The Protecting Consumers’ Access to Credit Act of 2017 was passed by the US House of Representatives. Source
We are quickly approaching LendIt Fintech 2018 which will take place on April 9-11 in San Francisco. Lend Academy shares the three areas of fintech the agenda will focus on and some of the interesting speakers attendees will hear from. Source
The no-action letter shows that the CFPB is open to alternative data being used to expand access to credit data; Upstart will report lending and compliance information to the CFPB to mitigate risk to consumers and aid in the Bureau’s understanding of the real-world impact of alternative data on lending decision making; the no-action letter relates to enforcement of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B; Upstart shares in their application how powerful using data points outside of just credit reports is in reducing borrowing rates. Source
China Rapid Finance has filed for an IPO in the US; it will be the fifth online lender to trade on a public US exchange and the second Chinese online lender to list in the US; Lend Academy provides more details on China Rapid Finance and the IPO in their article; the firm is hoping to raise $100 million from the IPO; it is a peer-to-peer lender matching borrowers with investors and does not lend from its balance sheet; the platform targets underserved consumers and uses thousands of data points from alternative data sources including information on work history, payments, e-commerce, telco, search and social data for its credit underwriting. Source
Peter Renton, Founder of Lend Academy and Co-Founder of LendIt reflects on first interacting with Chris Larsen back in 2010; the co-founder and former CEO of Prosper is now trying to solve a massive multi trillion dollar challenge: enabling instant global payments. Source
A new bill has been introduced in Congress that would mandate the IRS to make their data available via API; the current process for lenders requires borrowers to fill out a form known as IRS 4506-T: Request for Transcript of Tax Return; Lend Academy provides additional information on the bill with thoughts from Congressman McHenry and Nat Hoopes, Executive Director of the Marketplace Lending Association. Source
Ron Suber has been involved with Credible since 2015, investing in both the Series A and Series B rounds as well as acting in an advisory role; Suber will now spend about one day per week helping Credible in a broad range of activities from fundraising to helping the team as the company grows; Credible CEO Stephen Dash noted that despite headwinds many other industry participants faced, Credible continues to grow; Ron Suber will play a role in navigating the growth they expect going forward; the company also announced a pilot for a credit card marketplace which launched today. Source
Lend Academy digs in to the complex topic of valuation with this Q&A piece conducted with Houlihan Lokey. Source
Experian’s Clear Early Risk Score is the first product released since their acquisition of Clarity Services. Source
The Financial Stability Oversight Council's annual report includes a section discussing the risks of marketplace lending. Source