NEXA Lending is removing some of the barriers around its 100% revenue model, allowing loan originators to access the economics without meeting production or recruiting requirements on loans through select lenders.
Under the newly launched NEXA Unlimited, the company says originators can access 100% of the revenue from qualifying NEXA loans, with no flat fee, added per-file fee, correspondent funding fee, closing fee, or additional margin.
“We are providing loan officers access to 100% of the revenues from their NEXA loans,” Mike Kortas said. “If you are producing the business, building the relationships, serving the borrower, and creating the revenue, we believe you should have access to all of it.”
But 100% isn't new at NEXA.
NEXA100 launched in May 2024, offering qualifying originators the ability to receive up to 100% of NEXA revenue without per-file fees. At the time, eligibility was tied to production and recruiting benchmarks.
What Unlimited changes is access.
NEXA says the new model removes production and recruiting requirements for loans placed with select lenders, allowing qualifying originators to access the 100% structure beginning with their first loan.
That makes Unlimited as much a recruiting and competitive move as a compensation change. Kortas is explicitly challenging other brokerages to explain what their originators receive in exchange for revenue retained by the company.
“If you are giving away revenues on every transaction that you do not have to give away, why?” Kortas said. “What are you getting in return?”
100% Revenue Isn't 100% Cash
There is an important distinction behind the 100% figure.
NMP examined NEXA100's compensation structure earlier this year as part of a broader look at LO compensation models.
Using a hypothetical $500,000 loan priced at 275 basis points, NEXA Executive Partner Jason duPont explained that the transaction would generate $13,750 in gross revenue. Under the structure he described, a 25-basis-point funding charge and 12% margin would initially reduce cash compensation to $11,000.
The remaining $2,750 would be credited back to the originator through NEXA's Growth & Marketing Ledger, where it could be used for eligible business expenses.
“If I submitted payroll today, it would show that I'm getting paid $11,000, and then there'd be another transaction on my growth ledger for $2,750,” duPont told NMP.
That distinction matters because money reimbursed for eligible business expenses is not the same as wages.
Attorney Ron Gapp, founding partner of Brody Gapp LLP, explained the distinction to NMP in February.
“If I go to a trade show, and I spend my own dime on that, and I'm now being reimbursed for that expense, that's not income,” Gapp said.
NEXA's Unlimited announcement does not say that underlying cash-and-ledger structure has changed.
It does specifically say the new model eliminates certain transaction-level charges. It does not say that originators operate without other business or platform expenses.
NEXA Says Scale Makes The Math Work
The larger question is how NEXA can afford to push more loan-level revenue back to its originators.
NEXA's answer is scale.
The company says its recent acquisitions, growing production volume, broader business ecosystem, and lean operating structure have changed the economics enough to support Unlimited.
Even NEXA Chief Financial Officer Von Maharaj initially questioned that premise, according to the company.
“When Mike first brought this model to me, I thought he was crazy. I genuinely did not believe the math could work,” Maharaj said. “Then we ran the numbers.”
Maharaj said NEXA's scale and additional volume ultimately convinced him the model was sustainable.
“With the scale NEXA has already achieved, the additional volume coming into the organization, and the incredibly lean way we operate, the math absolutely works,” he said.
Kortas makes an even broader claim.
“NEXA makes money,” he said. “We have simply built the company differently. We do not believe the answer has to be taking more and more from the loan officer on every transaction.”
“I don't need to make money on individual loans anymore,” he added. “I make money on volume.”
The announcement, however, does not provide the underlying financial assumptions or break down the revenue streams that allow additional volume to produce profits when NEXA says it does not need to make money on individual Unlimited loans.
NMP has reached out to Kortas with questions about the economics behind Unlimited, including what revenue streams support the model, whether NEXA earns revenue from services associated with Unlimited loans, how the Growth & Marketing Ledger is handled, and whether originators continue to earn revenue share from production generated by LOs they recruit.
Scale Changes The Equation
The timing of Unlimited matters.
When NEXA100 launched in 2024, NEXA had more than 2,500 affiliated originators, and Kortas publicly set a goal of reaching 5,000.
The company has since moved considerably closer.
NEXA's recent acquisition of UMortgage brought together two of the broker channel's more recognizable organizations. Kortas and UMortgage founder Anthony Casa told NMP this week that the combined organization now has more than 4,100 LOs.
The deal also changed Kortas' role. He said he would relinquish the NEXA CEO title to become an executive partner alongside Casa, creating what the pair described as a co-equal leadership structure.
The acquisition itself fits the same scale argument underlying Unlimited.
UMortgage will retain its brand and sales culture while moving onto NEXA's larger operating platform, giving its originators access to NEXA's technology, lender relationships, compliance infrastructure, and national platform.
Kortas framed that scale as leverage when the acquisition was announced.
“Scale only matters if you use it for something,” he said. “For us, everything comes back to the loan officer. The more leverage we create, the more we can deliver the technology, products, economics, and support they want and deserve.”
Unlimited now puts that argument to a more direct test.
NEXA is betting that a larger organization can retain less revenue at the individual-loan level while using scale, volume, and other parts of its business to support the company as a whole.
For originators, the immediate question is what they actually receive under the 100% model and what conditions remain attached to it.
For competing broker owners, the question Kortas wants them asking is different: If NEXA can give more of the transaction economics back to the originator, what are they charging their own LOs for?
The answer to how NEXA makes that math work is one NMP is still pursuing.
