About Copa Capital:
Copa Capital Partners is a Mesa, Arizona based private lender built around a simple promise to help real estate investors move quickly with flexible, creative financing delivered by a team that leads with integrity, transparency, and personalized service. As a hard money and fix-and-flip lender, Copa Capital’s mission is to support investors with tailored loan solutions that help them capitalize on timely real estate opportunities. The company has grown rapidly, with just under $100 million assets under management, and is working toward its next milestone of $1 billion AUM. With a small, agile team of 10 employees, Copa values operational efficiency and scalable technology as core pillars of its continued growth.
The Problem:
Before launching Copa Capital Partners, the founding team had operated under a previous ownership structure where they leveraged Excel to track loans, portfolio performance, and investor communications. But as the business grew, and after testing multiple loan management softwares, limitations surfaced around workflow friction, double entry, and, most critically, data integrity. Alternative platforms introduced uncertainty into core servicing math and reporting, which made it difficult to scale confidently while protecting investor trust.
As CEO David Nielson explained,
“Each one of these softwares may have some cool bells and whistles…but what it really comes down to is the numbers being correct. I used to make the joke: it was magical, mythical numbers – one day one number is this, and the next day it’s a different number.”
This experience reinforced that accuracy is non-negotiable when you’re managing investor money and commercial loan portfolios. It also influenced Copa Capital’s business launch strategy: build its lending operations on a platform they could trust from the outset, eliminate manual workarounds that slow underwriting and construction draws, anchor investor communications in consistent, audit-ready data, and reduce internal time and risks where speed and confidence mattered most.
The Solution:
After evaluating alternatives, Copa Capital selected The Mortgage Office (TMO) as its long-term platform for servicing, investor management, and end-to-end workflow visibility from origination through distribution. Consolidating processes in TMO allowed Copa Capital to automate repetitive tasks, standardize investor communications, and rely on audit-ready math across mortgage pools and individual trustees. The platform’s design also made it easier to train a lean team and avoid adding headcount as volume increased. In David’s words:
“We started from day one with The Mortgage Office. From loan number one, our whole business has been built around the platform. It’s been very successful in helping us create a team without having to just keep adding more personnel.”
Beyond core servicing, Copa Capital uses TMO’s mortgage pool and lender servicing to manage fund distributions and one-off whole-loan investors in the same system, producing consistent monthly statements and remittances with a click of a button and eliminating double entry from origination to servicing. Automated ACH collections, streamlined payoff workflows, and clear lender statements shorten their cycle times and strengthen confidence in the numbers, while role-based controls and audit trails support internal safeguards as the team scales. The same backbone supports commercial participations: Copa Capital can set up multiple lenders on a single deal, allocate interest and principal precisely, and reconcile payouts without custom tooling.
The Results:
Since adopting TMO, Copa Capital has scaled servicing to approximately 175–200 active loans at any time and has processed 700–800 loans in just two years, all while maintaining a tight team structure. Automation, especially around ACH payments and standardized reporting, has increased efficiency and strengthened investor confidence in the mortgage pool program and with serviced lenders.
“Our investors love the statements they get every month. They’re simple, they give them the information they need, and they’re accurate.”
David was excited and proud to watch their monthly ACH collections grow past the $500,000 mark, a milestone reached without hiring a head of revenue. Beyond residential fix-and-flip, Copa Capital continues to expand in commercial deals, including participated loans across multiple lenders, and they use TMO to service and distribute those payments cleanly. With accurate, consistent data and centralized servicing, Copa Capital is positioned to grow AUM toward $1 billion while keeping control in-house and sustaining the investor experience that fuels referrals and repeat business.
Q&As
What drove your decision when selecting a software?
Copa Capital’s number one desire was a good servicing platform. The company needed to make sure the numbers were correct and tried several platforms but wanted to ultimately go with what they knew was tried and true, The Mortgage Office. Copa Capital from day one, loan one, started with The Mortgage Office. The business has been built around the platform and has been very successful in being able to help create a team without having to keep adding more personnel.
By starting from day one with the mortgage pool and managing investors, investors appreciate the statements they receive every month. Statements are accurate, simple and give all the information needed and that’s what matters most, giving them the assurance they need, all done in TMO with the click of a button.
Which TMO capabilities deliver the greatest value Copa Capital’s team today?
A key capability for Copa Capital is the ability to process automatic ACH payments. Each month, the process of pulling monthly payments and reviewing the total dollar amount has become one of the most impactful operational moments, especially as that amount continues to grow month over month. Reaching the milestone of half a million dollars in monthly payments was a significant moment, and the continued growth each month highlights the scale and momentum.
Beyond ACH processing, payoffs are handled through a simple and efficient process. Another important area is servicing other lenders and providing monthly statements and distributions. Those lenders receive clear statements outlining interest earned, applicable fees, principal paydowns, and the funds being distributed. At the core of all of this is accuracy. There is confidence in the numbers being correct, without unexplained changes or inconsistencies. With The Mortgage Office, the numbers have consistently been reliable and dependable.
Why did Copa Capital choose to keep loan servicing in house instead of outsourcing?
The decision to keep servicing in house was driven by the importance of servicing as the primary source of referrals and repeat business. Strong processes, speed, and execution are central to that approach. For example, when a draw is requested and required documentation is submitted, funds are deposited into the borrower’s account the next morning. Maintaining control over servicing has always been foundational. That focus is what led to using The Mortgage Office and building operations around the platform. At one point, servicing reached approximately $245 million in loans, all managed through the software. Even in broader industry discussions, including panel conversations, it has been acknowledged that outsourcing servicing still requires significant internal involvement, reinforcing the value of maintaining servicing control in house.
How does Copa Capital compete in a fast-moving private lending market?
Competition is driven by speed, responsiveness, and relationships. In certain markets, pricing and structure matter most, but in this environment the key factor is the ability to meet borrower needs quickly. Typical closings occur within three to five days, with some transactions completed in as little as four hours, including funding at title. That level of execution, combined with relationship-driven service, is what differentiates the experience and helps build future business.