JPMorgan Provides $100 Million Financing Facility To Figure For Mortgage Lending

Figure Technologies, which works in blockchain-based finance tech transformations, has worked with J.P. Morgan and closed a $100 million financing facility to help with conforming and jumbo mortgages, according to a press release.

This will mark Figure’s fifth online financing facility, in which the company has closed almost $1.5 billion, in partnership with numerous banks and facilities, including Jefferies.

With the facility, Figure will work on fueling mortgage lending growth, which shot up nearly 50 percent month over month in the fourth quarter.

“This facility with J.P. Morgan will help us continue to innovate in the lending space,” said Mike Cagney, CEO and co-founder of Figure, according to the release. “We hope to build on our 2020 momentum, both in volume and in bringing blockchain into the mortgage market.”

Cagney also told PYMNTS in November about Figure’s project to work on payments. Figure Pay, he said, will be able to incorporate blockchain payments to help companies use QR codes at checkout. The company is working to expand its network to companies like Walmart as well as local farmers’ markets.

According to Cagney, Figure Pay is not built on traditional banking, but rather is a “blockchain rail and a digital wallet,” which he said is more efficient. It will be interoperable with other accounts and payment methods, with blockchain-based transactions existing just between two parties even without interchange where numerous parties get a piece of the fee.

The company will continue looking into a national banking charter, as Cagney said that became the obvious path with the company’s dabbling in applications and blockchain and payment rails.

Mortgage payments, as with many other payment types, took a hit during the pandemic as people lost many of the ways they made income. PYMNTS reported chaos might end up starting once payments are back in full swing, and buyers will be looking to refinance and retool their mortgages because of that.