IceCap Group Review 2026: 1,545 Loans, 35.4% Denied (HMDA)

Who is who: the lender, its funds and the company that may buy its financing

Searches for “IceCap” return a lender, three private funds and, since August 2026, a line in a public company's acquisition exhibit. They are different legal entities, and only one of them files HMDA.

Two cautions. First, a fund with the same name and address is not the lender: HMDA lists loans the lender made, and the fund's own filing says nothing about which loans it holds. HMDA does say 156 of the lender's 1,545 loans were sold in 2025 to an “affiliate institution” and 1,060 to a “credit union, mortgage company, or finance company”, but the file does not name the buyers, so we do not tie either figure to a fund or to Toorak. Second, we found no other SEC filing by the lender itself (EDGAR full-text search for “Ice Lender Holdings” returns nine hits, all filings by other companies, including Velocity's 8-K and a First Eagle fund's N-CEN), so there are no audited financials to read. Our New York hard money page counts the mortgage assignments recorded in New York City, which is the place to see who holds the paper after closing, and the First Eagle Real Estate Debt Fund page shows another fund that bought loans from this lender.

What the 2025 federal record shows

Every lender above the HMDA reporting threshold files each application it decides. Ice Lender Holdings filed 4,343 records for 2025, every one a conventional first-lien loan on an investment property for a business purpose. The loans:

HMDA has no DSCR field, so “DSCR-type” is our label and uses the definition of our DSCR lenders ranked page: conventional, first lien, closed-end, one-to-four units, investment property, business purpose, 360 months or more and a debt-to-income ratio of “NA”. On that filter the lender made 1,204 loans, 34th of the 466 lenders that made one, the same count and rank-by-dollars (30th) that page shows. We count national figures from the file we downloaded on October 30, 2026: 154,314 DSCR-type loans, 40 fewer than the 154,354 on that page, a difference we did not trace and that changes no figure here. Short-term means a term of 36 months or less. The 105 short-term loans on 5+ unit buildings average much larger tickets, and drive the $2.5 million median; the lender's biggest loan is $23,575,000.

The funnel matters as much as the loans. Of 4,343 records, 1,545 (35.6%) were originated, 846 (19.5%) denied, 1,299 (29.9%) withdrawn by the applicant and 653 (15.0%) closed as incomplete (our arithmetic). The denied share of decided files, 35.4%, ignores the last two groups.

Rates: the median against the website

For the 1,204 DSCR-type loans the middle half of note rates runs from 6.875% to 7.5%, with a low of 6.125% and a high of 9.625%. The national DSCR-type median is 7.375%, so this lender's median is 0.25 of a point lower (our arithmetic). Its website, read October 31, 2026, says rates for single-family, 2-4 unit properties and condos are “Starting at 6.875%” and 5-9 unit multifamily “Starting at 7.25%”. In 2025, 230 DSCR-type loans (19.1%) were below 6.875% and 393 (32.6%) at or below it, so the 2025 record reaches the posted starting rate for roughly a third of loans, but it is a different year, and we cannot see credit score, leverage or points behind any rate.

On our arithmetic, at the lender's median loan of $305,000 over 30 years, 7.125% is a payment of $2,054.84 a month and 7.375% (the national median) $2,106.56, a gap of $51.72 a month or $620.61 a year, before points and fees that HMDA does not report.

Short-term loans: 314 loans with a median note rate of 10.99%, a middle half of 10.0% to 12.0%, and a range of 7.25% to 15.0%. The FixNFlip page says “Starting at 7.99%” and the Ground-Up page “Starting at 8.99%”; one short-term loan of 314 is below 7.99%. The lender's own FAQ is less aggressive than its product pages: it says fix-and-flip loans “might start around 9–10%” and rental or DSCR loans run “in the 7–9% range”. Terms match the website's 12 to 24 months: 240 loans have a 12-month term, 62 an 18-month term and 6 a 24-month term. On our arithmetic, a year of interest at 10.99% on the median short-term loan of $875,000 is $96,162.50, or $8,013.54 a month, before points. Compare with our hard money loan rates page.

Denials: twice the national share

The all-lender row counts the same universe as the lender's file: conventional, first lien, closed-end, business purpose, investment property, originated or denied, in 51 states and Puerto Rico. Among the 79 lenders in that universe with 1,000 or more decided files, this lender's denied share ranks 13th highest; the median of those lenders is 15.9% (our arithmetic). By state, the denied share of decided files is 40.6% in New York, 41.7% in Florida, 27.6% in New Jersey, 24.8% in Pennsylvania and 17.8% in Texas. By purpose it is 37.7% on purchases, 45.5% on rate-and-term refinances and 29.2% on cash-out refinances.

HMDA records up to four reasons; this lender lists one per denial. “Other” is first in 429 denials (50.7%), credit history in 232 (27.4%) and collateral in 185 (21.9%). No denial lists a debt-to-income ratio, as expected for business-purpose files. The half marked “other” tells a borrower little. A denial share is not a measure of fairness or of a lender's risk: it says how often decided files ended in a no, and lenders that screen applicants before the formal application look gentler than ones that decide everything they receive. Its closest peers on that measure are mixed (LendingOne 61.2%, RCN Capital 46.2%, Lima One 27.2%, Kiavi 11.4%, Velocity 1.2%).

Who is behind the loan: brokers and buyers

HMDA records whether an application was submitted directly to the lender. For 1,230 of 1,545 loans (79.6%) it was not. That is 86.0% of the DSCR-type loans (the national DSCR-type figure is 62.8%) and 40.2% of short-term 1-4 unit loans (national 15.8%). The lender's FAQ confirms a broker program: it says brokers “can earn up to 3% or more on each deal” and may charge “origination points to the borrower – typically up to 2–3 points”. The lender's own origination fee is, per the FAQ, “about 1–3% of the loan amount”. Those are website statements, not HMDA data, and the file does not name any broker.

On the other side, 315 loans (20.4%) show no purchaser, 1,060 went to a credit union, mortgage company or finance company, 156 to an affiliate institution and 14 to a life insurance company. A buyer of the loan does not change your note, but it can change who services it and who decides on extensions; ask before signing. The lender says it “makes first lien mortgage loans” and that “In certain states, IceCap Group only lends to entities”; its FAQ says borrowing through an LLC is required and that standard loans are recourse with a personal guarantee.

Where it lends

The lender had an originated loan in 35 states, but it is a Northeast lender: New York 338 loans (21.9%, $667,850,000), New Jersey 283 (18.3%), Pennsylvania 191 (12.4%), Texas 143, Florida 130, Georgia 89 and Connecticut 66. New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are 52.6% of loans and the top five states 70.2% (our arithmetic). In New York, 234 of 338 loans (69.2%) are in the five boroughs: Kings County (Brooklyn) 107, the Bronx 85 and Queens 26; the New York median loan is $915,000, against $345,000 overall. Philadelphia County has 93 loans and Essex County, New Jersey 50.

In the state rankings it is a top-15 name in New Jersey (11th of 130 lenders by DSCR-type loans, 3.0% of the state's) and Pennsylvania (12th of 134), 19th in New York, and 5th of 37 in New York short-term 1-4 unit loans (72 loans, 3.2%). See our New Jersey DSCR page and New Jersey hard money page for the state context. The median short-term rate in New York was 10.75% and in New Jersey 9.85% (46 loans).

Size and who it suits

The DSCR-type loans run from $125,000 to $2,705,000: 21 are under $150,000 and 70 are $1,000,000 or more. The website says DSCR/Term is “$100k – $3M Funding”, and the FAQ says inexperienced investors face a $150,000 minimum and a $1,000,000 maximum (up to $2,000,000 below 70% loan-to-value) and 75% maximum loan-to-value. The median loan-to-value in the file is 70.0% for DSCR-type loans and 66.6% for short-term 1-4 unit loans. Only 38 of 1,545 loans (2.5%) are under $150,000: this is not a small-balance lender. It also does not lend on owner-occupied homes (“No – we do not finance owner-occupied properties”). For comparison with lenders that serve small loans, see Kiavi, Lima One and Visio.

Complaints and the record

On October 31, 2026 we searched the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database (latest complaint received October 30, 2026) for “Ice Lender Holdings”, “ICE LENDER”, “IceCap” and “Icecap Group” in the company field and for “Icecap” and “Ice Lender Holdings” across all fields: all returned zero. Controls returned Kiavi 25, Lima One 40 and RCN Capital 9; Velocity Commercial Capital also returned zero, which shows the limit of the test. The database covers consumer financial products, and Regulation Z exempts credit extended primarily for a business purpose (12 CFR 1026.3(a)(1)), which is how every one of this lender's loans is flagged. Zero measures where complaints are filed, not how borrowers were treated. We did not search court dockets or state regulators for this page, and we did not read NMLS Consumer Access: the NMLS number is the one on the lender's website.

What HMDA does not show

• No pricing beyond the note rate. Points, origination charges, lender credits and total loan costs are “NA” on all 1,545 loans, and so is the prepayment-penalty term. The FAQ says bridge loans have no prepayment penalty and rental loans can have one or not; get the schedule in writing.
• No DSCR, credit score or reserves. The file carries no debt-service ratio. The 2025 loans are priced for 2025 markets; the website's “Starting at” rates are 2026 offers.
• No broker names and no list of who bought the loans.
• No 2026 loans. The 2026 file is published in 2027.

What a reader can do with this

• Use the median as a test of a quote. A 30-year DSCR-type quote for a $300,000 loan in this lender's footprint can be checked against 7.125% for 2025 and the 6.875%-to-7.5% middle half; a short-term quote against 10.99%, and ask what the points are.
• Plan for a one-in-three chance of a no. 35.4% of decided files were denied, 47.5% on short-term loans on 1-4 units; ask for a written list of what the lender needs before you pay for an appraisal.
• Ask who you are dealing with. Is the quote from the lender or from a broker (about four in five loans came through one)? Who will service the loan, and does your note allow assignment?
• Compare the same file elsewhere the same day. Start with our guide is this DSCR lender legit?, the hard money lender list and investment property loans.

FAQ

Sources, read October 31, 2026: FFIEC HMDA 2025 loan-level records of Ice Lender Holdings LLC (LEI 254900VE4XTOQUE8NZ77, all actions) and the national 2025 investor-property originated and denied records (51 states and Puerto Rico), with our tabulations in sources/tabulation_ice_output.txt, tabulation_national_output.txt and tabulation_peers_output.txt; FFIEC 2025 filer list and LAR data-field definitions; GLEIF record for the LEI; icecapgroup.com (home, DSCR/Term, FixNFlip, Ground-Up, Fund III, About, Brokers and FAQ pages); SEC EDGAR Form D filings of IceCap Real Estate Debt Fund III, LLC (CIK 1996283), IceCap REIT Fund II LLC (CIK 1889077) and IceCap Real Estate Loan Fund I, LLC (CIK 1823628); Velocity Financial, Inc. Form 8-K of August 26, 2026 (accession 0001193125-26-369585) and its Exhibit 10.1; the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database search API; U.S. Census Bureau county FIPS list; 12 CFR 1026.3. DSCR-type counts treat Emporium TPO LLC's term-30 and term-40 loans as 30- and 40-year loans, as our other lender pages do. Sums, shares, ranks, differences and payment figures are our arithmetic. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.