Welcome Swap A Debt!

It appears swapadebt.com is now live.  There is currently only six listings.  Within the next week I hope to get a review up.  Welcome to the world of peer to peer lending Swap A Debt!  Here’s a screenshot:

Is Fynanz Dead?

As of today 12/25 Fynanz.com has no borrowers.  I did an initial review back in November and found only six borrowers.  Over the past month the number has dwindled to zero.  Here were a few problems with the site I noticed during the review on 11/19.  

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.

Credit Reports and LendingClub.com

Well it seems I may have opened my mouth a little too soon.  During a post on 10/30/2008 I reviewed the borrowing process at LendingClub.com.  One of the pros I mentioned was “The loan has never shown up on Experian ( it has been over a year) .  This is great for people wanting to consolidate debt.  Your credit score rises as you use the loan to pay off credit cards and your debt to income percent falls.”

As of today, a year and one month after I recieved a loan from lendingclub.com, they have finally reported to experian.  The loan is categorized as an installment debt with fixed payments which is not a bad hit on the credit score. In fact, after the loan was reported, my score did not budge.  

LendingClub.com did report immediately to transunion and equifax.  Until today, it had seemed that experian was forgotten.  This news should not stop you from consolidating debt with a peer lending site.  If you can receive a loan at a lower interest rate with fixed payments while paying off unsecured revolving debt, your credit score should still rise.

E.M.

LendingClub.com Review – A+

I havn’t fully used the tools available through lendingclub.com.  However, I did go through the process of acquiring a loan.

The Pluses:

1. The application process was a breeze.
2. Direct deposit into checking and direct withdrawal of payments from same account.
3. Interest rate was very good compared to other unsecured loans.
4. The funding process was fast, easy and efficient.
5. Privacy was very good and kept your face and information away from the internet world.
6. Only lending users can view your profile!
7. They set your interest rate – can be positive and negative.  The positive side is that borrowers aren’t being stupid and asking for loans at 30% or higher as seen on other peer lending sites.
8. The loan has never shown up on Experian ( it has been over a year) .  This is great for people wanting to consolidate debt.  Your credit score rises as you use the loan to pay off credit cards and your debt to income percent falls.

The downers

1. Can’t set your own interest rate.  Like above, this is a good thing for people desperate for money and asking for unreasonable interest rates.  However, in other peer lending sites if you can plead a good case and show that you are a responsible borrower, lower rates are possible.
2. Must be registered as a borrower or lender. This is a pain for when I try to do reviews for both the lending and borrowing side.  I will have to resubmit a new application under a different email in order to become a lender.  Many users of p2p lending sites borrow loans at very low rates and re-invest them to other members to make a profit.  LendingClub’s registration process will make re-investing borrowed loans a tad trickier.

LendinClub.com has passed my test with flying colors for the borrowing aspect of their site. Later, I’ll post a review on how I feel about the investing portion.

E.M.

Loanio… oh Loanio!

Loanio… oh Loanio… why did you waste my timio!!  

If you pay attention to peer lending sites, you may have noticed how long Loanio.com made users wait for their grand opening.  They made several announcements of predicted dates of launch, however didn’t follow through.  Well… now they are open and according to their logo allow “Peer Lending For Everyone”. Unfortunately, as it turns out.. it isn’t for everyone.  Most users can lend with the exception of two States. However, most users can’t borrow as seen on their licensing map https://www.loanio.com/statesonmaps. I am positive more States will be open for borrowing as time goes by, however they need to let people know before sign up.  It was a waste of my time to provide all my information to the company just to discover my use of the site was limited.  

Loanio.. oh Loanio.. tell people they can’t use your site before they submit their personal information!  I hope you get your licenses under control because I can’t wait to do a review of your site once I’m allowed to use it.

LendingClub.com is back!

LendingClub.com announced yesterday that they have reopened the investing portion of their website. This is great news especially for those who have existing loans or investments using their service. In late 2007 LendingClub.com froze the investing portion of their site, and did not accept any new registrations. I’ll be posting a review on their service hopefully within a week or two.

“We are delighted to share with you the good news that we have completed our SEC registration and reopened the site to lenders this morning. You can now login to your account and invest by clicking here. What does this registration mean for you? Under the new program, you 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 you have the option of a Trading Platform to put your notes up for sale in the event you need liquidity before the 36-month term of a note. Any new note (issued after October 12, 2008) can be traded on the Trading Platform. You can also buy notes from other lenders.

The Lending Club community has continued to show responsible borrowing behavior over the last 18 months and our collection process has proved very efficient, as demonstrated by the fact that since May 2007 the default rate has remained lower than 2 percent. Please also take the time to review the statistics page to monitor the general evolution of the loan portfolio. ” LendingClub.com