Listen to this articleThe basics:
- Cornerstone Capital secures $1 billion in financing from Fortress
- CHEIFS converts homeowners’ equity into liquidity for retirement, insurance & wealth planning
- Funding will accelerate national expansion; strengthen advisor, broker channels; enhance CHEIFS technology
- Fortress cites focus on prime borrowers, strong underwriting as compelling investment opportunity
Cornerstone Financing announced a major next step in its growth, securing up to a $1 billion financing commitment from Fortress Investment Group.
Earlier this year, NJBIZ profiled the Summit-headquartered company, which created Cornerstone Home Equity Insurance/Investment Funding Solutions. CHEIFS is the first prime home equity funding solution built specifically for financial planning.
Cornerstone aims to help mass-affluent homeowners efficiently convert dormant home equity into liquidity without interest, debt or monthly payments. It says this agreement with Fortress accelerates that mission. Additionally, it represents one of the largest institutional commitments in the home equity investments sectors, according to the company.
CHEIFS now operates in 20 states. It allows homeowners to transform a portion of their home equity into cash for insurance planning, wealth building, retirement income, annuities, long-term care coverage and generational planning.
Problem solving
“CHEIFS solves one of the biggest challenges facing homeowners: finding liquidity for retirement, insurance, and long-term financial planning without disturbing their investment portfolio or liquidity,” said Craig Corn and Dan Anderson, co-founders of Cornerstone, in a joint statement. “With Fortress’s financing commitment, CHEIFS is positioned to become the next major part of holistic financial planning, allowing advisors to efficiently optimize over $35 trillion of home equity to better serve their clients.”
For that aforementioned profile piece, NJBIZ sat down with Corn and Anderson. The duo launched the company in 2023 as an advisor-focused solution to fund insurance and investment strategies. However, the company says rapid demand from the mortgage community led Cornerstone to also introduce Prime HEI. That wholesale program enables licensed mortgage brokers to offer CHEIFS as an alternative to Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) and closed-end seconds.
Now, CHEIFS supports distribution across:
- Financial advisors & RIAs
- Insurance marketing organizations & advisors
- Mortgage brokers via Prime HEI
CHEIFS is also integrated into InsMark’s Wealthy and Wise+ software platform. The combination enables advisors to compare a client’s existing plan with a home equity investment alternative.
Cornerstone says this financing commitment from Fortress will help it expand nationally, strengthen advisor and broker channels, enhance its CHEIFS technology suite, and scale its institutional securitization capabilities.
Fortress is a global investment giant – with more than $50 billion in assets and decades of experience in asset-based finance.
“Through this forward flow agreement with Cornerstone, we’re pleased to support the expansion of the company’s home equity investment funding solution,” said Stephen Wark, managing director, Residential Assets, Fortress Investment Group. “We believe Cornerstone’s underwriting diligence, focus on prime borrowers, and strong track record create a differentiated and compelling asset-backed financing opportunity that aligns with Fortress’s strategy to deliver attractive, risk-adjusted returns for investors.”
