Articles by deBanked Staff
2019 Top 25 Company Leaders in Lending – Canadian Lenders Association – Presented By BMO
November 11, 2019
The Canadian Lenders Assocation (CLA) received 124 nominations for these awards from leaders in lending across the country. The CLA’s goal is to support access to credit in the Canadian marketplace and champion the companies and entrepreneurs who are leading innovations in this industry.
The Top 25 finalists in this report represent various innovations in the borrower’s journey from innovations in artificial intelligence powered credit modelling to breakthroughs in consumer identity management using blockchain technologies. These finalists also represent solutions for a wide spectrum of borrower maturity and needs, ranging from consumer credit rebuilding all the way to senior debt placements for global technology ventures.
See The Leading Companies Report Here
See The Leading Executives Report Here
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BDC
The 75 year old firm is the only Canadian bank devoted exclusively to supporting entrepreneurs. |
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Borrowell
Borrowell helps Canadians make great decisions about credit. They were the first company in Canada to offer credit scores for free, without applying for credit, and currently has over 800,000 users. Eva Wong and Andrew Graham were the joint recipients our the CLA’s awards in 2018. |
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Clearbanc
Clearbanc offers a new approach to capital access for entrepreneurs that uses AI to determine funding terms with a focus on unit economics and repayment through revenue share as a way to get founders access to the capital they need to fuel their growth. |
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CreditSnap
CreditSnap is a best in class pre-qualification and cross selling engine to deliver highly relevant pre-qualified loan offers to CreditSnap banks and CUs. |
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Dealnet Capital
Dealnet Capital services the home and retail sectors providing end-to-end financing plus innovative technology and communication solutions. |
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Espresso Capital
Since 2009, Espresso Capital has provided over 230 early and growth stage technology companies with founder friendly capital. Espresso offers lines of credit and term loans to enable entrepreneurs to grow their businesses without dilution, board seats, or personal guarantees. |
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Financeit
Financeit is a market leading point-of-sale consumer financing provider, servicing the home improvement, vehicle and retail industries. |
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First West Capital
First West Capital is a leader in Canadian mid-market business funding. First West Capital helps ventures acquire and transition through innovative junior capital financing. |
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Home Trust
Home Trust Company is one of Canada’s leading trust companies. Home Trust offers Canadians a wide range of financial product and service alternatives, including mortgages, Visa cards, deposits and retail credit services. |
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Inverite
Inverite is the first Canadian designed, developed and focused real-time bank verification service. With coverage for over 240 Canadian FIs. |
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IOU Financial
Based in Montreal, IOU Financial provides small businesses throughout the U.S. and Canada access to the capital they need to seize growth opportunities quickly. |
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Lending Loop
Lending Loop is Canada’s first and only regulated peer-to-peer lending marketplace focused on small business. |
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Magical Credit
Magical Credit has been helping Canadians consumers get approved for quick and simple short term personal loans since 2014. They offer personal loans up to $10,000 regardless of the borrowers past financial issues or credit. |
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Manzil
Manzil is the market leader in the manufacturing and distribution of Islamic Financial products for Canadians who wish to balance material pursuits with their spiritual obligations. |
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Marble Financial
Marble Financial uses smart technology and socially responsible lending practices to help Canadians rebuild credit once their past debt has been settled by a consumer proposal. |
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Owl
owl.co is a customer insight engine that helps financial institutions make better decisions. By connecting to tens of thousands of trusted data sources, Owl is able to instantly aggregate and synthesize millions of data points to learn more about customers and entities. |
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Paays
Paays is a Canadian eCommerce financing solution for a new generation of digital consumers seeking “point of inspiration” financing. |
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PayPal Canada
PayPal Canada recently announced a new SMB loan offering in Canada – a quick application process that can approve an applicant in minutes and transfer funds in one to two business days. |
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Progressa
Named by CB Insights to the 2018 Fintech 250, a list of the world’s top fintech startups, Progressa is Canada’s fastest growing financial technology lender focused on changing the way pay cheque to pay cheque Canadians access and build credit. |
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Shopify Capital
In its effort to become a one-stop e-commerce shop, Shopify Capital allows Shopify business owners to secure funding through revenue sharing on daily sales. |
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Silicon Valley Bank
For more than 35 years, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has helped innovative companies and their investors move bold ideas forward, fast. SVB provides a full range of financial services and expertise to companies of all sizes in innovation centers around the world. |
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Spring Financial
Spring Financial is a subsidiary of Canada Drives, one of the leading brands for auto financing in Canada. Spring provides accessible solutions for Canadians to establish a positive payment history. |
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Thinking Capital
Thinking Capital is a leader in the Canadian Online Lending space, leveraging technology to be at the forefront of the FinTech industry. Since 2006, they have helped more than 14,000 small-to-medium sized Canadian businesses reach their full potential |
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Uplift
Uplift’s mission is to make travel more accessible, affordable and rewarding by enabling travel providers such as JetBlue, American Airlines, and United to offer flexible payments to their customers. |
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Venbridge
Venbridge is a leading Canadian venture debt firm. Venbridge provides SR&ED, grant and digital media financing and consulting. |
Selecting a Third-Party Commercial Collection Agency
November 8, 2019
It’s said that anyone can lend money out but the hard part is getting paid back. The latter part is full of nuance, a 32-page white paper authored by Minnesota-based Dedicated Commercial Recovery (Dedicated) reveals.
“Choosing a third-party commercial collection agency is a matter of comparing potential returns and risks in order to achieve an optimal balance of both,” the report opines. “The purpose of this paper is to present one possible outline for making such a balanced choice.”
While it may be views that Dedicated espouses, the report stops short of self-promotion while raising valuable questions that anybody contracting with a commercial collection agency would benefit from considering. After all, even if third-party collections inherently suggests that relations between the original parties have broken down, the collections experience can set the final tone on how a customer feels about your brand.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, according to the report. The collections process can have legal implications, present operational challenges, and ultimately impact the efficient orderly flow of business.
COJ Enforcer Gets COJ’d By City of New York And Is Forced to Resign NYC Marshal Position
November 7, 2019
A New York City marshal at the center of a controversial Bloomberg News story series last year about “predatory lending,” has resigned after a city probe, the City of New York announced.
Marshal Vadim Barbarovich was allegedly a prolific enforcer of New York judgments obtained by confession. After irregularities were discovered by the Department of Investigation with how he served levies, the City of New York formally levied penalties of their own against him that include a return of fees and poundage earned from 92 improperly served levies, his resignation, and a $300,000 fine.
The City agreed to suspend the full amount of the monetary fine provided he complies with an orderly wind-down of his business by March 20th. Barbarovich, in a twisted circumstance of irony, had to guarantee full immediate payment in the instance he did not comply…by signing a Confession of Judgment.
The investigation into Barbarovich began in May 2018, 4 months before Bloomberg News published their story, details published by the City reveal.
Earlier this year, New York State passed a law restricting COJs from being entered against non-New York state debtors.
PIRS Capital, Fundera Make Crains’s Fast 50
November 7, 2019
Crain’s New York Business has revealed its Fast 50 companies. Among them are Fundera (#22 with 720% 3-year growth) and PIRS Capital (#50 with 230% 3-year growth).
Crain’s says that to be considered for the Fast 50, firms had to be at least four years old, generate at least $10 million in 2018 revenue and be headquartered in the New York metropolitan area, which includes the five boroughs; Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties; and Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris and Union counties in New Jersey.
#1 on the list was Hoboken-based Bear Mattress with 3-year growth of 13,481%.
Lending Club Originated $3.3B in Loans in Q3
November 5, 2019
Lending Club originated $3.3B in loans in q3 and reported a minor net loss of $400,000. That loss was a $22.4M improvement over the same period last year, mainly due to an increase in “net revenue” and a decrease in class action and regulatory litigation expense. One of those class action lawsuits against them was dismissed on October 31.
Lending Club is the number one provider of personal loans in the country and is continuing to grow their marketshare, CEO Scott Sanborn said during the earnings call. One analyst asked if their continued lead on that could be due to the market’s declining emphasis on growth as a performance metric. Sanborn responded by saying that the competition had not let up at all on marketing and that direct mail marketing and competition is still at operating at an extremely high level.
Canadian Lenders Summit To Take Place on Nov 20, 2019 in Toronto
November 2, 2019The annual Canadian Lenders Summit produced by the Canadian Lenders Association will take place on November 20th in Toronto. Registrants can use promo code: debanked40 for 40% off the ticket price.
Knight Capital Has Been Acquired
November 1, 2019
Publicly-traded Ready Capital Corporation has acquired 100% of Knight Capital LLC. The total sales price was undisclosed but it consisted of cash and 658,771 common shares of Ready Capital stock. A share currently trades at $15.83, valuing the stock portion in excess of $10 million.
More details may emerge when Ready Capital publishes quarterly earnings next week.
“The acquisition of Knight Capital expands Ready Capital’s product offering to small businesses and does so on a platform that has achieved scale,” said Tom Capasse, Ready Capital’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, in a public statement. “Furthermore, the addition of Knight Capital will allow us to leverage its proprietary technology to further increase the efficiency of Ready Capital’s lending platform, enhance our borrowers’ experience and expand existing customer acquisition channels.”
Ready Capital, a multi-strategy real estate finance company, is better known by its management company, Waterfall Asset Management, LLC. Waterfall has previously provided credit facilities to companies like OnDeck, Fundation, and UK-based Lendable.
Ready Capital is headquartered in New York City and employs 400 lending professionals nationwide.
Direct Lending Investments’ Ability to Collect From Largest Debtor Looks Uncertain
October 30, 2019
When Direct Lending Investments (DLI), one of the largest online lending hedge funds, went bust, many were surprised to learn that the fund had discreetly gambled heavily in the international telecom market.
At present, a company called VOIP Guardian Partners I owes DLI $203 million. There’s a problem with recovery in that VOIP declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy this past March with little hope to repay because it itself re-loaned out DLI’s funds to telecom companies around the world and were supposedly never paid back.
VOIP is wholly owned by an individual named Rodney Omanoff, a former Hollywood talent agent. There is currently a criminal investigation into Omanoff for money laundering and “other criminal claims,” DLI’s receiver stated in a recent October report. Tens of millions of dollars potentially recoverable by DLI from VOIP are currently in the custody of The Netherlands while the investigation is being conducted.
Meanwhile, deBanked previously determined that VOIP had made bad loans of $158 million to companies purportedly in Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates, funds that came from DLI. The websites for both companies, Telacme Ltd. and Najd Technologies, Ltd, have gone offline.
The bizarre telecom investments in what was perceived to be a hedge fund focused almost entirely on the US online lending market, are not alone. DLI recently revealed that it also loaned millions to a company that put up the mineral rights for 6 oil and gas wells as collateral. It also loaned more than $25 million against a distressed commercial real estate property and a note backed by a VC investment in a cloud-based billing service company.
DLI’s receiver is not confident that it will collect the par amount of receivables on its books.
“Without providing individualized loan/portfolio assessments, the Receiver’s general assessment as of the date of this Report is that recoveries on the remaining loan/investment portfolio are likely to be far less than the $672.5 million in par value stated on the receivership books and records as of September 30, 2019. In fact, in connection with the filing of the 2018 tax returns the Receiver recorded a write down for tax purposes in the approximate amount of 40% of the par value of assets at December 31, 2018.”
Separately, the receiver wrote that most of DLI’s outstanding loan and investment portfolios are in “some form of financial distress or subject to disputes that may affect the timing and extent of recoveries on those portfolios.” It has attempted to keep the identity of those investments confidential so as not to cause any outside interference in those companies’ ability to repay.
