Archive for John Chappell
Lending Club Receives Webby Award
Lending Club was named the top website in the banking and bill paying category at the 15th annual Webby Awards last Monday night. The San Francisco-based peer-to-peer lending company won the award for its re-vamp and rebranding which occurred earlier in the year. Other companies nominated in the category included JPMorgan Chase, US Bank, Kashoo [...]
Peerform Offers an Institutional Approach to Peer-to-Peer Lending
Prosper and Lending Club have dominated the peer-to-peer lending industry in the United States for the last for years, but a new wave of peer-to-peer lending companies, including LendStreet, National Family Mortgage and Rebirth Financial are offering their own take on peer-to-peer lending. One of these companies, Peerform, plans to compete in the peer-to-peer lending [...]
LendFriend Revives Virgin Money USA’s Business Plan
In 2007, Virgin USA acquired CircleLending, a peer-to-peer lending company that allowed people that knew each-other in real life to loan money to one another. The service was renamed to Virgin Money USA and continued to operate until November 2010, when Virgin Money withdrew from the U.S. market. The idea of creating a service where [...]
Lending Club Ordered to Cease “Small Loan” Operations in Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has ordered Lending Club to cease its small loan operations within its borders and refund all origination fees, late fees and default charges made to borrowers in the state since April 17th, 2007. Massachusetts’s Commissioner of Banks has also ordered Lending Club to pay fees totaling $21,330.00 directly to the state [...]
This Week in Peer-to-Peer Lending: 5/28/2011
The last week in May has been a relatively slow news week for the world of peer-to-peer lending. Prosper.com and Lending Club have not issued any updates of any significance. The international peer-to-peer lending landscape has also been relatively quiet. Next week we’ll get final lending numbers for the month of May from both Prosper [...]
How to Apply for a Peer-to-Peer Loan
Peer-to-peer loans are a great alternative to getting an unsecured personal loan from a bank or carrying on a credit card. They often have lower interest rates and more flexible repayment schedules. If you’ve decided to get a peer-to-peer loan, do not just go to Lending Club or Prosper.com and apply without knowing what types [...]
The Peer-to-Peer Lending Community: Blogs, Forums and Tools
If you are new to the world of peer-to-peer lending and are interested in getting more involved in the peer-to-peer lending community, there are a number of community driven resources that will help you become a better investor in peer-to-peer loans, including discussion forums, news websites and third party tools that provide very useful analytical [...]
This Week in Peer to Peer Lending: 5/21/2011
This week has been a reasonably busy week for the peer-to-peer lending industry. Lending Club moved its offices to San Francisco and was featured in the San Francisco Business Journal. Prosper announced that it was raising interest rates on loans and issued a new prospectus of sorts in what it had referred to as a [...]
Investing in Peer-to-Peer Loans: The Tax Implications
If you live in the United States and invest in peer-to-peer loans via Lending Club or Prosper, there are tax implications that you should be aware of. Lending Club Taxes Lending Club will issue a 1099-OID form to investors for all Lending Club notes issued after October 24th, 2008. The calculation that Lending Club uses [...]
Zopa Is Hiring: Work for a Peer-to-Peer Lending Company
If you’ve ever wanted to work for a peer-to-peer lending company and happen to live in the U.K., you’re in luck. Zopa is looking to fill two positions in its London office. The company is looking for a web designer and a business analyst. From Zopa’s blog: “We’re on the hunt for a superb business [...]
Prosper to End Automated Investing Plans in June
Prosper.com revealed that they plan on eliminating their automated plan system by the end of June in a recent filing with the SEC. The disclosure in their 10K form states that they plan on replacing the automated bid system with a new loan search tool that allows lenders to find loans based on criteria that [...]
Pool Corp. to Invest $2 Million in P2P Loans via Lending Club
Lending Club, a San Francisco-based peer to peer lending company, announced last week that Pool Corp. (NASDAQ: POOL) would invest as much as $2 million in personal loans via Lending Club’s peer-to-peer lending marketplace to encourage pool and spa sales growth. Lending Club noted in a press release that it has been difficult for borrowers [...]
Peer-To-Peer Lending Popularity Increasing Dramatically
One of the most popular innovations arising from the increased usage of the internet within all aspects of daily life is the financial innovation of peer-to-peer lending. Recognizing a unique business opportunity, peer-to-peer lending brings together anonymous lenders and borrowers electronically in a double-blind loan auction using high tech Web 2.0 technology. This allows popular [...]
Prosper.com Uses Investment Bonuses to Spur Growth
Prosper.com, a U.S.-based peer-to-peer lending marketplace, has been offering a number of investment bonuses to lenders in an attempt to boost loan origination. The San Francisco-based peer-lender offered a 4% cash back bonus to lenders that invested in loans on Prosper.com’s featured listings page over the Easter holiday weekend. The bonus offer came along with [...]
Kiva Now Offering Green Energy Loans to Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries
Kiva, a non-profit organization that sets up peer-to-peer microfinance loans, is now offering “green loans” to help borrowers adopt cleaner and safer forms of energy, implement green agriculture techniques and adopt environmentally friendly forms of transportation and recycling. Borrowers are seeking green loans on Kiva for very diverse reasons. International farmers are seeking loans to [...]
Loanio to Shut Down Operations
Loanio, a U.S.-based peer to peer lending company that launched in October 2008, is shutting down its operations. The news, first reported by Peter Renton of SocialLending.Net, comes at a time when its two U.S. competitors, Prosper.com and Lending Club, are seeing significant growth. There was significant excitement in the peer to peer lending community [...]
CommunityLend Attracts C$1.5 Million in Venture Capital
Toronto-based CommunityLend announced last month that it had closed a new round C$1.5 million of venture capital from private investors. The private-placement investment that CommunityLend received was funded by a number of angel investors and a fund that makes institutional investments. Wildlaw Capital Markets served as an agent for this latest round of venture capital. [...]
Peter Renton Launches New Peer to Peer Lending E-Book
Peter Renton, the blogger behind Social Lending.NET, has launched a new e-book titled “Understanding Peer to Peer Lending.” The free e-book explains how peer-to-peer lending companies work and discusses the different types of social lending, including microfinance and direct peer-to-peer lending. Renton also discusses the history of peer-to-peer lending and the evolution that the industry [...]
Lending Club Moves Headquarters to San Francisco
Lending Club, a peer to peer lending company based out of California, will be moving its headquarters from Redwood City to downtown San Francisco later this year, according to a report from the San Francisco Business Journal. Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche told the Business Journal that the company is still negotiating its lease for [...]
Prosper.com Surpassed by Lending Club in Loan Origination
Lending Club has now issued a greater total dollar value in loans than Prosper.com. Our friends at SocialLending.net have been keeping track of Prosper.com and Lending Club’s loan origination data for quite some time. They first reported that Lending Club had overtaken Prosper.com on January 31st. As of February 2nd, Prosper.com had originated a total [...]
So far no one has lent me any money. I have noticed however that pretty much no one has been ...
P2P lending is heating up! These early companies exploring the platform will be very successful. I'm Impressed