We are thrilled to announce the top 15 photographs of our first Lending Club Photo Contest.

More than 250 photos from hundreds of artists were submitted, making the final selection even more arduous...  so arduous, we could not keep it to just 10.

We invite you to vote for your favorite photograph(s) on our Facebook fan page before July 15th, 2010.  To vote, just leave a comment on or "like" the photograph you'd like to see win, directly on our Facebook fan page (you must be a Lending Club Facebook fan to vote).

VOTE NOW>>

Last week, Lending Club unveiled its new financial offering, 5-year Notes, to our fast-growing financial network, rapidly capturing the attention and interest of investors.  These represent 60-month loans made to creditworthy borrowers under the same stringent credit policy that has made our site an attractive investment.

In today's webcast, we have invited our own Rob Garcia, Sr. Director of Product Strategy, to share with us more about 5-year Notes and their benefits to investors:

• More investment options,
• Greater control, and
• The opportunity to earn more interest while diversifying across terms.

Rob will also provide a quick introduction on how peer investing works, an update on Lending Club's growth and performance, and an overview of investor tools.  You'll have the chance to ask questions online and learn about new Lending Club developments. This WebCast is offered at no cost to Lending Club Investors.

Upcoming WebCast: Introducing 5-year Notes

Register Now >>>

Limited space, so save your spot today.
Wednesday, May 19th
3:00pm PT (6:00pm ET)

See you there,
Sam Kasle
Sr Director, Marketing

Yesterday, Lending Club broke the $100mm mark in issued loans with a record high $8,664,750 in consumer loans issued in March alone.  This number represents over 79% of the $10,926,846 in peer-to-peer loans issued in the US in March.

Creditworthy borrowers are increasingly turning to Lending Club for better rates, as an alternative to traditional lending institutions.

Investors looking for a better return have continued to stash their cash in Lending Club Notes and earn over 9.5% net annualized returns (from June 2007 to March 2010).

To celebrate this milestone, we did some research to show you how big $100mm is.

Leave us a comment!  If you had $100mm, what would you do with it?

The Lending Club team

Earlier this month, premier Lending Club investors came together to share investing stories and strategies as well as to celebrate the unveiling of our new website.  Renaud Laplanche, founder and CEO, gave a short presentation outlining Lending Club’s past achievements and a brief walk-through of the new site.

Renaud and other Lending Club team members were on hand to field questions and listen to feedback from some of our most involved investors.   Events of this kind are an essential step in ensuring Lending Club is reaching the goals of our investors and providing the services our investors need.

Ten lucky investors also got a chance to test drive Tesla   Motor’s high performance Roadster, a fully electric sports car that can hit 60 mph in right around 3.9 seconds.

Check out more pictures here >>

See you at our next event!

Sam

Late next week, we will be unveiling a new visual identity and website design, and I am excited to give you a sneak peek.

Our new look will better express our values (trustworthy, transparent, professional yet friendly and accessible) as well as Lending Club’s commitment to innovative financial services.  Our concept is smart and simple, and our new site will reflect that.  Our goal is to make it easier and more engaging for our members to get lower rates and earn better returns.  The new site works harder to help investors better understand our concept, and the most creditworthy borrowers feel more confident in getting a loan at better terms than they would get from a traditional bank.

Our new site offers existing members the same great functionality to track your loan or investments, and will make it easier to develop new features going forward.

We hope you enjoy our new face.  Check back in a week for full access to our redesigned website!

@robgarciasj