The service called FastForward went live today and expands upon a pilot program that the New York State Department of...
In an article from Quartz several stories are outlined sharing how SoFi has helped borrowers get re-employed or negotiate for higher salaries; in one example Joanna Mathews was laid off and called SoFi to get forbearance on her credit consolidation loan which was approved; Joanna was subsequently assigned a counselor to help in the process to find employment, speaking weekly to her counselor; Joanna attended webinars on writing resumes and interviewing, eventually landing 15 interviews; after a three month search Joanna was employed again; in another story a borrower reached out to a SoFi coach for tips on salary negotiation, bargaining for an additional $6,000 per year using tips from SoFi. Source
Millennials and Gen Z consumers are still wary of credit cards and are looking for alternative payment methods; they are...
A recent study by the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center at the George Washington School of Business shows that users...
The market has reported the first securitization of Lending Club prime loans, the Arcadia Receivables Credit Trust (ARCT 2017-1); the portfolio has been priced by Jefferies and is backed by $220 million of Lending Club prime loans as collateral; the loans come from Cirrix Capital's marketplace lending fund which is overseen by Arcadia; the securitization has two tranches which have both received a rating from Kroll Bond Rating Agency; tranche A includes the majority of the loans with $176.9 million in collateral and a BBB rating; tranche B includes $36.75 million in loans with a BB- rating; PeerIQ provides further analysis on the portfolio and how it compares to other similar securitization deals. Source
Anthony Noto will serve as CEO and Director effective March 1; Interim CEO Hutton stated, “We are simply thrilled to have found someone of Anthony’s expertise and knowledge to lead SoFi. The SoFi board unanimously agrees that Anthony’s deep understanding of technology, consumer, and financial businesses make him the perfect fit to be SoFi’s CEO. We could not be more excited to have someone of his caliber on board.”; Noto has previous experience as COO of Twitter and also worked for Goldman Sachs. Source
Writing an opinion piece in American Banker Jonah Crane, a fintech advisor, points out that the CFPB and other regulators need to keep a watchful eye on the data sharing guidance; the rules are currently non binding but offer the regulators a chance to use current oversight power to enforce egregious violations; ensuring a level playing field and working with industry players can help not only consumers but regulators better understand how data sharing can be done is the most beneficial way. Source.
The Federal Open Market Committee raised its target for the federal funds rate to 0.50% to 0.75% at its December meeting; Fed officials also signaled a more aggressive approach for rate increases in 2017 with projections showing the potential for three more rate increases next year; improvements in the labor market, positive GDP growth and stable inflation were key market factors for the rate increase. Source
Stagnant spending is not only slowing the overall economic picture but it is also cutting a big revenue driver for...
Digital only banking startups are finding it hard to scale as their offerings are similar to incumbent banks but with some better tech; with the amount of companies starting to increase these banks should think of focusing on a particular niche to get greater traction says Satya Patel, a partner at VC firm Homebrew; customer acquisition costs and a viable revenue model are two of the biggest barriers for companies; online lenders like SoFi have started to offer banking services on top of lending as a means to offer customers more products after providing an initial service. Source.