quote, so get a bank number before you compare.

Parish by parish: New Orleans, Baton Rouge and the rest

HMDA reports a parish, not a city, so we cannot isolate New Orleans or Baton Rouge. Orleans Parish is the closest public unit for New Orleans, East Baton Rouge Parish for Baton Rouge, Jefferson Parish for the suburbs to its west and Caddo Parish for Shreveport. Parish names come from the Census Bureau 2020 county file. 34 short-term loans carry no parish.

Louisiana short-term investor loans by area, 2025 (HMDA, our arithmetic, percentiles rounded to two decimals)

New Orleans is the dearest market: a median of 10.5% against 7.75% in St. Tammany Parish across Lake Pontchartrain, with a $225,000 median loan, the largest of the areas. The reason is the mix, not the banks.

The same split inside each metro, 2025 (HMDA, our arithmetic)

In every metro we broke out, banks sit at 7.75% to 8.0% and other lenders at 10.99% to 11.5%. Orleans Parish is dearer overall because 58 of its 86 loans (67.4%, our arithmetic) come from non-banks, against 13 of 36 (36.1%) in Caddo Parish. Outside the metros the market is bank-led: 123 of the 162 loans in the rest of the state are bank loans, at a 7.995% median. If you buy in a small parish, the local bank is usually the lender that already knows the market; in New Orleans you will mostly be quoted by Kiavi, Loan Funder or another non-bank.

By loan size the picture is also bank-shaped. Loans under $100,000 (69 loans) had a 7.85% median, loans of $100,000 to $149,999 (141) 10.0%, $150,000 to $249,999 (147) 9.95%, $250,000 to $499,999 (88) 8.75% and $500,000 or more (31) 7.75%. The middle bands are where the non-bank lenders cluster; the largest loans are mostly bank loans.

DSCR-type loans in Louisiana: the exit

Searches for Louisiana hard money and Louisiana DSCR loans are two steps of one plan: the short-term loan to buy and renovate, then a 30-year rental loan to refinance it (see the BRRRR method). The same filters with a term of 360 months or more give 1,401 loans, 46.9% of the 2,987-loan base group, against 15.9% for short-term loans (our arithmetic). The market is wider and almost bank-free: 77 lenders, the top five making 38.6% and the top ten 58.4%, and banks made only 13 loans (0.9%) at a 7.5% median. So the bank that lends short-term in Louisiana does not lend the 30-year DSCR loan.

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

Within the DSCR-type group, 620 loans were cash-out refinances (44.3%), 467 purchases (33.3%), 247 refinances (17.6%), 48 “other” and 19 home improvement loans. 1,017 were on one-unit properties (72.6%), 271 on two-unit, 28 on three-unit and 85 on four-unit properties; 191 are interest-only. Of the 1,392 loans with a reported rate, 319 (22.9%) were under 7% and 719 (51.7%) at or below 7.5%; 322 (23.1%) were above 8% and 35 above 10%. Loan size moves the price the other way from the short-term market: loans under $100,000 (199) had an 8.0% median, $100,000 to $149,999 (438) 7.625%, $150,000 to $249,999 (509) 7.375%, $250,000 to $499,999 (215) 7.375% and $500,000 or more (40) 7.065%. The reviews on this site cover several of these names: United Wholesale Mortgage, Deephaven, HomeXpress, OCMBC, Velocity and Kiavi. Our DSCR lender ranking uses the same filter nationally and our DSCR requirements guide reads the underwriting side.

Velocity’s Louisiana price is an outlier

Velocity Commercial Capital made 87 DSCR-type loans in Louisiana, 6.2% of the state’s total and $15.9 million in loans. Its median note rate was 9.865%, with a middle half of 9.615% to 10.365% and a range of 8.115% to 11.99%. All 87 have a 360-month term and none is interest-only. The other 1,314 loans have a 7.5% median, a 90th percentile of 8.484% and a highest rate of 9.99%. Of the 111 loans in the state above 9%, 84 are Velocity’s (our arithmetic). Its largest parish is Orleans, with 39 loans (11.1% of the parish’s 352 DSCR-type loans), then East Baton Rouge (11) and St. Tammany (8). HMDA does not show points, the property type, prepayment terms or the borrower’s credit, so we cannot say why Velocity’s rate is higher; a price is not a verdict on the loan. The point for a borrower is narrower: a Velocity DSCR quote in Louisiana at around 9.9% matches Velocity’s own 2025 median, not the market’s.

Louisiana DSCR-type loans by area, 2025 (HMDA, our arithmetic, percentiles rounded to two decimals)

Two places stand out. In Jefferson Parish, FM Home Loans made 60 of the 62 loans it made in the state, a quarter of the parish’s DSCR-type loans (our arithmetic), at a 7.558% statewide median. Lafayette Parish is the dearest of the main areas for DSCR loans (7.88%) and has the most concentrated lender: United Wholesale Mortgage made 28 of its 76 loans. Orleans Parish has the widest middle half of the named parishes (7.13% to 8.22%), and Velocity’s 39 loans sit in it. New Orleans prices on property insurance matter to the DSCR itself; see our landlord insurance page before you rely on a rent-to-debt ratio.

Who gets denied: 26.6%, or 23.0% without one filer

HMDA also records applications that were denied. For the same DSCR-type filter (first-lien, closed-end, 1-4 unit, investment, business purpose, no debt-to-income ratio, term 360 months or more) Louisiana lenders made 1,908 decisions in 2025: 1,401 originations and 507 denials, a denial rate of 26.6% (our arithmetic). Withdrawn and incomplete files are not counted. Our national DSCR denial page puts Louisiana among the highest states at the same 26.6%.

The rate is bent by reporting. A second RCN Capital filer, with the identifier ending JW67, reports 89 decisions in Louisiana and 88 denials, and codes the reason on every denial as exempt. Its decisions carry no parish. Without it, Louisiana lenders decided 1,819 applications and denied 419, or 23.0% (our arithmetic). The other RCN Capital filer reports 76 decisions and 19 denials (25.0%). We cannot tell from the file why the JW67 filer records so many denials; our national page reads a similar pattern as a pipeline that records files that never closed as denials, but that is our reading, not a fact in the data.

DSCR-type decisions by lender, Louisiana 2025 (HMDA, our arithmetic)

Lenders differ a great deal: Velocity denied 1 of 88 applications, BPL Mortgage 8 of 83, while LendingOne denied 34 of 62. A low denial rate is not the same as a good loan, since a lender can pre-screen before an application is logged; a high one may reflect the borrowers it attracts. Among the 419 denials without the JW67 filer, the reasons lenders gave (up to four per application) were collateral in 136, “other” in 94, credit history in 90, unverifiable information in 70, an incomplete application in 56, debt-to-income in 26, insufficient cash in 23 and employment history in 4. Collateral leads, which is the part of the file an investor can influence with an appraisal and a clean property.

DSCR-type denial rate by parish, without the JW67 filer, 2025 (HMDA, our arithmetic)

Entities and individuals are close once that filer is out: 128 denials in 530 decisions (24.2%) for the entity proxy and 291 in 1,289 (22.6%) for the rest. The proxy is applicant sex coded “not applicable”, which is how HMDA marks a borrower that is not a natural person.

What the gap between the products costs on one loan (our arithmetic)

Annual interest on a median-sized loan at the medians above (before points, fees and prepayment charges)

Louisiana law: what we read

We read two Louisiana provisions on the legislature’s site (legis.la.gov) on October 31, 2026. Interest. Revised Statutes 9:3509(A) says that a debtor borrowing for commercial, business or agricultural purposes “may agree to pay interest in excess of the maximum rate of conventional interest authorized by the laws of this state”, and that the debtor is then prohibited from claiming usury. Subsection B limits a lender’s post-default increase on such loans: for an original principal balance of $250,000 or less, the fixed simple interest rate shall not be prospectively increased “to a rate greater than eighteen percent per annum or three percentage points over the original, fixed contract rate”, whichever is greater; above $250,000 the figure is twenty-one percent. Subsection B(3) makes the return of excessive post-default interest the exclusive remedy. The text says subsection B does not apply to consumer credit transactions. Foreclosure. Code of Civil Procedure article 2631 defines executory proceedings as those used to effect the seizure and sale of property, “without previous citation and judgment”, to enforce a mortgage or privilege evidenced by an authentic act importing a confession of judgment.

What we did not read: Louisiana’s lender licensing rules, the time limits and steps of an executory proceeding, and any case law on these sections, so we state none of them. Whether a given rate, fee or default clause is lawful for you is a question for a Louisiana attorney, and we do not answer it. Before you sign, ask any lender for (1) its Louisiana license or the exemption it relies on, (2) every fee in dollars, (3) the default rate and the prepayment terms, and (4) how it enforces the mortgage, then check each answer with counsel.

What a Louisiana investor can do with this

1. Ask a bank first, in your parish. Banks made 53.8% of Louisiana’s short-term investor loans in 2025 at a 7.75% median, and 188 of their 256 loans were at or below 8%. Start with the ones already making these loans where you are: BankPlus in East Baton Rouge and St. Tammany, Gulf Coast Bank and Trust in Orleans and Jefferson, Red River Bank and Origin Bank in Caddo, Evangeline Bank & Trust in the rest of the state. Ask about draws, the 36-month term (all 41 such loans were bank loans) and speed, which HMDA does not show.
2. Place a non-bank quote on its own distribution. For the 220 non-bank loans the middle half was 10.49% to 11.74%; Kiavi’s was 9.95% to 11.85%. A quote above 12% was in roughly the top 5% of all Louisiana short-term loans.
3. Compare like with like. On the 12-month term banks were at 7.75% and others at 10.99%. In New Orleans, 58 of 86 loans were non-bank, so the parish median understates what a bank would charge.
4. Plan the refinance. If a DSCR loan replaces the flip loan, the market median was 7.5% and 51.7% of reported rates were at or below 7.5%. Banks rarely make this loan (13 of 1,401), so the exit usually means a different lender. Run the numbers in our fix and flip calculator and the extension and default interest page.
5. Check the lender’s own history. A Velocity DSCR quote near 9.9% matches its 2025 median, which is 2.4 points above everyone else’s; the DSCR-type loans in Jefferson Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish had medians of 7.49% and 7.5%.
6. Ask for the license and the legal terms in writing. Use the checklist above; we read only two statutes.

FAQ

Loan data: FFIEC/CFPB HMDA 2025 loan-level data, Louisiana rows from the Data Browser API (originated and denied first-lien applications, saved in the sources folder), the FFIEC 2025 filer list for lender names and the FFIEC LAR data-field definitions; parish names from the Census Bureau 2020 county code file; Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:3509 and Code of Civil Procedure article 2631 from legis.la.gov, read October 31, 2026. All counts, shares, medians, percentiles and interest figures are our arithmetic. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal, tax or lending advice, and not a loan offer.