Wisconsin Hard Money and DSCR Loans: Milwaukee Is 54% of Rentals

Two Wisconsins in one federal file: what we counted

We took the FFIEC and CFPB loan-level Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) file for 2025, Wisconsin rows, first-lien originations: 106,351 loans, of which 10,594 are on investment property, 10,570 of those conventional and 6,888 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, Nevada and Indiana pages: 1-4 units, closed-end, not a reverse mortgage, investment property, business purpose and no debt-to-income ratio. That leaves 5,770 base loans, 4,179 with no debt-to-income ratio (1,118 business-purpose investment loans were set aside as open-end lines, reverse mortgages or buildings of five or more units). Ten loans 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. Eight loans report no usable term and are left out, so the three groups below hold 4,171 loans. Lender names come from the FFIEC 2025 filer list. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were run through the same filter for the comparisons with other states and for each lender's all-state totals; that national run gives 154,293 DSCR-type loans, within 61 of the 154,354 on the ranking page (we did not trace the difference).

Points, fees and prepayment terms for business-purpose loans are not in HMDA: in Wisconsin the prepayment term and the total points and fees read “NA” for every one of the 2,581 DSCR-type and short-term loans in the file, so the note rate understates the cost. Our hard money loan calculator turns a quote into a total cost and our national rate page, which finds Wisconsin has the lowest short-term median among states with at least 500 such loans, covers the whole market. The public file rounds each loan amount to the midpoint of a $10,000 band.

Wisconsin 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, the same reading as our New Jersey page. “Credit-union-named” and “bank-named” are our own labels for a lender whose filer name includes credit union, or bank, trust or savings; they are name tests, not charter checks, and they are our arithmetic.

The 360-month group is where Wisconsin looks like the rest of the country: 95 lenders, 1,547 of 1,622 loans from lenders that have neither word in their name, and only 34.1% to entities. The other two groups are not like it. In the short-term group 549 of 959 loans, 57.2%, came from credit unions and banks, and in the mid-term group 1,505 of 1,590, 94.7%. Outside Milwaukee County, the community lender is the investor lender.

Milwaukee County: 54% of the rentals, a quarter of the flips

Milwaukee County has 876 of the state's 1,622 DSCR-type loans, 54.0%. We ran the same count for every state: only seven of 51 jurisdictions have a bigger share in their largest county. They are the District of Columbia (93.5%), Nevada (85.8%), Rhode Island (71.4%), Delaware (68.3%), Arizona (62.2%), Alaska (59.8%) and Illinois (54.9%), and most have few counties; Wisconsin has 72. The same county holds 24.5% of Wisconsin's short-term loans and 13.7% of the mid-term loans, so the concentration is a feature of the rental loan, not of lending in general.

Wisconsin investor loans, Milwaukee County against the rest of the state where the county is reported, 2025 (HMDA, our arithmetic)

County is as far down as HMDA goes in the public file; it reports a census tract, not a city or a neighborhood, and we did not match tracts to place names. What the tracts do show is that the Milwaukee County DSCR-type loans are clustered: the 10 busiest of 217 tracts hold 150 loans (17.1%), and the busiest tract alone has 18. County is missing for 109 of the 1,622 DSCR-type loans and 30 of the 959 short-term loans, so every county figure is a floor and the Milwaukee share would be somewhat different if they were known.

The lenders differ as much as the loans. Milwaukee County's largest DSCR-type lenders are United Wholesale Mortgage (81 loans), BPL Mortgage (79), Kiavi Funding (78), Velocity Commercial Capital (64) and T2 Financial (64); the other 637 loans were led by United Wholesale Mortgage (75), HomeXpress (70), Shoreline Credit Union (36) and T2 Financial (31). Milwaukee County's median DSCR-type loan of $135,000 is the reason the small-loan end matters here: 189 loans, 21.6% of the county's, are under $100,000, with a 7.875% median for that size statewide against 7.53% for $100,000 to $199,999. HMDA does not give the purchase price, rent or condition of the property, so we cannot say what those houses are; we only see that small loans cluster in one county and that most come from the national DSCR lenders.

The Wisconsin lenders the national lists leave out

Pages that rank hard money and DSCR lenders list the national names. The first page of search results we read for Milwaukee and Wisconsin hard money on October 31, 2026 was lender sites and directory pages with advertised terms, none with a count of 2025 loans. The federal record shows who lent. Across the three groups 181 lenders made at least one loan in Wisconsin. 39 of them made 90% or more of their loans, under our filter, in Wisconsin, together 1,595 of the state's 4,171 loans (38.2%): 17 have a credit union name and 19 a bank name. 25 made every one of theirs here.

Largest Wisconsin-based investor lenders, 2025 (HMDA, all three groups, our arithmetic)

Lender names are as filed with the FFIEC. These are lenders that report business-purpose loans on one-to-four-unit investment property with no debt-to-income ratio; HMDA does not show whether any was underwritten on rent. Outside Milwaukee County the short-term list is a bank and credit-union list: Nicolet National Bank 146 loans, Kiavi Funding 110, Community First Credit Union 69, Horicon Bank 45, CoVantage Credit Union 35 and National Exchange Bank and Trust 32. Inside Milwaukee County it is Kiavi 114, 212 Loans 22, Loan Funder 14, American Heritage Lending 13 and Peoples State Bank 10. In the mid-term group Educators Credit Union (59) and Summit Credit Union (55) are the Milwaukee County leaders; Fox Communities Credit Union (94), Educators (71) and One Community Bank (70) lead the rest of the state.

The national picture runs the other way. Champions Funding made 7,110 DSCR-type loans nationally, second only to United Wholesale Mortgage, and 38 in Wisconsin (12th in the state). A&D Mortgage, seventh nationally with 5,264, made 13, and Loan Funder, tenth with 4,461, made 25. None of the twelve largest national DSCR-type lenders has more than 2.1% of its three-group loans in Wisconsin; the nationally active lender with the biggest Wisconsin tilt that we found is T2 Financial, below.

Short-term loans: credit unions at 6.4%, Kiavi at 10.45%

The short-term market is where the statewide median misleads. The 7.5% median is a blend of 180 loans from 20 credit-union-named lenders (6.375% median), 369 from 28 bank-named lenders (7.25%) and 410 from 25 other lenders (10.45%). The gap between the other lenders and the credit unions is 4.075 points. On a $165,000 loan, the Milwaukee County short-term median, 12 months of interest-only at 10.45% is $17,242.50 and at 7.0%, the median for bank and credit-union loans, $11,550.00, a difference of $5,692.50 (our arithmetic, before points and fees, which HMDA does not report).

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

Kiavi's 224 loans are 23.4% of the state's short-term count and every one is coded to an entity; the top five lenders made 54.5% of the loans and the top ten 68.1%. 453 of the 959 loans have a 12-month term and 316 a 36-month term. 710 are purchases. Two cautions. The bank and credit-union loans can be bridge or construction loans, renewals of a relationship or loans to existing customers; HMDA shows neither the relationship nor the fees nor the collateral beyond the property. And a 6% note rate on a short loan is not an offer: those lenders lend to members and customers, and we have no source on who qualifies. Lenders under HMDA's reporting thresholds do not appear, so every count is a floor; our private money lender page explains who is missing. Our reviews cover Kiavi, 212 Loans, RCN Capital and American Heritage Lending.

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 Wisconsin short-term record, 224 of 959 loans; that is volume, not a ranking of price, and the credit-union and bank-named lenders above reported much lower note rates on 549 loans. Visio Lending and Lima One Capital pay us nothing.

The five-year credit-union loan: 1,590 loans that are neither label

Between 36 months and 30 years sit 1,590 loans, as many as the DSCR-type group, and 1,505 of them (94.7%) came from the 76 credit-union-named and bank-named lenders in it. 916 loans from 29 credit-union-named lenders have a 6.7% median and 589 from 47 bank-named lenders 7.0%. The common term is 60 months, 1,008 loans, and 1,253 of the 1,590 are flagged balloon; 1,350 are coded to entities and the median loan is $175,000. A five-year balloon loan is a community-lender product: a payment schedule over 20 or 30 years and a balance due in five. HMDA shows only that a balloon payment is flagged.

Largest lenders of Wisconsin 37-to-359-month investor loans, 2025 (HMDA, our filters)

For a reader the point is practical and specific to this state. If you buy a $175,000 house in Wisconsin and want to hold it, the cheapest note rates in the 2025 file for loans without a debt-to-income ratio belong to credit unions and banks at a five-year term, not to the 30-year specialists. Of the 1,588 mid-term loans with a reported rate, 32 are above 8% and none is above 10%. The price is the balloon: the loan comes due in five years and has to be refinanced or paid. Our BRRRR method page explains the refinance step.

30-year loans: United Wholesale at 8.125%, T2 Financial fourth

The rental side is a national market with a Milwaukee center. 95 lenders made at least one DSCR-type loan and 39 made ten or more. The largest, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), made 156 loans (9.6%); the top five made 34.0% and the top ten 52.3%.

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

Three profiles are specific to Wisconsin. T2 Financial LLC is 60th nationally with 414 DSCR-type loans, yet it is fourth in Wisconsin with 95, 22.9% of its national count; 64 of the 95 are in Milwaukee County, none is coded to an entity, none is interest-only, and the median is 7.75% on a $165,000 loan. UWM's Wisconsin median of 8.125% is above the state's 7.5% and above every other lender in the table except Velocity; all 156 of its loans are coded to natural persons. Velocity Commercial Capital's 82 loans have a 9.865% median, none to an entity, 64 in Milwaukee County, and four of them are at 12.49%. HMDA does not say why a borrower landed on a given rate, so we draw no conclusion about who qualified for which. Investor Mortgage Finance (45 loans) and RCN Capital (61) made none of theirs in Milwaukee County.

Interest-only is rare, 61 of 1,622 (3.8%), and 15 loans have a 480-month term. 639 loans are purchases (39.4%), 610 cash-out refinances (37.6%) and 313 other refinances. By size, 237 loans are under $100,000, 913 are $100,000 to $199,999, 299 are $200,000 to $299,999, 139 are $300,000 to $499,999 and 34 are $500,000 or more. For what the federal record says about UWM nationally and how a borrower reaches it, read our separate UWM DSCR investor loans review; this page reports only the Wisconsin counts. Our reviews also cover HomeXpress, BPL Mortgage, Velocity, OCMBC and Champions Funding. Read the requirements in our DSCR requirements guide and the lender ranking by loan count.

Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Racine, Kenosha: the county split

HMDA reports a county, not a city. Milwaukee County holds Milwaukee, Dane County Madison, Brown County Green Bay, Racine County Racine, Kenosha County Kenosha, Outagamie County Appleton and Waukesha County the western suburbs. County names come from the Census Bureau 2020 county codes.

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

The counties differ because the lenders differ. Madison's Dane County is a bank and credit-union market in this record: 111 mid-term loans against 35 DSCR-type loans, the opposite of Milwaukee's 218 against 876. Racine and Kenosha, the two counties between Milwaukee and Illinois, have more DSCR-type loans (85 and 93) than Dane, Brown or Waukesha, and in Kenosha County HomeXpress and T2 Financial made 44 of the 93. Manitowoc County's 6.74% DSCR-type median is one credit union: Shoreline Credit Union made 20 of its 33 loans and 36 across the state, 30 of them in Brown and Manitowoc. A county median in this record is a lender's price list, not a local market rate.

Wisconsin law: a 12% ceiling that its own text switches off

We read five Wisconsin Statutes passages, in copies of the Legislature's pages held by the Internet Archive (captures from February 6, 2025 through May 26, 2026), because the Legislature's site did not load for our tools; we did not check later changes. Wis. Stat. 138.05(1)(a) forbids charging more than “at the rate of $12 upon $100 for one year computed upon the declining principal balance of the loan or forbearance”, and 138.04 sets the rate without an agreement at “$5 upon the $100 for one year”. Read alone, that is a 12% ceiling, and 27 of the 953 short-term loans with a reported rate (up to 15.125%) and five DSCR-type loans are above it. But the same section says in subsection (5) that it “shall not apply to loans to corporations or limited liability companies”, in subsection (7) that it does not apply to loans of $150,000 or more unless secured by a one- to four-family principal residence, and in subsection (8)(c) that it “does not apply to any loan or forbearance which is made on or after November 1, 1981”, with an exception for certain forbearances for personal, family or household purposes. On that text, the ceiling is not a limit on the 2025 loans in the file.

We therefore make no claim that any loan is lawful or unlawful. The 16 short-term loans above 12% that are not coded to an entity are all from one lender, American Heritage Lending (13.75% median on its 21 Wisconsin short-term loans); that is what a reader of 138.05(1)(a) alone would flag and what subsection (8)(c) appears to answer. We did not read Wisconsin's consumer-credit chapters (421 to 427 and 429), which subsection (6) of the section mentions, or the rest of 138.09. Section 138.09 on licensed lenders excludes “banks, savings banks, savings and loan associations, trust companies, credit unions, or any of their affiliates”, and defines a “consumer loan” as a loan to a customer payable in installments or on which a finance charge may be imposed; we did not read how it treats a business-purpose loan, so we draw no licensing conclusion.

Wisconsin Statutes provisions read for this page (archive copies saved October 31, 2026)

We could not read Wisconsin's mortgage-banker licensing rules, the remaining parts of chapter 846 or any case law. We therefore give no total foreclosure timeline and no licensing conclusion. Before you sign a note, ask the lender for its Wisconsin license or the exemption it relies on, and ask a lawyer licensed in Wisconsin about interest, foreclosure and the transfer fee. 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 the numbers cost on a Wisconsin deal

Interest and transfer fee on Wisconsin medians (our arithmetic)

These are illustrations before points, fees and any prepayment clause, none of which HMDA reports; the fee line assumes the sale is not exempt, which we did not check. Run your own deal in the fix and flip calculator.

What a Wisconsin investor can do with this

1. Place the quote on the right distribution. A short-term quote near 7% belongs with the 549 credit-union and bank loans; 10.45% belongs with the specialists. Comparing a Milwaukee specialist quote with a credit union's is comparing different products with different borrowers.
2. Call the local lenders by name. Nicolet National Bank, Community First Credit Union, Educators Credit Union, Summit Credit Union, Fox Communities Credit Union and Horicon Bank each made 87 to 205 of these loans in 2025, and none is among the twelve largest national DSCR-type lenders. The trade-off is a shorter term or a balloon; 1,253 of the 1,590 mid-term loans are flagged balloon.
3. Price the five-year balloon honestly. A 60-month loan at 6.7% still has to be refinanced or paid in five years, at whatever rate and credit rules apply then.
4. If you want a 30-year rental loan in Milwaukee, expect national lenders and small loans. UWM, BPL, Kiavi, Velocity and T2 Financial made 366 of the county's 876; 21.6% of the loans are under $100,000.
5. Compare UWM's 8.125% with the others. On 156 loans it is the highest median of the large lenders except Velocity; HMDA does not show the points or the borrower profile.
6. Keep the exit in mind. Kiavi, RCN Capital, American Heritage Lending and Loan Funder lend at both ends; a refinance with the same lender can save closing steps but means the same lender prices both.
7. Ask for the license or exemption and read the fees, not the rate. We could not read Wisconsin's licensing rules; points, extension fees, the prepayment clause and the default rate are decided by the note.

FAQ

Loan data: FFIEC/CFPB HMDA 2025 loan-level data, Wisconsin rows from the Data Browser API (first-lien originations, 106,351 loans; the raw file and our summaries are in the sources folder) and the same query for the other 50 jurisdictions for the national comparisons, with lender names from the FFIEC 2025 filer list; county names from the Census Bureau 2020 county codes for Wisconsin. Statutes: Wisconsin Statutes 138.04 and 138.05 (archive capture May 26, 2026), 138.09 (November 19, 2025), 77.22 (March 12, 2025) and 846.103 (February 6, 2025), from the Internet Archive's copies of the Wisconsin Legislature's pages; any later change was not checked. All counts, shares, medians, ranks and interest and fee figures are our arithmetic. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal, tax or lending advice, and not a loan offer.