Upstart Co-Founder Dave Girouard talks with Forbes about alternative credit data modeling and his firm Upstart; Girouard's inspiration for Upstart came from his experience at Google where he was involved in developing algorithmic models for evaluating candidates and their potential success as Google employees; a third of Upstart's management team comes from Google and the firm is now building advanced credit models that utilize machine learning and modern technology to make credit more accessible for borrowers; the firm is targeting loan originations of $1 billion in 2017; Upstart will be at LendIt USA 2017 and is announcing a new white label software as a service product called Powered by Upstart. Source
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a decision in Madden v. Midland Funding, LLC; in determining whether New York or Delaware law governed the contractual relationship of the parties, the judge ruled that applying Delaware law would violate usury policies in New York which limit interest to 25% per year. Source
Prosper has announced it will be increasing rates on its high-quality loans and lowering the rate on its HR rated loans; as of March 2 rates will increase on loans rated AA, A and B with an increase of 60 bps, 50 bps and 20 bps respectively; interest rates on HR rated loans will decrease by 10 bps. Source
The Evolution of Home Buying: The Rise of Home Ownership Investments and What It Means for Consumers
Innovation in online real estate is creating new funding opportunities for homeowners and Unison is one of the market's leading fintech firms; in their featured blog post they provide a recent white paper titled, "A New Era for Home Buying: The Rise of Home Ownership Investments" and give insight on how home ownership financing is changing; the firm introduced home ownership investing in 2007 and has been working since then to integrate it into the US housing finance system; through Unison, home buyers receive an investment for their home that tracks with the home's value and has no financial obligations until the home is sold. Sponsored Blog Post
Prosper has announced a funding deal which has been in development since August; the firm has received an investment commitment for $5 billion over the next two years from a consortium of investors including affiliates of New Residential Investment Corp., Jefferies Group LLC, Third Point LLC and an entity of which Soros Fund Management LLC is the principal investment manager; the consortium is also being offered an equity stake which could account for as much as 35% ownership in the company and is expected to help promote a long term business relationship; the committed investment will represent a substantial increase for the firm which is likely to report approximately $2.2 billion in loan originations for 2016. Source
LendUp has secured a new $100 million credit facility from Victory Park Capital bringing its total financing to $325 million; the firm has also announced a new lending milestone, with loan originations surpassing $1 billion from more than 3.3 million loans; the firm was launched in 2012 and seeks to support the emerging middle class through lending and financial education. Source
Small business online multi-lender Lendio has announced the launch of a new lending program for franchises; in addition to business loans, participating lenders will have access to new technology, comprehensive training, branded marketing tools, partnerships and Lendio's franchise support team; Lendio facilitates lending by matching online applicants with lenders; the firm has originated over $240 million in loans. Source
CEO Tom Burnside from LendingPoint provides his insight on how to be successful in the online lending business in this featured blog post; gives five factors for success; Tom Burnside is optimistic about the industry's growth and potential as well as the success of LendingPoint; in 2016, LendingPoint gained steadily as it continued to focus on providing credit for underserved consumers through fair credit underwriting. Sponsored Blog Post
eOriginal has been an active innovator in the digital finance revolution and began working with marketplace lenders in 2013; expanding its services in the industry, the firm discusses how online lenders can become even more competitive in the securitization market through digitization; their featured blog post also includes their recent white paper, "Creating Securitization eCertainty in the Secondary Market." Sponsored Blog Post
MoneyLion talks about the evolution of the fintech industry and the rebundling of financial services in their featured blog post; the first wave of fintech was known for its unbundling of traditional financial services by fintech companies; as these companies have achieved success from focused product development, they are now looking to expand services for new verticals and cohesive cross selling; banks are also more broadly diversifying to meet customer needs; MoneyLion also notes API development as a key factor supporting the rebundling of services; the firm has brought together a range of online services that help customers improve their financial health and it sees rebundling as an important trend that will help to support more comprehensive fintech services for clients. Sponsored Blog Post