Otso provides an option for landlords to replace cash deposits in their commercial leases so businesses can put essential capital to work. Our program provides landlords with the strength of collateral they need with A-rated insurance from our partners, Assurely and Accelerant with AM Best Excellent Credit.
Instead of a Tenant needing to put up a cash security deposit or letter of credit at the beginning of their lease, Otso makes it possible for them to keep their cash in exchange for a small deposit waiver fee, which is included in the rent. Otso writes a policy to the Landlord which they can hold as collateral for the Tenant’s good payment in their lease.

Tenants can their cash to work and we allow Landlords to make better credit decisions on leases with reduced risk, at no cost to them.

We are industry veterans of both commercial real estate and technology and just felt like we could make the process of leasing better for both Tenant and Landlord. Commercial real estate is full of antiquated practices (deposits are just one of them) and it’s our mission to set businesses up for more success while providing enhanced coverages against the risks of leasing for Landlords.

We believe the system of collecting and requiring security deposits fail both parties.  Landlords are historically not great at making assessments of potential tenants (especially small businesses or entities less than 2 years old) which requires a good understanding of both cash and corporate credit factors.

This leads to inefficient leasing or deals not getting done because the Landlords lack the information to be comfortable moving forward.  At the same time, Tenants are being required to put up a large amount of cash, day one, on their lease. This cash sits dead in an account earning no interest and does no one any good. Otso allows Tenants the ability to put their cash to work on their business and Landlords to offload a portion of the decisioning and credit risk of a commercial lease.

Otso is not a loan and does not sit on a business’s book as a liability. We do not pay any rent or fees to the Landlord on your behalf, rather, we
ensure your good performance (when approved) to the Landlord in lieu of traditional deposits like cash or letters of credit. The only time an
obligation is created is when an event of default occurs.

When a landlord needs lease security (and they always do) they typically collect cash or some cash equivalent as their risk mitigation in the event of a default.  With Otso, our program allows the Landlord to collect nothing from the Tenant in the form of cash, while still providing the option to secure their leases. Oftentimes  we can increase the coverages against default by over 300% per lease!

When a tenant is approved (applications are fast and free, as are our reports) we can offer the option to use the lease insurance program. Our program provides for an A-rated insurance bond that sits as an exhibit to the lease, covering every instance of default the lease does. Tenant’s pay a small premium in rent for this option, as opposed to locking up valuable cash. Otso is not a loan, and nothing sits on the Tenant’s books as a liability, premiums are simply included in the rent.

At the conclusion of a lease, assuming no negative events have occurred there is no obligation to any party. It’s fast, clean and easy to offer Otso and our program has been proven to drive more leasing and better experiences for both Tenant and Landlord.

Otso is not an insurance company, we have partnered with Assurely as program administrator and every policy is backed 100% by a rated and licensed insurance carrier by our partner Accelerant. Accelerant holds an AM BEST Excellent rating.

One of our top priorities is that our landlord customers need to feel secure with a trusted and reputable source to replace their cash or other collateral in a lease.

You can learn more about Assurely and Accelerant here.

We use a method of over 800 factors on both personal and corporate data points to make our credit decisions. If you feel we have reached one in error please contact us and we are happy to chat.

Yes, but the application process will have to be manual (not online application) and will take longer than one day for a decision.