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
A former SoFi employee has filed a California lawsuit; he is arguing that he was fired for reporting sexual harassment and has included in his court filing, allegations of impropriety in the handling of loans; source also reports that a broader class action lawsuit is being prepared on behalf of a group of mistreated employees. Source
In an interview on CNBC last week Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein shared some news about their consumer lending platform....
SoFi continues to set itself apart not just from traditional finance institutions such as big banks that it is looking...
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
SoFi has faced challenges of opposition to its industrial loan charter from numerous parties for various reasons; now California Representative Maxine Waters, a Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, has written a letter to the FDIC calling for a public hearing to more broadly discuss the online lenders application and its market implications; fintech regulation is an ongoing topic for debate and Waters says, "Granting SoFi's application would set a precedent that a wide variety of other fintech companies may choose to follow even though concerns related to financial inclusion, consumer benefits, supervision, and regulation of such entities are still unresolved."; the industrial loan charter would give SoFi a number of advantages including the allowance for FDIC insured deposits with no supervisory reporting requirements at the holding company level; Waters also commented on the development of the OCC's special purpose national charter for fintech companies which would grant internet lenders nationwide business approval in a single charter, stating that the framework has not been fully developed for implementation; the industrial loan company charter is currently limited to business in the states of California, Colorado, Minnesota, Indiana, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah. 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
Until last month it was unknown how SoFi, the most successful fintech firm in the US, was going to offer...
SoFi has announced a new fund following a theme discussed at LendIt USA 2017; SoFi's new fund, the SoFi Prime Income Fund, will target family offices; it has raised $105 million from 33 investors each contributing a minimum of $500,000 and will include SoFi's unsecured student and personal loans; it adds to a Credit Opportunities Fund introduced last year; at LendIt USA 2017 panelists discussed new fund creation by platforms; the industry has begun to favor platform fund development over retail fund development; the complexity of marketplace loans and specifically their liquidity risks have kept them from widespread expansion in the retail fund management industry; challenges such as managing international currencies and using alternative leverage strategies are just a few of the retail fund risks for investment managers. Source
Renren is a publicly traded company that operates a social networking platform and also has an investment unit that invests in private US fintech companies; Lend Academy previously wrote about Renren and their private market fintech holdings in January; Renren was one of SoFi's first investors reporting 21% ownership in the company at the end of 2015; it’s now been reported that Renren has sold a portion of its share in the company, in association with a SoFi fundraising, receiving net proceeds of $91.9 million. Source