Mosaic, a financing platform for US residential solar and energy-efficient home improvements, has reduced pricing across its entire suite of solar loan products.
One way they have reduced costs is to reduce dealer fees for loans that have a dealer fee, according to Patrick Moore, President and Chief Operating Officer of Mosaic. The amount of the reduction varies widely based on the rate and term of the loan selected. “The company has also reduced interest rates on loans that do not have a dealer fee by about 50 basis points. We have also lowered our minimum FICO requirement and increased maximum loan amounts,” Moore told pv magazine.
As the US deals with rising costs and interest rates, we asked how Mosaic can lower its pricing at this time. Moore explained that while prevailing interest rates do impact the cost of borrowing, “but not all loans move in lockstep with changes in the prevailing rates”. Loan products such as mortgages do tend to track closely with overall interest rates, but supply and demand matter, too. “Solar lending is a newer, still-maturing loan type with increasing investor appetite,” Moore said. As Mosaic realizes lower cost of funds, the company passes that benefit through to its installer partners through better pricing, and they are able to “pass that through to homeowners”, he said.
Mosaic offers financing for solar, solar-plus-storage systems, and other sustainable home improvements, often providing homeowners with a credit decision in minutes for no money down loans with fixed interest rates and multiple term options. The company reports that since 2012 it has provided loans for more than 200,000 households to help them switch to sustainable home improvements. Between 2017 and 2021, the company issued 11 solar loan securitizations, totaling $2.9 billion of offered securities. The company also prides itself on the low cost of funds on bonds.
Just a year ago Mosaic announced new financing partnerships that were expected to provide loans to more than 100,000 homeowners.
“Combining competitive pricing with MosaicScore, our proprietary solar loan credit score, we believe we are able to offer our partners the best combination of pricing and homeowner approval coverage available anywhere in the market,” said Billy Parish, founder and CEO.
