Newrez is expanding into unsecured personal loans through a partnership with fintech lender Upgrade, adding another financial product for its existing homeowners as parent company Rithm Capital deepens an already substantial relationship with the consumer lender.
The launch, announced Thursday, allows eligible Newrez customers to apply for personal loans for debt consolidation, home improvements, and other expenses without refinancing their mortgage or tapping their home equity.
But the partnership goes well beyond a new consumer offering.
Rithm Capital has already purchased $1.5 billion in home improvement loans from Upgrade under an investment agreement dating to July 2025. In its third-quarter earnings report, Rithm disclosed that it acquired $521 million of those loans during the quarter and amended the agreement to allow for another $1.2 billion in purchases.
That existing financial relationship adds another dimension to Newrez's latest move. The mortgage company is expanding its reach into consumer lending while its parent has been building a portfolio of consumer credit investments.
Building More Business Around Existing Homeowners
Newrez has been steadily expanding the services available to homeowners beyond their mortgages.
In May, the company partnered with Matic to offer homeowners insurance shopping. In September, it expanded its HomeHub platform to protected wholesale borrowers, allowing those customers to explore financing opportunities while keeping their originating loan officers connected to potential repeat mortgage business.
Personal loans add another reason for homeowners to engage with Newrez between mortgage transactions.
“Our relationship with homeowners doesn't begin and end with a mortgage,” said Leslie Gillin, Newrez's chief commercial officer. “Homeowners' financial needs often extend beyond their monthly mortgage payment, and we're proud to broaden the ways we can support them, including helping identify opportunities for savings as they navigate important financial decisions.”
The strategy comes as Newrez continues to generate substantial earnings from servicing despite weaker origination volume.
In the third quarter, Newrez reported $329.7 million in pretax operating income, excluding mortgage servicing rights mark-to-market adjustments and other nonoperating items, up from $307.6 million in the previous quarter. Funded origination volume, meanwhile, fell 19% to $12.9 billion.
Its servicing portfolio reached $878.9 billion in unpaid principal balance, including $282.8 billion in third-party servicing, according to Rithm's October earnings release.
For a company with that scale, offering additional financial products to existing homeowners creates opportunities to maintain customer engagement without relying solely on another mortgage transaction.
A Broader Consumer Lending Business
Rithm's relationship with Upgrade is part of a larger consumer credit investment business.
According to its third-quarter securities filing, Rithm also holds unsecured installment loans acquired from Goldman Sachs' Marcus business and unsecured revolving consumer loans acquired from SpringCastle. Some of the Marcus loans are serviced through Newrez's internal servicing operation.
Rithm also completed a $306 million securitization of home improvement loans during the third quarter.
Newrez's personal loan partnership establishes a new way to connect homeowners with Upgrade's lending products. The existing Rithm agreement establishes a separate channel for purchasing home improvement loans.
Another Financing Option Without Touching the First Mortgage
The product enters a market where homeowners have increasingly sought ways to borrow without giving up favorable rates on their existing mortgages.
Unlike a cash-out refinance or home equity loan, the new personal loans do not require borrowers to pledge their property as collateral. Qualified applicants may receive funding in as little as one business day after required verifications, and customers can check prequalified offers without affecting their credit scores.
The trade-off is pricing. Unsecured personal loans generally carry higher interest rates than loans backed by home equity, making the relative costs important when borrowers compare financing options.
Newrez is positioning the offering partly around credit card debt.
A Morning Consult survey commissioned by the company found that 51% of homeowners carry credit card balances. Among homeowners with that debt, 59% said it negatively affected their finances, while 71% reported cutting back on spending or saving during the past year because of their debt burden.
The survey included 2,203 U.S. adults in June, including 486 homeowners carrying credit card balances from month to month.
Newrez illustrated the potential savings using a $6,519 credit card balance, comparing a three-year personal loan at a 12.41% average rate with credit card debt carrying a 19.57% average rate. Those figures reflect national averages used in the company's example, rather than rates guaranteed through the new program.
The launch also comes as mortgage servicers face increasing competition to retain borrowers seeking additional financing. Recent ICE data showed that cash-out refinances accounted for 75% of refinance-related servicer losses to competitors.
An unsecured personal loan gives Newrez another way to serve customers who need cash without replacing their existing mortgage.
For wholesale brokers, the development adds a new consideration to Newrez's expanding homeowner platform. HomeHub already connects protected wholesale borrowers with their originating LOs when they express interest in mortgage financing.
The loans are currently unavailable in 20 states, including California, New York, Pennsylvania, and several other major markets.
