Comments on: Low approval rate: should we be concerned?

By: Renaud

Renaud — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 06:51:35 +0000

Larry, This is a great suggestion, very much in the direction we're
going. We are looking at ways to also take into account the
"trustworthiness" of borrowers outside of (and in addition to)
traditional credit scores, as long as we can clearly separate the
"subjective" information from the credit data and identify both as
such to the lenders. Endorsement by a lender is certainly an
option, but we need to be careful of potential collusion between a
lender and borrower, which could be damageable to the community. We
are also looking at "portable" reputation systems such as Rapleaf
that can help establish trustworthy user ratings. Thank you again
for your suggestion Larry, this is helpful!

By: Larry

Larry — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:43:17 +0000

I feel that the idea of social credit is that the community will
support (moral if nothing else) and shame ( egg on ) the lender to
be responsible. But if the community does not know about the loan,
how will this occur? Perhaps some sort of "social credit score" can
be developed which takes into account the quality of the lender's
support network. Are any very creditworth themselves ( permission
could be ascertained for to determine that). Would they recommend
the person? Is the lender willing to allow broadcasts of their loan
status to these people - good news and bad? These could include
friends, parents friends, etc. This makes it more personal. Perhaps
this would allow a somewhat larger group to quality, those who have
good connections and reputation but haven't proven themselves yet.
When starting out, sometimes that's all you have but it is a pretty
good indication of your potential.

By: Renaud Laplanche

Renaud Laplanche — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 02:46:32 +0000

Stacy, if your credit score is above 640 and your debt-to-income
ratio is under 21%, we should be able to list your loan on Lending
Club. The message you received means that your identity could not
be verified. We verify identity based on Social Security Number and
by asking a few questions that only the person with that SSN would
know the answer to. Let's take this offline: I will ask customer
service to contact you tomorrow, and if you pass the credit
criteria there should be no problem getting you in. Best, Renaud