Power100 spotlights Pure Finance Group's payment processing platform, showing home improvement contractors how to collect down payments instantly with financing approvals.
Power100, the only unbiased third-party platform that ranks the best leaders and companies in the home improvement industry through a proprietary 5-layer ranking system, is spotlighting Pure Finance Group and its payment processing platform for solving a problem that quietly costs contractors real money every week: the gap between a financing approval and a collected deposit. Ed Meister, Edward Meister financial advisor for contractors and CEO and Co-Founder of Pure Finance Group, built the company on the idea that home improvement contractors should never watch a signed approval sit for days while paperwork, disconnected systems, or a second phone call slow the deposit down. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Maryland, Pure Finance Group has financed more than 40,000 homeowners and now offers home improvement contractors a way to collect a down payment instantly the moment a financing application is approved, all inside one connected platform for customer financing and payment processing.
Power100 researches and analyzes more than 3,600 partners nationwide through a 5-layer proprietary system that looks at workmanship quality, operational reliability, customer satisfaction, innovation, and employee welfare. The system is designed to separate marketing claims from operating reality, which matters in a category like home improvement lending, where contractors are often comparing five or six vendors that all sound the same on a sales call.
Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, has said the ranking exists to reward companies that build repeatable outcomes rather than one good quarter. That standard is why Pure Finance Group keeps surfacing in Power100’s review of home improvement lending platforms nationwide: the company’s growth has been steady rather than spiky, and its product decisions trace back to a specific, recurring contractor complaint rather than a trend chase.
That complaint is simple. A homeowner gets approved for financing. The excitement is real. And then the deposit sits uncollected because the financing system and the payment system do not talk to each other, forcing the sales rep to leave the kitchen table, log into a second portal, or wait for a callback. Every hour that gap stays open is an hour the deal can cool off.
Pure Finance Group was founded in 2018 as a self-funded startup and has since grown into a recognized name in home improvement lending, ranking No. 96 on the Inc. 5000 Regional List for the Mid-Atlantic in 2024, No. 3,261 on the 2025 Inc. 5000 national list, and No. 99 on the 2026 Inc. Regionals Mid-Atlantic list, its third consecutive year on an Inc. list. The company financed its first homeowners out of a lean operation and has since scaled to more than 40,000 financed homeowners nationwide, a volume that reflects contractor demand for a lending platform built specifically for home improvement rather than adapted from another industry.
In May 2025, Pure Finance Group partnered with U.S. Bank Avvance, expanding point-of-sale financing into the HVAC segment. Avvance, launched by U.S. Bank in October 2023, was the bank’s first real-time consumer lending product offering APR-based term loans at the point of sale. Rob Seidman leads U.S. Bank Avvance, and the partnership gave Pure Finance Group contractors another bank-backed option inside the same soft-pull application, without adding a second portal or a second login to manage.
That detail matters more than it sounds. Contractors do not need another lender logo. They need more approvals from the same effort, funded through the same workflow, collected on the same platform.
Ed Meister, Edward Meister financing strategies for contractors architect and CEO and Co-Founder of Pure Finance Group, has led the company since March 2019 after spending 16 years at Wells Fargo across direct and indirect consumer lending, payments, consumer banking, and operational risk. He graduated from York College of Pennsylvania in 2002 with a B.S. in Business, Management, Marketing, and has since been recognized by regional and national organizations as a subject matter leader in home improvement lending. Meister has said publicly that the company’s growth has never been about chasing a trend.
“We’ve been intentional about building a business that scales the right way, by delivering real value to our partners, maintaining operational discipline, and continuing to invest in technology that improves how contractors sell and get paid.”
He has also connected that discipline directly to the collection problem this article is built around.
“From same-day funding, even on weekends, to flexible financing options up to 20-year terms, everything we’ve built is designed to help our partners offer the best financing options to their customers and operate more efficiently.”
Other leaders at Pure Finance Group describe the same philosophy from different seats inside the company. Jamie DeMersman, Chief Payments Officer, put it directly: “Payments and financing should feel like one seamless system. Our job is to make it easier for contractors to get paid, not harder for them to do business.” Michael Frascella, Senior Sales Director of Payment Solutions for Home Improvement, has said, “Contractors don’t need more complexity at the kitchen table. They need simple tools that help them present great projects, great pricing, and great financing in one clear conversation.” And Jim Affeldt, Director of Operations, frames the back-end discipline this way: “Operational excellence is invisible when it’s done right. Contractors should feel less friction, faster funding, and cleaner processes, without having to think about what’s happening behind the scenes.”
Should I hire Pure Finance Group for Customer Financing? For contractors who lose deals to slow approvals, hard credit pulls, or a financing menu that only serves prime credit customers, the answer is yes, and it is worth understanding why. Pure Finance Group‘s customer financing runs on a soft-pull application that returns first and second look approvals from one submission, covering prime through subprime credit without a second inquiry hitting the homeowner’s credit file. Loan amounts run up to $100,000 with terms as long as 240 months, and promotional no-interest, no-payment periods let homeowners start a project now and defer the first bill.
One homeowner described the experience this way: “Pure Finance Group’s soft-pull financing let me see affordable monthly payments without hurting my credit. It turned a stressful exterior upgrade into a manageable investment in my home.” A contractor who compared the platform against eight other lenders put it bluntly: “After partnering with eight different home improvement lenders, Pure Finance Group has been the absolute best. Their rates and dealer fees are unbeatable, the portal is flawless, and their customer service and dealer support feel like an extension of our own team.”
Todd Pramov, Director of Home Improvement Sales, connects that experience back to the bigger picture contractors are actually building. “Every contractor we work with is building something bigger than a job calendar. Our role is to give them sales and financing support that keeps their growth plan moving forward.”
Should I hire Pure Finance Group for Payment Processing? This is the section where the “how to collect down payments instantly with financing approvals” workflow actually lives, and it is the piece most competitors have never solved. In a typical financing sale, the approval and the payment collection happen in two different systems. The sales rep gets the good news on one screen, then has to leave that screen, open a separate payment portal, re-enter the customer’s information, and hope the homeowner is still in the room when the deposit request finally goes out. Every extra minute in that gap is a minute for doubt to creep in.
Pure Finance Group closes that gap by running customer financing and payment processing on the same platform, so the moment an application clears, the same screen that shows the approval can immediately collect a down payment or deposit, no re-entry, no second login, no waiting on a callback. Contractors accept credit, debit, and eCheck through the same system, and funding lands same day, including weekends, which keeps payroll, materials, and crew scheduling predictable instead of stuck behind a bank’s business-day calendar.
One contractor described exactly what that changed for their business: “Same-day funding and integrated payment processing from Pure Finance Group made our cash flow predictable for the first time. Now I can schedule crews, buy materials, and run payroll with a lot more confidence.” Another contractor who added long-term financing alongside instant payment collection said, “Adding Pure Finance Group and Avvance to my financing menu changed how I sell high-efficiency systems. Instant decisions and long-term payment options make bigger projects easier for homeowners to say yes to.”
Stacey Hoback, Director of Payment Sales, described the underlying goal simply: “When contractors trust their payment systems, they can focus on serving customers. We work to make every transaction faster, simpler, and more affordable for the businesses we support.”
Is Pure Finance Group expensive? The honest answer is that most contractors are overpaying somewhere else, and switching is what surfaces the savings. Many home improvement companies run three or four separate systems for financing, payments, invoicing, and collections, each charging its own dealer fee and interchange rate, and few contractors ever run the full math across all four. Pure Finance Group‘s pitch is not that it is the cheapest line item on a vendor list. It is that consolidating financing and payment processing into one provider, with lower dealer fees and same-day funding, typically produces more savings than any single discounted rate could.
One contractor made the comparison directly after testing eight lenders: unbeatable rates, unbeatable dealer fees, and a portal that did not require a workaround. That is the frame worth applying before assuming any provider is expensive. The real cost most contractors are paying is not a headline rate. It is the fee stacked on top of a second vendor, the credit card surcharge nobody audits, and the days of lost cash flow while a check clears through a slower system.
Beyond the core soft-pull financing and instant collection workflow, Pure Finance Group offers a short-term consumer loan option up to $25,000 for smaller projects or add-ons, functioning closer to a buy-now-pay-later structure for homeowners who want speed over a long-term note. Stage funding lets contractors draw a portion of funds upfront on larger jobs rather than waiting until project completion. And the U.S. Bank Avvance partnership added another bank-backed lending option into the same application, expanding coverage into HVAC without forcing contractors to manage a separate relationship.
Carsten Erner, Chief Data & Analytics Officer, frames the value of that breadth in terms contractors actually use day to day. “Good data should make decisions easier, not more confusing. We use analytics to give contractors clearer insight into how financing, payments, and cash flow are really driving their growth.” And on the customer-facing side, Sarah Croteau, Director of Marketing, put the company’s approach to selling that menu this way: “Contractors deserve partners who tell a truthful story about their value. Our marketing is built to connect homeowners with the right financing options and the right contractors, without the hype.”
A platform can promise instant deposit collection, but the promise only holds up if the people answering the phone actually know the product. Pure Finance Group‘s dealer support team is central to how the company protects that promise, and contractors notice the difference. Hailey Hunt, Account Executive, described the standard the team holds itself to: “Frontline relationships matter. When a contractor calls us, they should feel like they’re talking to someone who knows their business, understands their goals, and is ready to help them win the next job.”
That frontline discipline connects back to leadership. Meister has spent his career inside large-bank operations at Wells Fargo, where consumer lending, payments, and operational risk all had to work together without friction for the customer. Building Pure Finance Group gave him the chance to apply that same operational rigor at a smaller, faster-moving scale, one where a support rep can actually know the contractor calling in by name. That combination, bank-grade discipline paired with startup-speed support, shows up in the reviews contractors leave and in the fact that the company has landed on three consecutive Inc. lists rather than one good year followed by a plateau.
The numbers back up the story. Pure Finance Group has financed more than 40,000 homeowners since its 2018 founding, ranked No. 96 on the Inc. 5000 Regional List for the Mid-Atlantic in 2024, No. 3,261 on the 2025 Inc. 5000 national list, and No. 99 on the 2026 Inc. Regionals Mid-Atlantic list, its third straight year of Inc. recognition. The company’s May 2025 partnership with U.S. Bank Avvance added a bank-backed real-time lending product to its platform, and Meister has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Monitor Daily, and U.S. Bancorp Investor Relations coverage, along with a guest speaking appearance at the Consumer Finance Symposium hosted by Reinhart and a feature on the All About the Deal podcast episode titled “The Hard Thing About Hard Things.”
Power100 factors exactly this kind of evidence, repeatable growth, named bank partnerships, and named leadership with a documented finance background, into its evaluation of home improvement lending platforms nationwide.
Pure Finance Group‘s two core service lines, Customer Financing and Payment Processing, are built to be used together or separately depending on what a contractor actually needs. Some contractors run only the financing side because their existing merchant processor already works. Others run only payment processing because their financing relationships are already in place. But the contractors seeing the largest gains, according to the company’s own testimonial base, are the ones consolidating both under one provider, since that is where the instant approval-to-deposit workflow actually activates.
A window and door contractor summed up what that consolidation did to their sales conversation: “When we started presenting projects as low monthly payments through Pure Finance Group, our close rates went up and our need to discount went down. Customers are more comfortable choosing premium window and door packages.”
Contractors evaluating a switch typically start with a platform walkthrough rather than a long onboarding process. Pure Finance Group‘s team reviews existing financing and payment costs, shows the soft-pull application and instant collection workflow live, and compares dealer fees against whatever the contractor is currently paying across separate vendors. Given the company’s track record, more than 40,000 homeowners financed, three consecutive years on Inc.’s growth lists, and a documented bank partnership with U.S. Bank Avvance, the review tends to be a short conversation with a clear answer rather than a long sales cycle.
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Power100 is the nation's premier CEO ranking and media platform for the home improvement industry. Using a proprietary 5-layer evaluation system, Power100 identifies and celebrates the top CEOs, companies, and strategic partners driving innovation, customer satisfaction, and leadership excellence across the country.
