Personal financial management (PFM) apps have had a bad few months with Prosper shutting down Prosper Daily and Capital One closing Level Money; but banks in general are still looking for ways to provide customers with their financial health; a research report by Celent in July points out that while apps are closing, banks are beginning to integrate some of the features from PFM apps; instead of sending customers to a third party app they offer the features within their own app or website as part of the everyday customer experience; Cesar Richardson, vice president for Strands America, tells American Banker: "There's no separate path. It's inside your day-to-day banking." Source
The partnership will focus on Money360 providing pre-arranged financing options for eligible commercial properties listed for auction on the Ten-X platform; financing options on these properties will be transparently disclosed on the platform and Money360 will work with buyers to complete the underwriting, processing and closing of the loan; the partnership expands deal flow of commercial properties for Money360, which utilizes technology to enable commercial real estate loan transactions from $1 million to $20 million. Source
Discusses the provisions of the Protecting Consumers Access to Credit Act of 2017; says the legislation which seeks to fix Madden v. Midland will cause increased predatory lending; bill is based on valid when made doctrine and author discusses the consumer protections involved in loans that are transacted after issuance. Source
Banks of all stripes have recently shown that a slowdown to the recovery might be coming; total loans and leases by banks and other insured institutions rose by just 3.7% from a year earlier at the end of June; this compared to 6.7% growth in total loans and leases last year; credit-card charge-offs, grew by 24.5% in the second quarter, marking the seventh straight quarterly increase; with the recovery being in its ninth year it isn't too surprising to see, FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said in a statement; the 5,800 banks that the FDIC monitors are doing quite well though, their combined net profits in the second quarter were up 10.7% from a year earlier. Source
Prosper tightened its credit underwriting in July resulting in a shift toward lower risk loans; the changes caused a total portfolio coupon decrease of 45 basis points and a return estimate decrease of 26 basis points; reported lower charge-off levels from 2016H2 loans and higher delinquencies from loans issued in 2016 and 2017; C-rated loans accounted for the greatest portion of the total portfolio at 31.54%; estimated weighted average return for the month was 7.75%. Source
Pymnts.com talks with OnDeck executives and reports on alternative lending volumes; online small business lender OnDeck has loaned more than $7 billion to merchants since 2007; OnDeck Chief Revenue Officer Andrea Gellert and Vice President of Marketing and Communications Jim Larkin provide insights on the lending market and OnDeck's lending processes; discuss OnDeck's partnership with JPMorgan and how collaboration is benefiting small and medium size business. Source
PitchIt winner Nova Credit presents their company's solution to build what they call the Nova Credit Passport; a cross border credit reporting agency that connects to leading credit bureaus through a single API; PitchIt 2017 was a competition for fintech startups, in exclusive partnership with global venture capital fund 500 Startups, the world leader in investing in and mentoring early-stage fintech startups. Source
Amazon is fast becoming the financial services company of the future; they now have their hands in payments, cash, small business lending, consumer credit and more; partnerships with companies like USAA and Capital One who use Amazon's Alexa digital assistant have emerged; this all shows the threat Amazon poses to traditional banking giants, though there has been no indication they want to become a bank themselves; JPMorgan Chase has started using Amazon's cloud-based AWS service to build a hybrid private-public cloud strategy; AWS sales increased 42% on a year-over-year basis to $4.1 billion for the second quarter; banks are starting to become technology firms and technology firms are helping to change the way banks operate. Source
In a press release SoFi shared that members have cumulatively paid off over $5 billion in credit card debt; members reduced their effective interest rate by 42% and saw credit scores rise by 17 points on average; SoFi borrowers can borrow up to $100,000 and choose a term of three, five or seven years; over 70% of borrowers report using funds for credit card refinancing and loan consolidation. Source
The SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy has issued an alert to investors, warning them about potential scams with companies claiming to be involved with ICOs; according to the report, fraudsters may use new technology such as ICOs to defraud customers in various ways; discusses recent trading suspensions, pump-and-dump, market manipulations and tips for investors. Source