White label: what it actually means on a term sheet

"White label" appears on nearly every broker program's page and means several different things depending on who wrote it. Before you rely on it, work out which one you are being sold.

The three things it can mean

Your name on the documents. The term sheet, the conditions list and the status updates carry your brand, so your borrower experiences the deal as yours. This is the version that matters most and the one most often meant.

Your name on the portal. The borrower uploads documents to something that looks like your business rather than somebody else's. Useful, and less common than claimed.

Your name on the loan. This one is almost never true and you should be suspicious of it. The lender's name appears on the note and the mortgage, because the lender is the creditor. Anyone implying otherwise is describing something that does not happen, or something you would not want to be part of.

What it never covers

The closing documents. The note names the lender. The mortgage or deed of trust names the lender. That is not a branding decision, it is what a lien is — and any borrower who reads their closing package will see it, so tell them early rather than letting the settlement table do it.

Being upfront about this makes you look like you have done it before, which you have.

The question that settles it

Ask to see a redacted term sheet from a real file. Not a template — an actual one, with the numbers blacked out. Thirty seconds of looking at it tells you whose name a borrower sees, in what size, and on which page. Every other answer is a sentence on a website.

Why it matters more than it sounds

The practical question behind all of this is whether your borrower comes back to you or to somebody else. A repeat investor doing two or three deals a year is worth a great deal more than one file: at two points on a $350,000 average loan, that is $7,000 a deal and $21,000 a year from one relationship. White labelling, done properly, is what makes the relationship yours to keep.

Done badly — your name nowhere, somebody else's brand on every email the borrower opens — it is an introduction you paid to make.

What the borrower should never wonder

Which company is behind their loan is not a secret you are keeping; it is a detail they do not need until closing, at which point it is written down plainly. The line you want is: "I place your loan with the lender it fits. My name is on the file because it is my file. Theirs is on the note because they are the one lending."

That sentence is true, it survives the closing table, and it is the whole of what white label should mean.

If you want to see how ours reads before you send anything, the terms are set out on the broker page.