Articles by deBanked Staff
Nude Photos Used as Collateral for Loans, Leak
December 2, 2016Perhaps the only thing worse than sending a nude photo of yourself to a lender as collateral is learning that the photo had been leaked on to the internet. In China, some online lenders hold on to nude photos of their borrowers (typically women) to use as leverage to pay up. If they don’t, the photos may be distributed to the borrower’s friends and family members to shame them. While this practice is certainly not common, about 10 gigabytes worth of such photos from loan platform Jiedaibao were leaked on to the internet recently, according to People’s Daily
Jiedaibao says that loans with such terms are private peer-to-peer loans that they can’t regulate. “We have called the police and collected evidence to protect the company’s reputation. Those who leaked the nude pictures will be punished according to law,” they said in a public response.
Chinese regulators have been working hard to address the growth of p2p lending after investors have lost billions through fraud. P2P lender Ezubao for example, turned out to be a $7.6 billion ponzi scheme. Meanwhile, Moodys reported that by the end of last year, a whopping 800 p2p loan platforms in China had already failed or were facing liquidity issues. In response, banking regulators want all p2p lenders to register with the government.
Bitcoin-based P2P Lending Platform BitLendingClub Shuts Down
December 2, 2016BitLendingClub (not to be confused with Lending Club) has shut down their bitcoin-based p2p lending platform, citing regulatory pressure. A message posted on their website says, “over the last year or so, the regulatory pressures has been increasing to the point that it is no longer feasible to maintain the operation of the platform. We are regretfully announcing that we will have to begin terminating the services effective immediately.”
BitLendingClub received a $200,000 seed investment from European VC fund LAUNCHub just two years ago. The company changed its name to LoanBase in September 2015 but then changed it back only a few months ago.
This was no small experiment either. Kiril Gantchev, BitLendingClub’s CEO, claims on his LinkedIn profile that the company made more than 10,000 loans worth more than $8 million dollars, originating from 90 countries. The company’s website claims an average APR of 192% and a default rate of nearly 12%.
In March however, the company stopped lending to people in several countries including Iran, Ireland and Nigeria due to elevated fraudulent activity.
It’s unclear what “regulatory pressures” caused them to shut down but the company appears to have been operating from San Francisco despite originally incorporating in Bulgaria. A search for a California lending license connected to them yielded no results. After the US, the country with the 2nd most borrowers on the platform was Venezuela followed by Brazil, the UK and India.
“Investors should understand the risks involved when making bitcoin loans,” their website warned. “The main risks are default and failure to collect.” they added.
The Trump Effect and Bank Partnerships: Noah Breslow Chimes in on BloombergTV
November 30, 2016On BloombergTV in Canada, OnDeck CEO Noah Breslow answered questions about a Trump presidency, rising interest rates, and the future of bank partnerships. “Online lending is a secular trend that’s not going away,” Breslow said. “Any product that can be delivered over the internet will be delivered over the internet and money is the ultimate digital product.”
Watch the clip below:
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Brief: LendIt Brings First Fintech Awards to the Industry
November 28, 2016
Marketplace lending conference LendIt, has announced the first fintech industry awards and is inviting nominations to recognize top-performing companies and executives.
Nominations are now being accepted (closes December 21st) for 18 different categories including executive of the year, fintech woman of the year, emerging consumer lending platform and most innovative bank. The award ceremony will be held during LendIt’s 2017 conference in March.
“The lending industry is entering its 2.0 phase, after maturing in 2016,” said Peter Renton, co-founder and chairman of LendIt in a statement. “As we seek to connect the global online lending community and foster innovation and industry growth, we must recognize those that are making the biggest contributions and innovations and moving our industry forward.”
The entries will be judged by a panel of 30+ industry experts including Gilles Gade, CEO of Cross River Bank, Glenn Goldman of Credibly, and Angela Ceresnie, COO of ClimbCredit.
Goldman Sachs Goes After Online Lenders With Video Ads
November 25, 2016“No fees. Ever,” states one of Marcus’ new video ads. Marcus is Goldman Sachs’ new online consumer lending division and the value proposition is pretty compelling. Most other online lenders for example, strongly rely on origination fees, but Marcus doesn’t charge them nor any other kind of fee. View their four campaign videos below:
Online Loan Middleman Just As Culpable As the Lenders, Federal Court Rules
November 21, 2016A CFPB lawsuit against a payday loan lead generator survived dismissal last week, despite the US Court in the Central District of California acknowledging the company’s role as a “middle man” in the lending process. T3Leads and several people connected to the company are alleged to have deceived consumers, in part such that “they allowed consumers to be exposed to lenders that could cause them substantial harm.”
The court ruled that T3Leads was a service provider as contemplated by the Consumer Financial Protection Act and is therefore bound to the laws therein. The case will now proceed to discovery.
Notably, the court also agreed with the recent opinion of the D.C. Circuit in finding the CFPB’s structure unconstitutional. Nonetheless they did not believe the remedy was to toss this case or prevent the CFPB from carrying out its operations. Instead, they ruled that the CFPB’s director must report to the President of the United States to come into compliance with Article II of the US Constitution. The CFPB has refused to comply and is already appealing the D.C. Circuit’s decision.
The CFPB’s quest for power however, may come at a cost. That’s because President-elect Trump has pledged to repeal and replace the Dodd-Frank Act, the law through which the CFPB’s power is vested.
Despite the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s exemption on vendors that simply provide advertising space, a decision Google made earlier this year to ban all payday lenders could have something to do with their fear of being labeled a middle man and covered service provider.
Don’t Write Off Marketplace Lending Just Yet; Silicon Valley Just Made a Big Bet
November 18, 2016
Don’t lose all hope on marketplace lending yet. Silicon Valley just made a big bet on one startup.
Silicon Valley’s leading venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz invested $15 million in PeerStreet, a marketplace for secured real estate loans. PeerStreet was founded in 2013, by former Google employee Brett Crosby and former real estate attorney Brew Johnson, who oversaw the sale of travel website VirtualTourist to Expedia/TripAdvisor for $85 million. The Manhattan Beach, CA-based company’s crowdfunding platform offers investors secured real estate loans that it sources from local real estate lenders across the country.
“This round of funding will help us further execute on our goal of building a world class investment platform for real estate debt,” said co-founder and CEO Brew Johnson.
To date, it has funded over $165 million in loan investments with $50 million in returns to investors and has 50 lenders on the platform. The company has secured funding from marquee Silicon Valley investors including Michael Burry of The Big Short fame who predicted the 2008 subprime crisis and Adam Nash, former CEO of Wealthfront. Alex Rampell, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and co-founder of consumer lending Affirm Inc led the investment and will take a seat on PeerStreet’s board.
“They (PeerStreet) have a unique distribution model that allows them to leverage existing lending networks to lower loss rates, and grow without direct marketing,” said Rampell in a statement.
Marketplace Lender P2Bi Raises $7.7 Million In Venture Funding
November 18, 2016
Denver-based crowdfunding marketplace lender, P2Binvestor has raised $7.7 million in Series A1 funding led by a Colorado-based angel investor network, Rockies Venture Club and a Japanese venture firm Future Venture Capital Co, its first investment outside Japan.
The P2Bi platform currently has 150 investors – both institutional and retail and it plans to fund 112 new borrowers, up from the current 80 borrowers, by Q1 next year. The proceeds will be used to boost sales and marketing efforts and grow the company’s operations towards this target.
Founded in 2012, P2Bi provides revolving lines of credit of up to $10 million to businesses. With an average line of $1 million, the company’s customers include businesses in retail, manufacturing and consumer goods packaging. It has originated $350 million since 2014 and it is on track to hit $8.2 million in revenues this year.
“We’re seeing more interest in our model as venture funding hits a two-year low and more entrepreneurs are looking for ways to grow their business while preserving their equity using good-quality, flexible debt,” said CEO Krista Morgan in a press statement.
P2Bi has been bullish about fundraising and diversifying its capital sources. Less than two months ago (September 20), it closed a $10 million credit facility with Pittsburgh-based mortgage service company Urban Settlement Solutions and in April this year, through a partnership with New York-based hedge fund, MW Eaglewood Americas, the company raised $50 million in debt.
