Posted by Lending Club :: January 27, 2010 @ 5:00 am

I did not expect to be reminiscing about 2009 this early in the new year.  But I now find myself looking back and marveling at how Lending Club went from half-operating in 2008, to getting through the registration process with the SEC in October of 2008, to then become a world leader in peer-to-peer lending in 2009 due to a hugely successful year.

In 2009, Lending Club originated nearly $52 million dollars in loans while we turned away almost half a billion dollars in demand.   In December 2009 alone, Lending Club issued $7.1 million dollars in loans, more than 3 times the rest of the US industry combined (Total US P2P loan origination volume was $9.32 million dollars in December 2009).

In 2009, we accomplished other major feats:

• We hit $500 Million in loan demand
• Our Average Net Annualized returns remained above 9%
• We Launched the first and only No-Fee IRA for P2P investors
• We revolutionized the p2p investing user experience with new investor tools

All this growth and success were created by and for you, our community of savvy investors and borrowers, who continue to earn better-than-average returns or save hundreds of dollars on your monthly loan payments.

So what does 2010 have in store for us?  I believe that in 2010 we will continue to accelerate growth.  We feel that peer lending has reached a level of maturity, operates at a level of transparency and has a track record that makes it ready for prime time.  We are not the only ones that believe this fact, Gartner predicts that “[b]y 2013, P2P lending will soar at least 66 per cent to $5 billion of outstanding loans.”  See full report

So hop on, sign up if you haven’t already, and let’s make 2010 another great year to remember in 2011.

@RobGarciaSJ