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:
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
Yesterday morning our CEO, Renaud Laplanche, appeared on Fox Business News and discussed how Lending Club is leading the charge in a rapidly growing peer-to-peer lending space.
Check out Renaud on Fox Business News >>
We all know peer-to-peer lending is a fast growing alternative for those looking for a personal loan. Lending Club offers an easy, confidential and secure way of getting a loan without involving your bank.
On the investors side, Lending Club notes average 9.66% net annualized returns. Lending Club notes are offered by prospectus filed with the SEC.
My favorite part of the interview was when Renaud points out that Lending Club is not an option for those with weak credit histories, but instead, Lending Club is an alternative for creditworthy borrowers. That is, smart borrowers looking to get rates that are often lower than those offered by banks or credit card companies.
Enjoy the interview!
Rob
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We’re thrilled to share the news that, as of this morning, Lending Club has officially issued more than $50 million in personal loans to creditworthy individuals.
As always, our focus is on offering better rates, rewarding responsible and creditworthy borrowers. This has translated in better returns for investors because Lending Club eliminates the high cost and complexity of traditional banks: 9.64% net annualized returns since inception. Notes offered by prospectus.
Reaching this milestone could not have happened without our fantastic investor and borrower community. We thought we’d take this opportunity to share a few other interesting numbers with you. As of this morning, Lending Club has:
- 22,226 investor members,
- processed 46,800 payments from borrowers,
- distributed 2,627,146 payments to investors, and
- paid $3,470,391 in interest to investors.
Oh! And by the way, we will be welcoming our 25,000th investor sometime during the month of September. We are working on a promotion to celebrate this momentous milestone. Stay tuned!
Rob
Today, we're honored to accept a Best in Peer-to-Peer Lending award from Wisebread, among the blogosphere's leading personal finance and frugality publications! Check it out, as along with announcing awards across a range of categories they've also released a new book, 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget wherein Lending Club and other winners are featured:
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.
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