UK consumer lending platforms reported originations of 154 million British pounds ($191.81 million) in January which topped a previous high in September 2016; Zopa led UK consumer lenders in January with originations of 80 million British pounds ($99.64 million); other consumer lenders contributing to the January record included RateSetter, Lending Works, Funding Secure and Lendable. Source
The BBC reports on the practices of internet lenders, noting that borrowers should be cautious when searching for online loans in order to protect their credit scores; TSB says some loan providers issue a hard inquiry for a loan price or quote which can harm borrowers who are only considering loan options; the bank is lobbying for more regulated practices and says, "Personal loans providers must agree never to perform a hard credit check until the customer chooses to actually purchase a loan in full knowledge of the price being offered." Source
Dynamic Credit is an asset manager that started in New York but has strong European ties; they have launched their...
LendingPoint has closed two securitizations, one composed of direct to consumer loans and the other of point of sale loans;...
UK consumer lender Lending Works has lent over GBP50 million ($62.68 million) to UK consumers, also reporting over 10,000 clients; the firm's success has been helped by the launch of its innovative finance individual savings account which reported investments of approximately GBP1.5 million ($1.88 million) in the first 24 hours and has accumulated investments of over GBP8.8 million ($11.04 million) since February 2017; the firm's chief executive says it expects to reach originations of GBP100 million ($125.36 million) very soon; business growth is also expected to be helped by a new loan offering partnership with Revolut. Source
Upgrade has launched for consumer lending; Lend Academy provides details on the platform's fundraising, lending criteria and lending structure; Renaud Laplanche has raised $60 million for the new company; its loans will focus on high credit quality borrowers with low debt-to-income and minimum monthly free cash flow of $1,000; loans range from $2,000 to $50,000; the platform will be partnering with WebBank for loan originations and will then acquire the loans and sell them to institutional investors with some portion of the loans retained on the firm's balance sheet. Source
Recent research shows that younger consumers are uncomfortable with carrying credit card balances; consumers are more comfortable with products like personal loans that are more transparent and easier to understand; there has been an increased interest in point of sale financing; one company driving this trend is GreenSky which partners with banks to fund loans; the proportion of consumer loans going to point of sale financing has increased significantly at banks that partner with GreenSky including Regions, Synovus and Fifth Third. Source
We are living in times of extremes, particularly when it comes to economic data, and this is reflected in the...
Marlette Funding has filed for a new securitization portfolio, Marlette Funding Trust 2017-1; the portfolio details were filed by Marlette Funding Depositor Trust; associated parties include Deutsche Bank Securities, Citigroup Global Markets and Goldman Sachs; the portfolio will contain unsecured consumer loans originated by Marlette. Source
Kroll Bond Rating Agency has assigned ratings for Avant's most recent securitization deal; the portfolio includes three tranches of consumer notes valued at $192.6 million; ratings for each of the three tranches are included in the chart above and range from A- to BB. Source