I can’t blame the lenders for avoiding this site for now. WikiLoan should advise their borrowers of reasonable rates based on their credit scores. LendingClub sets the rates, and prosper shows lenders how likely their loan will be funded for a range of rates.

WikiLoan now appears to be live.  Their website is allowing registrations and is communicating this time through email.  There are currently fourteen new listings for loans that look legit, not just test listings.  None of the listings have any funding yet maybe due to lack of investors.

WikiLoan.com screenshot

Also, Wikiloan.com is now trading on the OTC and progress can be monitored using ticker WKLI.OB.  Currently trading at .20 cents.

WikiLoan trading as WKLI.OB

We will keep an eye on the progress of WikiLoan.com and run a review once the site begins to fullfill lending demands.

Personally, I’ve always felt prosper was an investors haven.  Their rates are considerably higher than the competition leading to better returns.  However, if you’re a borrower, look out!  I’ve invested with prosper with great success and have tried their borrowing side.  Borrowing was a disaster.  First of all their credit scoring is a mystery.  The past two reports prosper pulled gave me a D score and an AA score with no change on my experian credit report.  The AA Score allowed me to borrow at a great 5.89% which is slightly higher than my credit union. However, with the D score I received the first attempt, I was looking at a rate of 19.99% which I would not even attempt a test run with.

The site is once again friendly and easy to use for both investors and borrowers.  My suggestion with the re-release of prosper to borrowers is to keep trying a new credit pull each month (THEY DO NOT MAKE HARD HITS ON YOUR CREDIT REPORT. THIS WILL NOT AFFECT YOUR CREDIT SCORE).  If you are shocked by a low credit rating, don’t attempt to receive a loan with a high interest rate.  Peer lending is a fun new innovation, but be smart and don’t get stuck with an interst rate higher than your local banks.  Try again next month and see if your credit rating jumps like mine did from D- AA.  I can’t explain the difference but can tell you the difference between 19.99 to 5.89 was considerable.

Welcome back prosper!

Personally, if I were to start a new peer 2 peer lending website, I would keep potential users updated on progress.  It would be nice to have a simple statement on the homepage that the site is still under construction.  How about an email confirmation after a customer registers for an account?  Heck, how about leaving the under construction intro page?  Your site is frozen, not functional, and lacking news related information.  

E.M.

Select “P2P Borrowers and Lenders” and you are only able to log into your account.  If you are a lender and click on browse borrowers, you are sent back to the beginning.  You can’t do anything in your account.  The only thing I was capable of doing was transfer funds and visit their “help” section.  In the “help” section they don’t mention anything about shutting down.  What a joke!

The only message on their site that confirms they are not doing business  is; “We are currently not accepting new borrower applications.” You can only find this message when you try to become a registered borrower.

The other option on their main page is for financial institutions.  From what I see, fynanz.com has turned into a company which offers student loan platforms for other financial institutions. Basically, they create a student loan site for another company.  

“Are you a financial institution interested in establishing a private student loan program?

If so, Fynanz can help!

The Fynanz Student Lending Platform is a turn-key, web based solution that allows you to penetrate the growing private student loan market.”

Goodbye to peer lending fynanz.com.

1 – No borrowers!! In fact as of 11/19/2008 there is a total of SIX borrowers. (None Today!)
2 – These are long term loans – there is no sale of the note for the initial year and only a possibility of option to sell the note later.. but no promise according to Fynanz.com
3 – With so little borrowers I do not see the “guaranteed fund” to be fully capable of repaying defaulted loans.
4 – There are many states that Fynanz.com is not currently licensed with.. they claim they will be adding more with time. Here’s a link to the states they are currently able to do business with -http://www.fynanz.com/help/state_licenses
5 – Low interest rates to lenders compared to other P2P lending sites.
6 – High interest rates for borrowers compared to other student loan options. Fynanz.com warns borrowers that government loans are more beneficial. “Borrowers: Before considering an OpenLoan, please exhaust federal loans, which in most cases will cost less.”

No Borrowers = No Lending = No Revenue = No Profit = DEAD 

Fynanz.com has a huge barrier to jump in order to stay a float.  Hopefully the lack of borrowers is due to the end of fall semester.  However, they better make some changes.. and do it fast!

E.M.

The thing that I have a hard time understanding is why Loanio even opened their doors for business.  They delayed the grand opening multiple times… opened shop… just to close it two months later.   Hopefully while they stand idle, they get licensing for more states.   I figure if you’re going to have a grand.. grand.. reopening, truly have “Peer Lending For Everyone”.  Good Luck Loanio.com!

“Loanio, Inc. has suspended its business activities so that we may begin the process of registering our promissory notes with the appropriate securities authorities. Please be advised that effective immediately, Loanio will no longer be accepting registration from lenders or borrowers or accepting new loan requests until further notice. We appreciate your understanding and patience during this “quiet period” and hope to reopen for business as soon as possible. 

During this period we will not be responding to press, blogs, or other member inquiries specifically related to the suspension of business. However, if you have questions related to your account, loans, or any other related issues, you may contact us, as always, by logging into your account and creating a customer support ticket. ” Loanio.com

-Interest rates will be raised by .75%  ranging from 6.69% – 19.37%.

-Processing Fee will be raised by .75% for borrowers.

-Minimum fico score for borrowers is now 660. 

This change will not effect lenders and only create larger returns on the investment. Here’s the original announcement:

“Hope all is well.  There are a few changes becoming effective today that matter to you as a lender:

Minimum FICO score raised to 660

As the economy continues to slow down and create additional risks in the lower FICO bands, we are tightening our credit policy.  To ensure a higher quality of loan applications is available to you as a lender, we are raising the minimum FICO score to 660. Simultaneously, we are increasing our marketing spend on qualified lead generation channels to ensure a sustained flow of borrower applications with no decrease in the quantity of applications available on the site.

Interest rate increase by 0.75%, taking the average rate to 13.80%

In response to the same market conditions, we have increased our base rate by 0.75% for all grades other than A, by 0.25% for A4 and A5 grades and left it unchanged for A1-A3 loans. Interest rates, after deducting our service charge of 1%, now vary from 6.69% to 19.37% with an average of 13.80%. 

Note that we are also increasing the processing fees charged to borrowers by an average of 0.75%. The additional revenue will fuel continued investments in Website development, collections and loan servicing, and general operations.” LendingClub.com

E.M