Comments on: Lending Club Review – Peer to Peer (P2P) Lending Explained

By: Tillmangirl72

Tillmangirl72 — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:01:00 +0000

that sounds high..

By: GIC

GIC — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 06:02:26 +0000

I am newbie in blogging ( prefer crunching numbers :) ) but I really like the idea of p2p lending so I will definitely need to spend more time networking. So here is the story:

Partner and me ( accountant and engineer ) are raising capital for a small RE investment fund ( up to $400K ). about 30% of the fund will be own by us and rest will be funded from outside. We both have excellent credit scores, experience with investing, both owning a rental properties.

So if there are people interesting in investing let us know. Our estimate is about 10% return on investment. ( are plans are pretty conservative with this invest. fund )… it is planned to be a safe long term investment.

Also it will be minimum amount that can be invested because no way that we can chat with every person willing to invest $25 in the fund.

I am also thinking to open an account at Prosper and Lending Club ( I think that will increase trust with other folks…)

Let me know.

Thanks!

By: Carter

Carter — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 01:00:47 +0000

I REALLY like the P2P concept. The only issue is when borrowers don’t perform. I recently learned about www.money360.com, and I love this model because it blends the P2P model with secured real estate lending. Same rates as other P2P sites…but you actually get secured collateral! Smart idea.

By: Investor Junkie

Investor Junkie — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 02:15:44 +0000

Hi Missy,

I’ve been a Lending Club investor for over 18 months now. I have over $5k invested and getting 12.40% NAR. If interested I review Lending Club on my site.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:53:55 +0000

Lending Club can be a great source. But it can take a while for bids to come in. Before going this direction I suggest trying for a regular loan first. If you are confused on where to start i would try. lifehousefunding.com they were able to get me a 25k loan at 9.25%. It only took about a week.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 21:53:26 +0000

Anita,

You are right. There are bad sorts out there and there may be some who only want to defraud you of your money. You’re forgetting one important thing though. Defaulting on this type of loan is not without penalty. If a borrower defaults, their credit rating will tank.

So far, I’ve only had $97.00 dollars default over the 2 years I’ve used Lending Club, I’ve purchased about 170K in notes, and I’ve received thousands of dollars in interest as a return on my investment.

Yes, I think there is risk involved with investing in Lending club, but I think that risk can be managed.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 04:23:13 +0000

@thriftygal,

Your loan may give someone the break they need (in interest rate) if they are trying to consolidate to get rid of credit card debt.

By: Phil

Phil — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:57:54 +0000

They’re not strict about where you’re from ;) wink wink!!

By: Missy

Missy — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 01:37:16 +0000

Hi, Erik:

Just following up on this article. I wanted to know if you’re currently (or did ever) use the Lending Club as an investor? If so, can you update and let us know how it fared for you.

I’m thinking of trying them as a micro investor with small loans, but am looking around for more feedback from other users.

Also it seems several things have changed since you last wrote this article, I read on the site one can now sell their notes for quicker liquidity.

Look forward to your reply.

Cheers,
Missy

By: Low Interest Rate Credit Options Abound - Which is Right for You? | Darwin's Finance

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:51:26 +0000

[...] if you live in a state that is able to work within the confines of Lending Club. Check out this Lending Club review for more [...]

By: Mac

Mac — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:32:14 +0000

Good point. It would take a long time to recover your investments as the borrowers have a commitment to pay back the loans, which could take some time. I don’t see this as a disadvantage however, as it forces the investor to be patient and avoids the desire to move money around too much (as I’ve done with my 401k in the past).

By: Efren

Efren — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:13:27 +0000

Oh, I almost have forgotten way back in the Philippines I’ve joined a lending club similar to this and the downside really is the period where your money is locked for a certain period i.e. 3 years. The advise i can give is to put only the real disposable money.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:04:05 +0000

I have about $500 invested with Lending Club. I started out with only $50 ($25 mine/ $25 their bonus) I’ve been upping it at $25 per month, just to experiment and see where it goes. So far it’s been great. I’m averaging at 9.66% rate of return, and there have been no late payments are defaults. One loan got paid off in full early. I’ve kept my loans to low risk A loans and a few B grade loans.

The one big downside I see is that this money is not liquid. You cannot cash out quickly, and it will take 3 years to get all your money and interest back. It’s a longterm commitment. I’m considering making mine a Roth IRA and letting Lending Club take up my bond portion of my portfolio.

By: Mac

Mac — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:57:30 +0000

I just glanced at the “current State and Financial Suitability conditions”, but they don’t check if you qualify…as long as you live in one of the required states, it seems that you can invest just fine.

By: Joy

Joy — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 05:55:09 +0000

I love the idea of Lending Club and I’ve heard a lot of good things. It seems like a wonderful idea to me. Unfortunately I live in a state where I can neither participate in the direct market nor the note trading platform. Bummer.

By: Dale Wyrick

Dale Wyrick — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 16:13:11 +0000

I read the rules for being an investor. They expect you to have a significant working capital and a large sum of assets to participate.

maybe when I am better off financially I will come back to the program. For now, I do not qualify.

I recommend everyone read the “fine print” before participating.

By: Linda

Linda — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:34:22 +0000

Lending club isn’t actually available in Canada- nor have I heard of any other peer-to-peer lending operations similar to that which are currently up and operational.

By: Efren

Efren — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 07:28:17 +0000

What an innovative way to invest and borrow money. I guess what we must have here is a clear conscience and an honest disposition if we are to borrow so that others would also benefit from this altenative loan facility. Let us help one another. Kudos to the people who thought and made this possible.

By: Greg G

Greg G — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 07:28:16 +0000

The risks at lendingclub are not as high as one might expect.
Lending Club divides your choices into A, B, C, D, or E rated borrowers. (“A” being the highest fico’s and lowest rate of return)
Their A, and B borrows have something like less than 1 percent default rate.
Compare this with the volatility of the stock market and in my opinion the risk is actually quite minimal on lending club. I am seeing a 10 percent return even though i am restricting my lending to only A and B class borrowers. This is a rate that compares favorable with the S & P 500 10 year average.

i have only invested a few hundred dollars into lending club so far, but im quite prepared to convert my account into an Roth IRA, where i will devote about 50% of my savings to LendingClub. I feel a LOT better investing in borrowers who would otherwise be pillaged at a much higher rate at our unethical big banks and credit card companies. Believe it or not Lending Club is actually a much more ethical model than either the stock market, or traditional banking for that matter. Big banks, along with the stock market, operate with utter disregard and apparent disdain for the welfare of the nation as a whole. Amen to lendingclub.

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:44:14 +0000

I would have appreciated a disclaimer in your post about the restrictions for investors. Living in Ohio means I’m out of luck to begin with, and the other investor requirements may come back to bite a lot of people later.