We are happy to report 2 more state clearances came through last week, with South Carolina and Idaho joining the ranks of "Orange" states (i.e., states where Lending Club’s offering has been cleared).

What a perfect opportunity to mention that Idaho is home of the deepest river gorge in North America (Hells Canyon - 7,900 ft deep) and South Carolina saw the first engagement of the American Civil War at Fort Sumter in 1861. Learn more about Idaho and South Carolina at inidaho.com/Fun_Facts_List.asp and thingstodo.com/states/SC/facts.htm.

This brings the total tally to 23 states, namely Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Hawaii, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

See below our updated states map:

More to come…

Another week, another state. We are glad to announce that our new program has been cleared by the State of Washington this week. This is a wonderful opportunity to remind ourselves that Washington state produces more apples than any other state in the union, and has more glaciers than the other 47 contiguous states combined. You can find other fascinating facts about Washington state here.

This brings the total tally to 21 states, namely Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
More to come…

We are happy to report that our offering was cleared by the State of New Hampshire yesterday morning. Lenders who are New Hampshire residents can now buy notes from Lending Club. We have set up a big map in our office that shows weekly progress as state approvals trickle in - here is the smaller version of it:

Other states already cleared include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. We are hoping to keep adding a few states each week for the next few weeks as we get clearance from state authorities, and will post regular updates and notify members directly as the list grows longer.

Keep in mind that state limitations do not apply to the Note Trading Platform operated by FOLIOfn, and all lenders can buy or sell Notes among themselves irrespective of their state of residence.

The Notes are offered by Prospectus.

We were delighted to open our doors to lenders again on Tuesday this week and see hundreds of lenders signing up for the new program in just a few days. In addition to the federal filing with the SEC, we have made a coordinated "blue sky" filing in all 50 states, and state clearances have been trickling in all week, with four new states already added: Hawaii, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

Other states already cleared include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. We are hoping to keep adding a few states each week for the next few weeks as we get clearance from state authorities, and will post regular updates and notify members directly as the list grows longer.

Keep in mind that state limitations do not apply to the Note Trading Platform operated by FOLIOfn, and all lenders can buy or sell Notes among themselves irrespective of their state of residence.

The Notes are offered by Prospectus.

Happy investing, happy trading and have a great weekend!

We announced back in April that we were starting a registration process with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that required us to go into a quiet period. Thank you all for your feedback and support during that period.

Today, we’re delighted to announce that we have completed this process and are now available to both borrowers and lenders. We believe that this SEC registration is a major step forward for the Lending Club community and social lending in general, as it helps establish the space as a investment alternative to the traditional debt instruments and credit products offered by large financial institutions.

What does this registration mean for you, the lenders and borrowers?

• Under the registered offering, Lending Club lenders will now invest in notes that correspond to portions of loans made to borrower members. The notes have stated interest rates ranging from 6.69 percent to 18.63 percent, after a 1 percent service charge is applied.
• By partnering with FOLIOfn Investments, Inc., a registered broker dealer, Lending Club becomes the first social lending network where lenders have the option of a trading platform. On the trading platform, lenders who become customers of FOLIOfn will be able to put notes up for sale in the event they need liquidity before the completed term of a note.
• We believe this will accelerate the mainstream adoption of social lending, which will help more borrowers get funded faster.

The current financial crisis is creating mounting consumer distrust of large financial institutions and causing people to demand an alternative that gives them more control over their personal finances and investments. Lending Club is leading the charge to deliver that alternative by providing a network where lenders can fund loans posted by borrowers.

The Lending Club community has continued to show exceptionally responsible borrowing behavior over the last 18 months, demonstrated by the fact that since May 2007 the default rate has remained lower than 2 percent.

At a time when the financial landscape makes our community even more useful to both lenders and borrowers, we are thrilled to be able to accept new lenders again.

The prospectus filed with the SEC is available here.