Event-based credit
We lend into that gap. Against a documented event, behind a first mortgage we do not touch.
What we mean by an event
An event is money that is already owed to you, on a date, under a document we can read before we lend. The sale has been signed. The order has been entered. The distribution has been noticed. The loan is sized to that payment and retired by it.
A hope is not an event. A forecast, a verdict not yet decided, or a refinance we would have to arrange ourselves does not qualify.
How we lend
What a bank asks, what we ask instead, and the one product we make.
The gap
Banks ask whether income will continue. For a salaried borrower that is the right question. For a business owner whose income arrives in events, it is not. A distribution is not a paycheck. A settlement is not a salary.
Business owners are not risky because their income is irregular. Their income is irregular because they own businesses.
We ask something narrower. Whether one documented event will occur, and whether there is equity behind it if it arrives late.
We lend against events. Not optimism.
What we mean by an event
An event is money that is already owed to you, on a date, under a document we can read before we lend. The sale has been signed. The order has been entered. The distribution has been noticed. The loan is sized to that payment and retired by it.
A hope is not an event. A forecast, a verdict not yet decided, or a refinance we would have to arrange ourselves does not qualify. If there is no documented event, we decline.
What we do
A short second mortgage against equity in an owner-occupied residence, underwritten to a repayment event. No refinance. No restructuring. No unnecessary disruption.
A low fixed rate cannot be repurchased once surrendered. Preserving it is the point of the structure.
Describe a situation without names or documents. An initial screen tells you whether it fits.
Full interior appraisal on every loan. Written credit memorandum. An independent second reader before approval.
Sixty-five percent combined loan-to-value, and it does not move.
Business purpose only. $500,000 minimum. Secured by an owner-occupied primary residence. Pricing follows the file and is discussed on the first call.
For advisors
You already know which client this is.
Complete files are generally handled in twelve to fifteen days, without touching the mortgage you would tell them to keep. You solved it. We did the work.
A written credit box, a 65% ceiling, and a full interior appraisal. We decline when the file says decline.
You have an answer before your client grows anxious. The first mortgage is not disturbed.
If we decline, you hear it from us before your client does, with the reason.
The referral
A sentence about the situation and the event. No permission needed, no name needed.
Whether it fits, what we would need to say yes, or that it does not work and why.
Appraisal, approval, documents, closing. You hear it from us first, every time.
From the moment you introduce us, the work becomes ours.
Your reputation remains yours.
For business owners
Throughline makes short-term, business-purpose second mortgages. That is the only product we offer.
What we offer
Pricing follows the file and is discussed on the first call. There is no rate sheet, because there is no menu.
What we do not offer
Throughline does not offer, arrange, or broker first mortgages, refinancing, cash-out refinancing, home equity lines of credit, or any consumer-purpose credit. We do not replace, modify, or pay off your existing first mortgage.
We make one product, described above. If refinancing is what your situation calls for, we are the wrong lender and will tell you so.
Why we work behind the first mortgage
A low fixed first mortgage cannot be repurchased once surrendered. Refinancing reprices the entire balance permanently in order to solve a short-term need for a fraction of it. Our loan sits behind that mortgage and leaves its rate, term and payment untouched.
The comparison below is included to explain that reasoning. It illustrates a refinance, which is a product Throughline does not offer. Figures are hypothetical and are not a quotation of any terms, by Throughline or anyone else.
No new liquidity. Roughly $19,000 a year, for the life of the loan.
Payment more than doubles, permanently, for a need lasting two quarters.
A second lien reprices nothing.
Business purpose
Every loan we make must be for a business purpose. We require a written statement of purpose and documentation supporting it, and we decline where the purpose is personal.
Your last two returns may describe a company that has since changed. A bad year you recovered from. Depreciation that makes a profitable business look thin.
The underwriter was not looking at the thing that will actually repay the loan, because there is no field on the form for it. That is a limitation of the model, not a verdict on your business.
Why we might say no
Sixty-five percent is where a loan survives a soft appraisal and a late event at once. If your equity does not support the amount, we will tell you rather than stretch.
If it cannot be evidenced, we cannot underwrite it. Without a dated source of repayment you will need a second loan to retire the first.
If the use of funds is personal, we cannot make the loan. There is no version of this product for consumer purposes.
If you need capital indefinitely rather than until a dated event, you need a different institution.
The events
Every loan is retired by a specific, dated event that we can read in a document before we lend. These are the kinds of events we see. The list is illustrative, not exhaustive; if yours is not on it, describe it on the first call.
Every file is sized assuming the event arrives late.
| The event | What retires the loan | What we need to see | What makes it slip |
|---|---|---|---|
| The signed sale of a company | Closing and funding of the sale | The purchase agreement and the closing date | Conditions to closing; the buyer’s financing |
| An escrow release or an earn-out | Release of the escrowed or earned amount | The agreement and its release terms | Disputes; a delayed release |
| A partner buy-out, where you are the seller | Buy-out payments inside the loan term | The executed agreement and the payment schedule | The buyer’s financing; approvals |
| An acquisition, or its financing, closing | The closing | The signed agreement and the lender’s commitment | Diligence; financing conditions |
| A commercial property closing or deposit return | The closing, or release of the deposit | The contract and the closing timeline | Inspection or financing contingencies |
If there is no documented event, we decline.
| The event | What retires the loan | What we need to see | What makes it slip |
|---|---|---|---|
| A funding round or investor closing | The closing of the round | The signed term sheet or closing documents | Investor conditions |
| A large dated receivable or contract payment | Payment on the contract date | The contract and the payer’s confirmation | Payment disputes; slow payers |
| A scheduled fund or partnership distribution | The distribution | The notice and the governing documents | Fund timing; capital calls |
| An event-driven bonus or deferred-compensation payout | The payout | The plan documents and the payout date | Plan conditions; timing |
| A settlement or court-awarded fee | Funding of the settlement or the fee | The executed settlement or order, amounts redacted, and the funding timeline | Court approval; releases; lien holders |
| The sale of a building, practice or other asset | Closing of the sale | The signed purchase agreement | The buyer’s financing; conditions |
A hope is not an event. If the only repayment is a forecast, a verdict not yet decided, or a refinance we would have to arrange ourselves, we decline.
What happens after you call
No names required, no documents, no obligation.
An initial screen, and a straight answer either way.
Appraisal, title, underwriting and closing. You are told where the file stands at every gate.
For trial lawyers
A business-purpose second mortgage on your home, repaid by a dated, documented fee event. No lien on your fees. No piece of your cases.
Why this exists
A settlement is signed and the money is months out. Experts and case costs are due now, on a matter that pays next year. A payroll or firm tax bill lands before the fee that created it. A partner buy-in has a closing date you cannot move.
You are solvent and profitable, and the money is real. A conventional bank cannot see that, because it reads last year’s return, and a contingency practice can swing several times between years without anything being wrong.
It is timing, not economics.
What this is not
The security is your house. The exit is the event. We verify that the net fee covers the payoff, and nothing more. When the money lands, the loan is gone and your upside stays yours. All of it.
Does the lender hold an interest in the cause of action?
No.
Does the lender share in your fee?
No.
Does the lender control the matter, or receive reports on it?
No.
Those are the questions your own ethics counsel will ask. Share only what your rules and your client’s consent allow, and confirm all of this with that counsel. Nothing here is legal advice.
The events
Every loan is retired by a specific, dated event that we can read in a document before we lend. These are the ones we see in a trial practice. The list is illustrative; if yours is not on it, describe it on the first call.
Every file is sized assuming the event arrives late.
| The event | What retires the loan | What we need to see | What makes it slip |
|---|---|---|---|
| A signed settlement awaiting funding | The settlement payment, and your fee out of it | The executed settlement or the mediator’s report, amounts redacted, and the funding timeline | Releases outstanding; the payer’s funding process |
| A settlement that needs court approval | The approved distribution | The motion, the hearing date and, once entered, the order | The hearing calendar; objections; lien holders |
| A common-benefit or court-awarded fee | The fee award payment | The order awarding fees and the payment schedule | Appeals; the administrator’s payment lag |
| A judgment after the appeal period | Collection of the judgment | The final judgment, and the payer’s or surety’s confirmation | Post-trial motions; collection |
| A structured settlement | The fee funded at settlement closing | The agreement and the funding schedule | The annuity’s funding timeline |
If there is no documented event, we decline.
| The event | What retires the loan | What we need to see | What makes it slip |
|---|---|---|---|
| A referral or co-counsel fee in escrow | Release of the escrowed fee | The referral agreement and the escrow or co-counsel letter | A dispute over the allocation between counsel |
| A partner buy-out, where you are the seller | Buy-out payments that arrive inside the loan term | The executed agreement and the payment schedule | The buyer’s financing; the firm’s approval timeline |
| A partner buy-in, where you are the buyer | A separate documented fee or committed permanent financing; never the buy-in itself | That other fee event, or the financing commitment | The other event slipping; financing conditions |
| A payroll or firm tax bill ahead of a known fee | Receipt of the fee that created the bill | The notice of the bill and the documented fee event | The fee arrives later than the bill |
| Trial or expert costs on your next matter | A fee from a different, documented event; never the outcome of the trial the money funds | The documents for that other event | The other event slipping |
| The sale of a practice, building or other asset | Closing of the sale | The signed purchase agreement and the closing timeline | The buyer’s financing; conditions to closing |
A hope is not an event. If the only repayment is winning a case that has not been decided, this loan is the wrong answer.
Limited documents, verified payment
The decision turns on the house, the title, the appraisal and a credible payoff event. The loan itself is the one described for business owners: a second lien behind an untouched first mortgage, $500,000 minimum, six to twelve months interest only, 65% maximum combined loan-to-value against a full interior appraisal. Pricing follows the file and is discussed on the first call.
If the money is late
The file is already sized assuming the event arrives late. That is what the term and the ceiling are for.
Call. We would rather hear a calendar problem early than find a crisis late.
A hearing moved, a funding delay, an administrator. We review it before maturity. Any extension needs approval and written terms, including its cost.
We tell you what we see and what the options are: a sale of the property, a refinance elsewhere, a payoff from another source.
The loan is secured by your home, and failure to repay can result in foreclosure. It is the last step and never the plan. We want to be repaid, not to own your house.
Before you call
Use it. It is cheaper money and the underwriting is behind you. Applying for a new one against a deadline is a different question.
That is a bank’s job, and there are lenders built for it. This is a one-time bridge, not a revolver.
If the worry is losing the case, you want non-recourse litigation funding. It is expensive on a win, but that is the trade you are buying.
If there is no documented event that retires this loan, a second mortgage on your house is the wrong answer. We will decline it.
Nobody gets talked into this. We would rather turn you down than put you in a loan you should not have.
The process from a complete application
Twenty minutes. What you need, what the house is worth, what pays it off and when. We can usually tell you on that call whether this works.
Size, term and costs, in writing, in days. No application fee, no commitment from you.
A full interior appraisal, a title search, and your returns. Ordinary mortgage work, and the part that takes the real time.
You sign, the second lien is recorded, the money moves. Your first mortgage was never touched.
Twelve to fifteen days runs from a complete application, subject to appraisal, title and verification. The slow part is the appraiser. Nobody is rebuilding your income statement to decide whether you qualify.
Who is on the other side of the table
Throughline’s founder was a plaintiffs’ trial lawyer for twenty years. He started Wagar Law and ran it for fifteen of them, served twelve years on the board of the American Association for Justice and sixteen on the board of the Florida Justice Association, and spent that time watching good clients, and his own firm more than once, get squeezed by timing. The case settles when it settles. The bills do not wait.
This lender was built from that seat. Every file gets a written credit memorandum and an independent second reader.
For next-generation wealth
A business-purpose second lien on the home, repaid by a distribution that is already written down: a trust release, an estate settlement, a scheduled disbursement. The portfolio is never touched.
The borrower
An estimated $124 trillion is projected to pass between generations in the United States through 2048, roughly $105 trillion of it to heirs. Very little of it arrives as a lump sum. It arrives on dates, under instruments, on someone else’s schedule.
Trust principal released at thirty, thirty-five, forty. The instrument names the dates.
Real wealth, settling on the court’s and the fiduciary’s timeline.
A documented disbursement every year. Generous, and inflexible.
GRAT remainders, carried interest, partnership waterfalls. Paid by formula, on schedule.
Transfer figures: Cerulli Associates.
The problem
The money is real, documented, and coming. The opportunity is real, documented, and leaving.
Why this borrower is different
For most homeowners, the first objection to borrowing against the house is the first mortgage they would never give up. The next-generation client often does not have one.
Purchased with cash, a family assist or an early distribution. The equity has been idle since closing day.
Nothing is refinanced away and no cheap first lien is surrendered. The only cost of inaction is the missed opportunity.
On an unlevered home the lien is often the only one on title, at a modest loan-to-value against an asset the family already owns outright.
The events
Banks underwrite the past: last year’s return, last quarter’s statement. We underwrite the event. For this borrower the event is written in a legal instrument, which is why it may be the cleanest credit in the book.
Every file is sized assuming the event arrives late.
| The event | What retires the loan | What we need to see | What makes it slip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trust principal released at an age gate | The release on the date the instrument names | The trust instrument, the beneficiary designation and the release date | Trustee discretion; a condition in the instrument |
| A distribution from an estate in administration | The distribution, on the court’s and the fiduciary’s timeline | The will or trust, the inventory and the fiduciary’s written timeline | Creditor claims; contests; the court calendar |
| A scheduled annual or periodic trust distribution | The next scheduled distribution | The instrument, the schedule and the paper trail of prior payments | A change in trustee discretion; a tax holdback |
| A GRAT remainder, partnership waterfall or carried-interest payment | The formula payment, on its date | The governing documents, the formula and the prior statements | The underlying asset’s timing; a clawback provision |
| The sale of an inherited or jointly held asset | Closing of the sale | The signed purchase agreement and the closing timeline | The buyer’s financing; co-owner approvals |
A settlement is an estimate. A quarter is a forecast. A trust schedule is a promise in writing. If there is no documented event, we decline.
Use of proceeds
The loan is business-purpose, secured by residential real estate. The client’s entity makes the investment; the documented disbursement repays it. Illustrative uses:
Acquiring, seeding or buying into an operating company, bridged to the scheduled distribution.
A secondary window, a co-investment or a commitment the entity has been offered, with a closing date that will not wait for the distribution.
A called commitment that lands before the disbursement that was meant to fund it.
What never qualifies: personal consumption, a primary-home purchase, or any consumer use. The entity, the purpose and the repayment event are documented in every file.
Mechanics
Two sentences, no name needed: the opportunity, and the disbursement that repays it. We answer on the call.
The trust instrument or schedule, the entity and its purpose, the credit report and the appraisal. Every file, every time.
A modest loan-to-value lien on the residence, often the only lien on title. The portfolio is never touched.
The scheduled disbursement arrives and retires the loan. The client kept the opportunity and the allocation.
Complete files are generally handled in twelve to fifteen days. The loan itself is the one described for business owners: a second lien, $500,000 minimum, six to twelve months interest only, 65% maximum combined loan-to-value against a full interior appraisal. Pricing follows the file and is discussed on the first call.
For the advisor, the trustee and the family office
The alternative is liquidating managed assets: a tax event for the client and an outflow for the advisor. This loan touches neither.
No pressure to accelerate distributions or amend the instrument. The schedule stays exactly as written.
You spotted the opportunity, you solved the timing, and the family’s next generation learned who to call first.
Think of one client, no name needed, with a documented disbursement coming and an opportunity in front of them now. Describe it in two sentences. We will tell you on the spot whether it works.
The people
A pension chief legal officer. A structured credit principal. A pension chief investment officer. A Marine officer. A career bank president who reads every file second. Not a company that later hired credit people — credit people who built a company.
United States Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore under the Obama Administration. Before his appointment he spent more than twenty years as a plaintiffs' trial lawyer, founding and running Wagar Law, P.A. for fifteen years.
Twelve years on the board of the American Association for Justice and sixteen years on the state board of the Florida Justice Association. More than three decades in legal and advisory practice. He built Throughline after three decades of watching sound businesses make expensive decisions in the gap between the work and the money — including his own.
Lieutenant Colonel, United States Marine Corps (Retired), and former Defense Attaché at the United States Embassy in Singapore.
She owns the operational architecture of the platform — process, vendor discipline, and technology stack — and runs the file from first screen through funding and payoff. The discipline that allows a complete file to move from first screen to funding in twelve to fifteen days is hers.
Chief Legal Officer at AIMCo. Previously General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Timbercreek, and fifteen years at OPTrust, including as Managing Director, Private Markets.
He brings institutional credit standards, rating agency relationships, and pension-grade governance to how Throughline underwrites and reports.
Founder of Mount-Row. More than $12 billion transacted across structured credit desks at Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Société Générale.
His work informs how Throughline structures and finances a short-duration residential credit book.
Chief Investment Officer at Cowen, and previously Deputy Chief Investment Officer at Alcoa, where he oversaw a $14 billion pension across more than forty mandates.
He advises on the firm's capital architecture and its relationships with institutional counterparties.
Operating Partner at SOSV. He has served on the boards of Lloyd's of London, Hays plc, and Trustpilot Group plc.
He advises on board construction and the governance standards an institutional platform is expected to hold from the beginning rather than acquire later.
Market President at First Horizon Bank until his retirement in April 2026, following more than twenty-five years at BNY Mellon in Miami. A career bank president, now fully committed to reading Throughline’s files.
He serves as the independent second reader on every credit file. No loan at Throughline is approved by the person who wrote it up.
Partner at Marko & Magolnick, LLP, AV-rated, with more than thirty years as M&A counsel. Appointed to the United States Industry Trade Advisory Committee.
He is counsel to the firm, and every document that leaves it passes through his review.
Additional advisors in institutional credit, structured finance and governance support the firm. Biographies available on request.
The footprint
Planned states are subject to obtaining applicable state lending licenses. Throughline Lending, LLC does not currently lend or offer to lend in them.
Contact
There is no application here. A conversation costs nothing and requires no names or documents.