SoFi was among Super Bowl advertisers with another commercial this year; this year's commercial reflected their expanding services by advertising the firm's support for owning a home, starting a family and seeing the world; with the firm's recent acquisition of online bank, Zenbanx, customers will now be able to use SoFi for a comprehensive suite of banking services, expanding beyond just the firm's core student loan offering. Source
According to Bloomberg, defaults have triggered a breach in a 2015 SoFi bond deal; Bloomberg provides some details on the breach, reporting that the SoFi loans backing the bonds averaged more than $35,000, were unsecured and were from prime credit borrowers with annual salaries averaging around $130,000; the SoFi breach adds to worries about rising defaults overall which have been a factor for bond deals and troubled lenders in the marketplace lending industry. Source
SoFi has developed a new marketplace lending fund primarily targeting family offices; a regulatory filing shows the fund as SoFi Prime Income Fund with 33 investors each investing a minimum of $500,000; total fund investment is $105 million; the Fund will focus on investing in SoFi's unsecured student and personal loans. Source
According to the WSJ, SoFi is pulling back on its expansion to foreign markets and asset management; two executives, Peter Early and Arkadi Kuhlmann are leaving the firm as part of the shift in focus; they led asset management and banking respectively at SoFi; despite some of the challenges the company extended $3.52 billion in loans in the third quarter, up almost 80% from the same period last year. Source
In October SoFi launched an offering targeted at medical school graduates; American Banker shares how the move is just the latest example of how lenders use data to tap into new borrower niches; the average debt load of medical school graduates is $190,000 and during residency salaries are around $60,000; since their income is low traditional lenders often won’t refinance these loans; with the new product residents can consolidate their debt and make a $100 monthly payment until they finish training. Source
SoFi has securitized another portfolio which was priced on February 2; Moody's provided ratings ranging from Aaa to Baa2 for the portfolio; the portfolio includes private student loans from SoFi; the value of rated loans was $561 million. Source
Social Finance Inc. has filed as a sponsor for a securitization portfolio of private student loans; SoFi Lending Corporation, will act as the securitizer for the SoFi Professional Loan Program LLC 2017-B (SOFI 2017-B) portfolio. Source
SoFi has published a blog post in response to a New York Times article about recent news at the company; discusses what SoFi calls vague claims as it relates to their mortgage and personal loans business; provides updates on what the company is doing related to corporate culture and Mike Cagney’s departure. Source
In a press release SoFi shared that members have cumulatively paid off over $5 billion in credit card debt; members reduced their effective interest rate by 42% and saw credit scores rise by 17 points on average; SoFi borrowers can borrow up to $100,000 and choose a term of three, five or seven years; over 70% of borrowers report using funds for credit card refinancing and loan consolidation. Source
SoFi reported record earnings and loan volume in the second quarter with revenue of $134 million, adjusted EBITDA of $61.6 million and loan volume of $3.1 billion; in earnings comments, SoFi's CEO, Mike Cagney, was more optimistic about a public offering, mentioning it as a part of a long term plan involved with the search for a new CFO; Cagney also discussed options for offering banking products and said he was optimistic about the approval of the company's application for an industrial loan charter. Source