Ram Ahluwalia from PeerIQ was a featured keynote speaker at LendIt USA 2017; Ram reports marketplace lending securitizations reached over $12 billion in issuance from over 75 transactions; in the third quarter of 2016 rated tranches reached a peak of nearly 25 and in the fourth quarter of 2016 rated tranches were approximately 18. Source
Online lender Elevate has released customer progression milestones showing improved credit scores and rate eligibility; 55,000 customers on the platform have improved their credit scores and 20,000 customers can now receive a lower borrowing rate; Elevate's unique RISE credit product facilitates credit scoring improvement by educating customers on their personal financial credit and offering subsequent loans at reduced rates of up to 50% for qualified borrowers. Source
In an article from Quartz several stories are outlined sharing how SoFi has helped borrowers get re-employed or negotiate for higher salaries; in one example Joanna Mathews was laid off and called SoFi to get forbearance on her credit consolidation loan which was approved; Joanna was subsequently assigned a counselor to help in the process to find employment, speaking weekly to her counselor; Joanna attended webinars on writing resumes and interviewing, eventually landing 15 interviews; after a three month search Joanna was employed again; in another story a borrower reached out to a SoFi coach for tips on salary negotiation, bargaining for an additional $6,000 per year using tips from SoFi. Source
Firm offers online mortgage loan comparisons and facilitates mortgage loan services through its platform; firm has been in business for nine months with mortgage loans of 50 million British pounds ($62.17 million); the new funding was provided by Ribbit Capital and Mosaic Ventures; firm says it will use the funds to expand its products and engineering team. Source
Cumulative lending for the Association's members is now GBP8.5 billion; the Association's nine platforms originated GBP1.004 billion ($1.29 billion) in the first quarter with originations led by Funding Circle with GBP328.1 million ($421.6 million); business lending originations totaled GBP636.2 million ($817.5 million) and reported an increase of 17% from the previous quarter and 43% from the first quarter of 2016; overall, Zopa leads cumulative originations with GBP2.17 billion ($2.79 billion) and Funding Circle is following at a close second with GBP2.16 billion ($2.78 billion). Source
Daily Fintech reports that Tradeplus24 has received CHF100 million ($100.61 million) from a capital fundraising; the Swiss fintech market has been growing over the last two years and the CHF100 million is a sign of that; Tradeplus24 is a Switzerland-based balance sheet marketplace lender; the capital was raised through debt and the firm will use the fundraising for SME lending. Source
Lending Club borrowers are given a 15 day grace period for loan payments; borrowers are not assessed a late fee and previously did not pay accrued interest on the overdue amount; Lending Club has revised its grace period policy as of February 24 to require borrowers to now pay additional interest on the late payments; the firm will continue to not charge a late fee until after the 15 day grace period. Source
Orchard's Weekly Online Lending Snapshot for the week of October 27 focuses on new marketplace lending securitizations and the snapshot's new tracking for recent securitization issuances; other key data points from the week include Yirendai leading publicly-traded marketplace lenders with a monthly stock gain of 12.52% and the UK Ranger Direct Lending Fund continuing to lead among UK listed funds with a monthly gain of 6.46%. Source
CredEx has developed a mobile app for loans in China; allows for borrowing of as much as RMB 300,000 (USD 43,000); the firm's business has been built around a focus on five factors including: mobile apps for loans, anytime access to borrowing and repayment, personalized interest rates, mobile internet risk control and uniquely connecting financial institutions with borrowers. Source
The Innovative Lending Platform Association (ILPA) has released SMART Box for small business lending disclosure and transparency; Lend Academy provides more details and insight from Kathryn Petralia of Kabbage in their article; the SMART Box is intended to provide standardized pricing, cost of capital and verbiage that borrowers can use for credit analysis and comparison. Source
