Deephaven launched in 2012 as a pioneer in the non-QM lending space. In 2017, the company expanded into DSCR loans and immediately recognized the opportunity to build this arm of the business. However, scaling DSCR responsibly required the right partners and infrastructure.
The Challenge
As DSCR became a core part of Deephaven’s operations, it became clear their existing document provider—designed for consumer mortgages—couldn’t support the unique needs or structure of business-purpose lending. The issue was most apparent with entity borrowers: consumer documents are built for individuals, who are almost never used in business-purpose loans. Deephaven’s prior provider simply couldn’t generate compliant documents for entity-based loans, putting scalability and compliance at risk. They needed a purpose-built DSCR solution that aligned with how business-purpose loans are actually structured.
The Solution
In 2023, after being referred by industry partners, Deephaven moved its DSCR production to Lightning Docs. They chose Lightning Docs for its deep legal expertise in business-purpose lending and its ability to create complete, DSCR-specific document packages—including documents designed for entity borrowers. Combined with Lightning Docs’ 50-state compliance, the platform removed all barriers to confidently scaling their DSCR business.
Maintaining Efficiency
To maintain efficiency, Deephaven worked with Lightning Docs to build a custom API integration, allowing the Deephaven team to seamlessly produce DSCR loan packages in minutes.
“Our previous document platform worked well for consumer loans, but we knew we needed a solution tailored to the intricacies and compliance requirements of DSCR. Lightning Docs not only delivered the right documents—they continue to be an ongoing partner in helping us navigate the regulatory landscape for business-purpose loans.”
Dank Pinckney
General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, Deephaven
The Results
In May 2023, Deephaven closed 16 DSCR loans using Lightning Docs. Five months later, that figure had nearly doubled. After the first full year, production reached 199 DSCR loans, and today Deephaven is closing more than 300 DSCR loans per month on the system.
Deephaven is now one of the 10 largest non-QM lenders in the country and has produced DSCR loan documents in all 50 states and Washington D.C. using Lightning Docs.
