Many Americans saw their financial health decline in 2022, according to the Financial Health Network's Financial Health Pulse report.
MPOWER Financing, which provides funding for international students attending US universities, secured $6 million in funding; the round was led by private equity firm, Zephyr Peacock India; the company will use the capital to enhance its technology and expand marketing efforts in emerging markets, especially India; in addition to providing loans the company also helps to build credit history of students and provides them with personal finance education to use in life after college. Source
Lisa Caplan from Nutmeg provides insight on investing in individual savings accounts (ISAs); reports on six myths that keep UK investors from investing in ISAs; notes the tax free advantages of investment in ISAs up to the allowance limit of 15,240 British pounds ($18,588) and the allowance limit increase to 20,000 British pounds ($24,394) beginning in April. Source
The UK's National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) has lifted insurance restrictions for its brokers; it will now provide insurance coverage to its brokers for all P2P loans; "Peer-to-peer lending is booming and it's fantastic that our members can now use it as much as they like, safe in the knowledge that they enjoy protection arranged by NACFB Insurance Services," said Paul Goodman, NACFB chairman. Source
The Royal Bank of Scotland's NatWest Brand has announced the launch of direct lending platform Esme; the platform will offer loans up to £150,000 ($187,257) for small and medium-sized businesses with approvals in one hour; NatWest developed the Esme platform internally through an innovation lab; the platform was developed to provide a more competitive loan offering and will also support initiatives for cost reduction. Source
Loan servicing company Navient has marketed support for student loan borrowers as part of its customer service strategy however its defense to a court case says the opposite; the company is being sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for not instituting customer service that matches its customer commitments; the CFPB's main argument is that Navient did not take into account the best interest of borrowers, specifically directing struggling borrowers into payment plans versus capped payment solutions because of the time intensive registration of the latter option; Navient blames a lack of compensation from clients such as the US Education Department for the company's service constraints; the Education Department finds no merit in Navient's defense and the CFPB has data that estimates Navient's service caused borrowers to pay an additional $4 billion in interest charges; Navient has evidence citing a significant number of borrowers in income-repayment plans and has solid arguments including that the federal law does not require servicers to counsel customers on their repayment options. Source
Marqeta has released an e-book titled, "Navigating the Paradigm Shift in Alternative Lending"; discusses how technology and innovation are changing the financial services industry; provides insight on how companies can build competitive advantages. Sponsored Blog Post
Nearshore Systems announced two online lending platform development partnerships at LendIt USA 2017; the software engineering firm was chosen by Dianrong to support the efforts of the firm's new blockchain-based solution; Nearshore was also selected by US-based Hijro to support the development of the firm's trade finance platform built on distributed ledger technology. Source
The National Consumer Assistance Plan from the three major US credit bureaus was created following a 2015 settlement and seeks to improve credit reporting accuracy; it will exclude tax liens and civil judgments that do not conform to reporting agency standards; exclusion of these two items is likely to help consumers receive a slight increase in their credit score; medical debt is also being excluded until 180 days after the delinquency; VantageScore and other credit agencies are also taking some new factors into consideration when calculating credit scores including trended data and number of accounts. Source
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has announced a consultation process that will begin to set a framework for P2P lending; following the consultation process the regulator is likely to begin issuing licenses for P2P lending businesses; the regulators initiative would provide for a new source of funding for borrowers and would also help to support small businesses. Source