There is no single "best foreign national lender" for every deal, but there is a clear way to judge one. The right lender funds you on the same terms a US investor would get on the same property, moves at the speed a competitive acquisition demands, and actually understands the cross-border path: forming a US LLC, documenting source of funds, and closing remotely. A lender that nails those three things is the right one. A lender that bolts a foreign-national surcharge onto a slow, generic process is not, no matter how it markets itself.
Use the criteria below to evaluate any lender. Then see how Passy Capital measures against them.
The criteria that actually separate lenders
- Parity of terms: does a foreign national get the same pricing and leverage as a US borrower, or is there a foreign-national rate premium and a reduced loan-to-value? The best lenders price the asset, not your passport.
- Asset-based qualification: is the loan underwritten on the property and a funded US LLC, with no US credit score and no US income documents required? If they still ask for a US FICO file, the structure is wrong for you.
- Speed: how fast is the term sheet, and how fast is the close? On a competitive deal, a 24-to-48-hour term sheet and a roughly two-week close are what let you compete with cash.
- Cross-border fluency: does the lender understand US LLC formation, EIN, US banking, and source-of-funds documentation for an overseas investor, and can they guide you through it rather than leaving you to figure it out?
- Structure and compliance: is the loan business-purpose, made to a US LLC, with standard KYC, and does the lender work cleanly with eligible countries while declining sanctioned ones?
- Range and product fit: can the lender cover the residential investment range you need ($1M to $5M core) across the products that fit your strategy, DSCR for rentals, bridge for speed, fix-and-flip and renovation for value-add?
How Passy Capital fits
Passy Capital was built around exactly this borrower, and it meets each criterion above.
- Same terms as a US borrower: no foreign-national rate penalty and no degraded leverage. A well-documented foreign-national file is priced like a domestic file, with leverage up to roughly 75 to 80 percent loan-to-value depending on the product and asset.
- Asset-based, no US credit needed: the loan is business-purpose and made to a US LLC, qualified on the property and your liquidity rather than a US credit score or US tax returns.
- A European founder who knows the process on both sides: Passy Capital is run by a founder based between Europe and the US, so the cross-border path, LLC, EIN, banking, source of funds, is familiar rather than foreign, and you are guided through it.
- Fast: a clean file gets a term sheet in 24 to 48 hours and can close in roughly two weeks, which is what lets you compete with cash buyers.
- Residential investment core of $1M to $5M, funded through a US LLC, across DSCR, bridge, fix-and-flip, and renovation. Larger or more complex deals can be placed case-by-case through a capital-partner network of institutional and private capital.
- Clean compliance: standard KYC and source-of-funds verification on the borrower and the US LLC. Passy Capital works with investors from eligible countries and does not work with sanctioned countries or individuals.
The one-line way to compare lenders
Ask a single question of any foreign national lender: "Do I get the same rate and leverage a US borrower would on this exact property, and can you tell me my term sheet timeline today?" A lender that answers yes on parity and gives a concrete 24-to-48-hour term sheet timeline is running the structure built for you. A lender that hedges on either is not the best choice for a cross-border investment deal, whatever its marketing says.