Lending Club (as a lender) (1 Viewer)

[John Bender]

Looking for a way to make some money while my savings just sits there and CDs don't seem to yield great rates these days, and I know nothing about stocks.

A close friend who works for Nasdaq suggested LendingClub.com

Looks intriguing. Any personal experiences on the boards?

 

[Ignoratio Elenchi]

I dumped a tiny bit of money in a couple years ago, just to see what it was all about. I wouldn't really recommend it.

Put your money in some index funds.

 

[fantasycurse42]

Stay away! Gave it a shot, lost almost 15% of my investment.

 

[mquinnjr]

I've heard of this, just never pursued it.

I'd absolutely use this vehicle amongst FBG members/people I'd trust over others.

Thanks for posting JB, let's see if this has legs.

 

[John Bender]

Stay away! Gave it a shot, lost almost 15% of my investment.

How diverse were your investments?

 

[jon_mx]

Unless it is a hot Asian chick, stay away from the lending business.

 

[17seconds]

Guy at work was talking about this over lunch. He's been doing it for a year and a half and getting 10%. He says the analytics on the site are really good and looking at it myself they have good key info on the borrower before you select a note. Tells you if they own or rent, their debt-to-income ratio, their credit score, and their verified income.

The great majority of the loans are people doing debt consolidation to stop getting fleeced by CC company's >15%+ rates.

Seems a nice spot to put some money to work. If you are in 100+ notes I imagine the risk is fairly small, and you can do that with $2500 to start.

 

[fantasycurse42]

Stay away! Gave it a shot, lost almost 15% of my investment.

How diverse were your investments?

Exactly as it was recommended - A bunch of low cost loans spread out.

 

[fantasycurse42]

Guy at work was talking about this over lunch. He's been doing it for a year and a half and getting 10%. He says the analytics on the site are really good and looking at it myself they have good key info on the borrower before you select a note. Tells you if they own or rent, their debt-to-income ratio, their credit score, and their verified income.

The great majority of the loans are people doing debt consolidation to stop getting fleeced by CC company's >15%+ rates.

Seems a nice spot to put some money to work. If you are in 100+ notes I imagine the risk is fairly small, and you can do that with $2500 to start.

The ROI analysis is fudged - You need to do the math yourself.

In theory it is a good idea, but my experience was poor. Give it a shot yourself and let us know, maybe I just got unlucky.

 

[17seconds]

Guy at work was talking about this over lunch. He's been doing it for a year and a half and getting 10%. He says the analytics on the site are really good and looking at it myself they have good key info on the borrower before you select a note. Tells you if they own or rent, their debt-to-income ratio, their credit score, and their verified income.

The great majority of the loans are people doing debt consolidation to stop getting fleeced by CC company's >15%+ rates.

Seems a nice spot to put some money to work. If you are in 100+ notes I imagine the risk is fairly small, and you can do that with $2500 to start.

The ROI analysis is fudged - You need to do the math yourself.

In theory it is a good idea, but my experience was poor. Give it a shot yourself and let us know, maybe I just got unlucky.

How exactly did you lose 15% if you were in 100+ notes? You must have had a >25% default rate?

 

[fantasycurse42]

Guy at work was talking about this over lunch. He's been doing it for a year and a half and getting 10%. He says the analytics on the site are really good and looking at it myself they have good key info on the borrower before you select a note. Tells you if they own or rent, their debt-to-income ratio, their credit score, and their verified income.

The great majority of the loans are people doing debt consolidation to stop getting fleeced by CC company's >15%+ rates.

Seems a nice spot to put some money to work. If you are in 100+ notes I imagine the risk is fairly small, and you can do that with $2500 to start.

The ROI analysis is fudged - You need to do the math yourself.

In theory it is a good idea, but my experience was poor. Give it a shot yourself and let us know, maybe I just got unlucky.

How exactly did you lose 15% if you were in 100+ notes? You must have had a >25% default rate?

They can pay in installments - Just bc someone pays X, lending club doesn't consider it a default until X amount of time, even though it is clearly a default.

Their analytics fudge the numbers a little, the way they track everything. I had a bad experience and walked away down over $300 - Like I said, give it a shot and let me know how it works out, maybe I was just unlucky.

 

[17seconds]

Guy at work was talking about this over lunch. He's been doing it for a year and a half and getting 10%. He says the analytics on the site are really good and looking at it myself they have good key info on the borrower before you select a note. Tells you if they own or rent, their debt-to-income ratio, their credit score, and their verified income.

The great majority of the loans are people doing debt consolidation to stop getting fleeced by CC company's >15%+ rates.

Seems a nice spot to put some money to work. If you are in 100+ notes I imagine the risk is fairly small, and you can do that with $2500 to start.

The ROI analysis is fudged - You need to do the math yourself.

In theory it is a good idea, but my experience was poor. Give it a shot yourself and let us know, maybe I just got unlucky.

How exactly did you lose 15% if you were in 100+ notes? You must have had a >25% default rate?

They can pay in installments - Just bc someone pays X, lending club doesn't consider it a default until X amount of time, even though it is clearly a default.

Their analytics fudge the numbers a little, the way they track everything. I had a bad experience and walked away down over $300 - Like I said, give it a shot and let me know how it works out, maybe I was just unlucky.

Still thinking about it... Seems the best use is if you have some extra savings you want to put to work and won't be touching for a while.

You tie it up for few years so you can make a little bit of extra money each month. $10K typically gives you about ~$80/mo (gross) I believe. You can only invest 10% of your net worth, so people aren't getting rich.

 

[fantasycurse42]

Guy at work was talking about this over lunch. He's been doing it for a year and a half and getting 10%. He says the analytics on the site are really good and looking at it myself they have good key info on the borrower before you select a note. Tells you if they own or rent, their debt-to-income ratio, their credit score, and their verified income.

The great majority of the loans are people doing debt consolidation to stop getting fleeced by CC company's >15%+ rates.

Seems a nice spot to put some money to work. If you are in 100+ notes I imagine the risk is fairly small, and you can do that with $2500 to start.

The ROI analysis is fudged - You need to do the math yourself.

In theory it is a good idea, but my experience was poor. Give it a shot yourself and let us know, maybe I just got unlucky.

How exactly did you lose 15% if you were in 100+ notes? You must have had a >25% default rate?

They can pay in installments - Just bc someone pays X, lending club doesn't consider it a default until X amount of time, even though it is clearly a default.Their analytics fudge the numbers a little, the way they track everything. I had a bad experience and walked away down over $300 - Like I said, give it a shot and let me know how it works out, maybe I was just unlucky.

Still thinking about it... Seems the best use is if you have some extra savings you want to put to work and won't be touching for a while.

You tie it up for few years so you can make a little bit of extra money each month. $10K typically gives you about ~$80/mo (gross) I believe. You can only invest 10% of your net worth, so people aren't getting rich.

In theory it makes a lot if sense, in practice it failed me.

I also used them over 2.5 years ago, so maybe they have improved, or maybe I just got unlucky .

 

[ArbyMelt]

I have been doing it for 6 months, 75 loans, and 2 are now 60 days late. Been mostly doing 14-18% loans, $25-50 a loan.

Jury is still out before I throw more money at it.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

I've heard of this, just never pursued it.

I'd absolutely use this vehicle amongst FBG members/people I'd trust over others.

Thanks for posting JB, let's see if this has legs.

What kind of rates you offering

 

[Ignoratio Elenchi]

Guy at work was talking about this over lunch. He's been doing it for a year and a half and getting 10%. He says the analytics on the site are really good and looking at it myself they have good key info on the borrower before you select a note. Tells you if they own or rent, their debt-to-income ratio, their credit score, and their verified income.

The great majority of the loans are people doing debt consolidation to stop getting fleeced by CC company's >15%+ rates.

Seems a nice spot to put some money to work. If you are in 100+ notes I imagine the risk is fairly small, and you can do that with $2500 to start.

The ROI analysis is fudged - You need to do the math yourself.

In theory it is a good idea, but my experience was poor. Give it a shot yourself and let us know, maybe I just got unlucky.

How exactly did you lose 15% if you were in 100+ notes? You must have had a >25% default rate?

They can pay in installments - Just bc someone pays X, lending club doesn't consider it a default until X amount of time, even though it is clearly a default.Their analytics fudge the numbers a little, the way they track everything. I had a bad experience and walked away down over $300 - Like I said, give it a shot and let me know how it works out, maybe I was just unlucky.

Still thinking about it... Seems the best use is if you have some extra savings you want to put to work and won't be touching for a while.

You tie it up for few years so you can make a little bit of extra money each month. $10K typically gives you about ~$80/mo (gross) I believe. You can only invest 10% of your net worth, so people aren't getting rich.

In theory it makes a lot if sense, in practice it failed me.

I also used them over 2.5 years ago, so maybe they have improved, or maybe I just got unlucky .

Your experience sounds like mine, though I ended up pretty close to breaking even when it was all said and done.

I don't remember the details but I also recall finding that their numbers were full of ####. The ROI they claimed you were getting was inflated somehow.

 

[elbowrm]

I'm curious about this as well - any updates on how people are doing who have invested with them? Here's one area where the rake may get you:

Collection Fee

When borrowers miss payments and loans become late, Lending Club uses best practices from the banking industry to bring delinquent loans back to "current" status. Currently, Lending Club charges investors one of the following collection fees, which is deducted from any amount recovered:1) 18% of the amount recovered if the loan is 16 or more days late and no litigation is involved, or 2) 30% of hourly attorneys' fees, plus costs, if litigation is involved. Lending Club does not charge a collection fee if no payments are collected, and no collection fee will be charged in excess of the amount recovered.

Please note that Lending Club currently charges investors a reduced collection fee, which may be discontinued at any time. The normal collection fee is a percentage of the amount recovered: 30% if the loan is less than 60 days past due and was made to the borrower during the previous 90 days; 35% in all other cases, except litigation; 30% of hourly attorneys' fees in the event of litigation, plus costs.

Lending Club Notes are offered by prospectus filed with the SEC. Please consider the risks of investing.

 

[Clifford]

So this site turns you into a small-time VC?

 

[humpback]

Any more recent experiences?

 

[Johnny Rock]

I'm curious about this as well - any updates on how people are doing who have invested with them? Here's one area where the rake may get you:

Collection Fee

When borrowers miss payments and loans become late, Lending Club uses best practices from the banking industry to bring delinquent loans back to "current" status. Currently, Lending Club charges investors one of the following collection fees, which is deducted from any amount recovered:1) 18% of the amount recovered if the loan is 16 or more days late and no litigation is involved, or 2) 30% of hourly attorneys' fees, plus costs, if litigation is involved. Lending Club does not charge a collection fee if no payments are collected, and no collection fee will be charged in excess of the amount recovered.

Please note that Lending Club currently charges investors a reduced collection fee, which may be discontinued at any time. The normal collection fee is a percentage of the amount recovered: 30% if the loan is less than 60 days past due and was made to the borrower during the previous 90 days; 35% in all other cases, except litigation; 30% of hourly attorneys' fees in the event of litigation, plus costs.

Lending Club Notes are offered by prospectus filed with the SEC. Please consider the risks of investing.

Oof.