SoFi’s lending goal in 2017 was to lend more than they had in the previous 5 years combined; the online lender fell 26 percent short of the goal and instead lent out $12.9bn in 2017; the company had seen their share of issues in the last year with sexual misconduct claims and their CEO being forced out; SoFi spokesman Jim Prosser said the true goal for 2017 was closer to $13bn and the higher amount was a stretch goal. Source.
SoFi recently partnered with WeWork to offer discounted student refinancing to WeWork employees and members; the move is part of a broader strategy for the company to move beyond their initial target market of alumni from top universities; offering student loan repayments as a workplace benefit is a new trend as companies look to help young employees get out from under the mountain of student debt; “The bigger story is that the student loan pay down as a benefit is a massive industry that hasn’t even got going yet — every Fortune 500 company is going to have this as a benefit in the next year or two,” said Peter Renton, analyst and founder of Lend Academy, to TearSheet. Source.
SoFi will make student and personal loans available to WeWork’s 3,000 employees and 175,000 customers at discounted rates. Source
SoFi closed SoFi Professional Loan Program 2018-A; underlying collateral of student loans totaled more than $1 billion dollars; this is SoFi’s largest ever securitization as they continue to lead in the marketplace lending securitization market; there were 39 unique investors, including five new investors. Source
SoFi is partnering with WSFS financial to roll out free checking account and debit cards this spring; it is calling the new initiative “SoFi Money”; the product will include peer to peer transfers, mobile check deposits and high yield interest rates on deposits; SoFi members will be the first to have access to SoFi Money before a broader rollout. Source
According to the WSJ, SoFi is laying off around 65 employees in its mortgage division; these employees worked out of offices in Healdsburg, California and Cottonwood Heights, Utah; the company has about 1300 employees; according to SoFi, the company “made some changes to staffing to ensure we have the right people in the right roles and locations to power our growth.”; at the same time SoFi is looking to fill 175 jobs. Source
SoFi acquired the engineering and product teams from mortgage startup Clara Lending; American Banker reported SoFi said of the deal it will help them to, “immediately ramp up our technical capabilities."; SoFi’s business is still reliant on student loan refinancing but this acquisition will allow them to increase their mortgage business in the next few years. Source.
This week’s PeerIQ Industry Update covers 4th quarter GDP news, another round of bank earnings, the new SoFi CEO, fintech fundraising’s and the latest securitization trends; the new SoFi CEO was accepted positively across the market as the company looks to expand products in coming quarters; SoFi and Lending Club are looking at a busy quarter on securitization issuance and PeerIQ reviews their most recent deals; Streetshares secured a $23mn series B round led by Rotunda Capital; PeerIQ also took a deep dive into the key points of the recent letter CFPB Director Mulvaney circulated to staff about his vision for the bureau. Source.
SoFi originated $12.9 billion and sold more than $2 billion in loans in 2017; Ashish Jain, senior vice president of capital markets provides some insight into how hard the team worked to ensure their success in 2017 stating, “We were willing to do calls at any hour, to assure them the quality of product was high, and that there weren't any issues on these loans they were buying. Synovus and Citizens were among the banks that bought SoFi loans last year.”; Jain reports that all of their investors are still buying and they have brought in new investors after Mike Cagney left the company. Source
Anthony Noto will become SoFi's CEO effective March 1; American Banker outlines the five challenges that Noto will face as he enters his new role; list includes reforming SoFi’s culture, determining when to go public, deciding how to grow, whether to go forward with a bank charter and proving that he has the right background. Source