... but wait, we're not a bank!  I demand a new category to be created: Best Disruptive/Paradigm Shifting Web Concept. Yes?

On Monday night, Lending Club was awarded the top web honors in the Banking / Bill Paying category at the 15th Annual Webby Awards in New York City. Other nominees in this category were JPMorgan Chase, US Bank, Kashoo and Billeo.

The Webby Awards, hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by The New York Times, are given annually to the best of the web in a variety of categories. Over 10,000 entries were received from 60 countries to gain recognition for websites, interactive advertising & media, online film and video, and mobile & apps. This is the second time Lending Club has been awarded a Webby, originally receiving the award in 2008. This year Lending Club joins big-name winners including Groupon, Mint, Zillow, Pandora, National Geographic, Angry Birds and Dropbox and celebrity sites from Conan O’Brien, Zach Galifianakis and Snoop Dogg.

The best moments of the ceremony award were when Antoine Dodson joined the Gregory Brothers to perform their viral hit live and when Peter Vesterbacka of Angry Birds accepted The Webby Award for Best Mobile Games - Handheld.

As customary, we were asked to deliver a 5-word acceptance speech when receiving the award.  Check it out:

CONTEST: Tell us your alternative 5-word Webby acceptance speech for Lending Club and WIN!

Oh, and to celebrate our win, we will be giving away 5 stainless steel laser-engraved Zippo money clips to the most creative alternative 5-word speech.  Think: "if I had to receive the webby award for Lending Club, what would my 5 words have been?".  Drop us a comment on our Facebook page to participate. Winners to be announced on Friday June 17 around 4pm on our Facebook page.

It is with great pleasure that I share with you the great news:  Lending Club has been nominated for a Webby Award in the Banking/Bill Paying category.  The Webby Award is the most prestigious recognition of web design, innovation, and internet product excellence.

Lending Club is no stranger to the Webbys, having won in 2008 and receiving nominations or honoree designation in both the 2009 and 2010 editions of the famous event.   We are back in 2011 with a new brand and complete website revamp.

It is quite rare for the Webby judges to bring back sites that have won in the past, so we take this nomination with pride and excitement as a recognition of our dedication to product excellence.

The official judges from The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences will select the winner for The Webby Award, while the community (that means you!) will vote for The People's Voice Award. Other nominees in the Banking/Bill Paying category are Chase, US Bank, Kashoo and Billeo.

Please cast your vote for us by April 28th.    Unlike last time we won the award in 2008 when we were going through registration with the SEC, we promise to be loud this time around.

The 15th Annual Webby Award.  VOTE for us now >>

A true measure of a company’s success is not only how big it becomes, but how efficiently and rapidly it grows while continuing to deliver value to its customers.

Lending Club passed the $200 million in personal loans mark in December of 2010 (December 30th to be exact), thus doubling the $100 million mark reached in March of the same year.  In other words, it only took 9 months to double the volume of loan originations reached after 34 months of operations.

In addition, with our investors working together, a new record was set in monthly originations with $14.8 million in issued loans in January 2011 alone, doubling the $7.39 million from January 2010.

The next few weeks will prove to bring forth another milestone, when more than half a billion in personal loans should have been issued through Lending Club and Prosper together.  As of this morning, real time statistics from both Lending Club and Prosper sites showed $223,807,850 and $219,490,725 in funded loans respectively. Check out other Lending Club real time statistics here.

Who has benefited from this success? Our customers. They are regular Americans seeking alternatives for their borrowing and investing needs, and our simple, transparent platform has proven to be a winning proposition for all.

Creditworthy borrowers seeking personal loans can obtain low-rate, fixed-term loans often at rates lower than those offered by traditional banking and credit card institutions for similarly situated borrowers, while investors have consistently gotten access to an investment opportunity that has delivered a platform net annualized return of over 9.5% *.

Need more proof? Since 2007, investors on Lending Club’s platform have received nearly $17.5 million in interest**  and borrowers have saved as much as $5 million in annual interest***  on the more than 22,500 loans issued.

No doubt 2010 was a great year for Lending Club and its customers, and 2011 has already started with a bang.  We look forward with unrestrained optimism for an even better 2011.

@RobGarciaSJ

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* NAR calculated as of January 18, 2011, and is based on the return of the entire platform since inception, your returns may vary.  Currently only residents of the following states may invest in notes: CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, KY (accredited investors only), LA, ME, MN, MO, MS, MT, NH, NV, NY, RI, SC, SD, UT, VA, WA, WI, WV, or WY.

** Total interest paid to investors calculated as of February 16, 2011.

*** Based on Lending Club two week average interest rate of 11.36% for 36 month loans as of February 10, 2011 vs. 13.67% for “all accounts assessed interest” as reported in the FRB G19 release of February 7, 2011 on all loans issued since inception to February 10 2001.

All loans issued by WebBank, a Utah industrial bank.

The Shred Your Credit Card contest is well underway, and with 3 $50 weekly prizes out of the way, it's getting down to the last 2 weeks of the contest.  So what are you waiting for?  Get shredding, blending, slicing, or hammering that pesky credit card.  Not in a destroying mood? Just tell us your debt story and what your plans are for getting credit card debt under control.

Need inspiration? Check out these videos first or read Denver's 9News take on the innovative and fun challenge we are posing to you.

@RobGarciaSJ

This week, SFBeta announced its selection of leading on-line financial services companies to demo during its next event: SFBeta Financial Innovation Edition.

The exclusive list includes established brand names like Mint, Lending Club, Second Market and Zecco, as well as promising new start-ups like Y-combinator's ReadyForZero and FinovateStartup's FeeFighters.  Other companies presenting are DebtGoal, CreditKarma, BillShrink, Credit Sesame,  BillFloat and MyTafi.com.

Don't miss this extraordinary opportunity to meet executives at these leading companies and see their latest product features and releases.  But buy your tickets soon!  Early bird tickets are already gone, and there is very limited space.

What: SFBeta Financial Innovation Edition

Where: Minna Gallery. 111 Minna St., San Francisco, CA 94103

When: Tuesday, January 11, 2010 5-9pm

Tickets: $17.50-25.00 advance purchase, $40 at the door

Buy your tickets now >>

@RobGarciaSJ