Industry News
Mayor Rahm Emanuel Cuts Ribbon for 160% APR Online Lender
October 11, 2017Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel cut the ceremonial ribbon at OppLoans’ new headquarters in Chicago this week. The APR of a typical installment loan is 160% APR in many states, according to the OppLoans website. In South Carolina, a typical loan is listed as 199% APR over 9-18 months.
Today we cut the ribbon on @OppLoans' new office in Chicago. pic.twitter.com/SAROJfCTcE
— Mayor Rahm Emanuel (@ChicagosMayor) October 9, 2017
According to a press release, Emanuel said “While for a lot of people outside this room, this may be the first time they’ve heard of OppLoans. There is no doubt in my mind this will not be the last time they’ve heard of OppLoans. I look forward to being back as you scale more mountains, more heights, and continue to grow and to be successful, and to offer financing to a lot of families.”
While OppLoans offers consumer loans, Emanuel has previously attacked small business finance products with lower costs than OppLoans as predatory. Perhaps he has reevaluated his understanding of APR.
Broker Fair 2018 – The Inaugural Conference for Merchant Cash Advance and Business Loan Brokers
October 5, 2017
New York, NY – Foinse, LLC, in collaboration with deBanked, is excited to announce Broker Fair 2018, the inaugural conference for merchant cash advance (MCA) and business loan brokers. Broker Fair 2018 is being held at The William Vale in Brooklyn on May 14, 2018. It will be the largest gathering of MCA and business loan brokers in the country.
This exclusive one-day event in New York City’s most vibrant and creative corner will offer brokers, lenders, funders, and service providers opportunities to learn, connect, and grow their businesses.
Broker Fair founder and deBanked Chief Editor Sean Murray, said “Online business lenders, MCA providers, and independent brokers employ thousands of salespeople to connect business owners with sources of capital. There are numerous products, tools, and resources out there now but the landscape remains fractured. Through Broker Fair, I want to empower the salespeople, empower the brokers. They’re the ones on the frontlines with America’s small business owners. I’ve been covering this space for seven years and was actually an MCA broker myself prior to that. I know the industry. A lot of folks and companies want to be successful but I know that they also want to have a positive impact on their customers and the industry they’re a part of. I want to facilitate that and more at Broker Fair.”
The three central tenets of the conference will be education, inspiration, and opportunities.
Registration is already open at http://brokerfair.org/pages/register/
To become a sponsor or inquire about the benefits of sponsorship, contact info@brokerfair.org or call 917-722-0808. Event sponsors can be viewed at: https://brokerfair.org/sponsors/
About Foinse, LLC
Foinse, LLC is an events company and the owner of Broker Fair 2018. For more information, visit: https://brokerfair.org/
About deBanked
deBanked® is a registered trademark of Raharney Capital, LLC and is the name of a print and online publication that has covered alternative finance including merchant cash advance and online business lending since 2010. deBanked is a presenting partner of Broker Fair 2018. For more information, visit: https://debanked.com/
deBanked to Attend FundKite ISO Event at Met Life Stadium Nov. 2nd
September 29, 2017
It’s unlikely the New York Jets will be dreaming of the Super Bowl come November 2nd when they play the Buffalo Bills, but MCA company FundKite is hosting a VIP event for select ISOs/brokers at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ that day.
According to FundKite, sales reps that hit certain funding targets will be invited to join the actual football players on the field for the pre-game warmup. The company is also offering attendees 50-yard line seats and complimentary food and beverages.
The catch is that reps have to fund more than $150,000 or $300,000 with FundKite before October 26th. Reps outside the Tri-State area will be flown in, courtesy of the company.
deBanked’s Sean Murray will be in attendance.
For more information, contact FundKite at isorelations@fundkite.com
Confidence in MCA and Online SMB Lending Industry Ticks Up
September 26, 2017The latest industry CEO survey conducted by Bryant Park Capital and deBanked showed that confidence in the continued success of the SMB lending/MCA industry is coming back. Confidence had a hit a low of 73.8% in Q1 of this year, the lowest point since the survey started in 2015. In Q3, the number jumped up to 81.3%.
Confidence in being able to access capital at a reasonable cost to grow ticked up only slightly to 79.9%, up from its lowest point in Q1 this year at 78.7%.
The first quarter of 2016 holds the confidence record since the surveying began. Coincidentally, that period is widely considered to be the peak of the online lending bubble. An April 2016 blog post published during that year’s annual LendIt Conference declared an end to the euphoria.
While respondents to the most recent survey were not asked to explain their confidence level, factors like a steady regulatory climate and some recent competition-reducing consolidation likely played a role in the boost.
Bizfi Survives, Thanks to World Business Lenders Asset Purchase Deal
September 22, 2017
The Bizfi marketplace is slated to live on, according to Stephen Sheinbaum who joined World Business Lenders (WBL) as a managing director in July. On Wednesday, WBL purchased several assets from Bizfi including the brand, the marketplace, the Next Level Funding renewal book, and other related pieces of the company, he says. Sheinbaum founded Bizfi (then Merchant Cash and Capital) in 2005.
WBL, a Jersey City-headquartered small business lender will also be a lender on the platform.
Other key Bizfi personnel have joined WBL including former Managing Director of Renewals John BellaVia, VP of Sales Michael Caronna, and Sales Manager Ryan Bressler.
The asset purchase does not affect the deal forged with Credibly to service the $250 million portfolio, Sheinbaum explains, which is separate.
While lesser known among the mainstream fintech media, WBL has been a stalwart player in the non-bank lending industry for years. Their ambitions and size became more apparent when deBanked attended their invite-only annual shareholder meeting at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC in 2015. The company went on to open a massive office in Jersey City in July 2016 that was attended by Jersey City Deputy Mayor Marcos Vigil, Councilwoman Candice Osborne, Archbishop David Billings and Mitchell Rudin, the CEO of Mack-Cali. At the ceremonial ribbon cutting, WBL CEO Doug Naidus said that he wanted to build a company that lasts, one that he can look back on and be proud of.
Now with the Bizfi brand and marketplace in tow, the company is uniquely positioned.
“[It’s a] game changer here,” Sheinbaum said. “2.0 here we come!”
C-level Credit Exec Leaves Lending Club for Affirm
September 21, 2017Lending Club’s Chief Credit Officer and Interim General Manager, Sandeep Bhandari, has joined fintech lender Affirm, according to Affirm CEO Max Levchin. Levchin posted the following on LinkedIn:
I am excited to announce and welcome Sandeep Bhandari to Affirm, Inc. as Chief Strategy and Risk Officer (CSRO).
Sandeep joins us from Lending Club where he was the Chief Credit Officer (CCO). Prior to Lending Club, he was at Capital One for many years, where he was Assistant Chief Credit Officer at Capital One Bank (Credit Risk Management) and Venture Partner (Capital One Ventures). Prior to that Sandeep held a variety of roles requiring expertise in strategy, credit risk management, marketing, product development, and underwriting across several lines of business including consumer and small business credit card, auto lending, and mortgage and home equity lending.
We are excited for Sandeep to join us for our next phase of rapid growth and to help us fulfill our mission of delivering honest financial products that improve lives.
The move comes on the heels of Lending Club announcing their “most advanced and predictive credit model ever.” Bhandari was responsible for credit strategy and overall credit risk management at Lending Club and presumably would’ve overseen that.
Talkative investors on the LendAcademy forum were not immediately sold on Lending Club’s new system, however. Some users bemoaned that Lending Club is ignoring common sense in favor of data. In one instance, the CEO of PeerCube referenced an interest rate anomaly alleged to be discovered in Lending Club’s pricing as “Data-driven but knowledge-unaware.”
Affirm and Lending Club differ. Whereas Lending Club targets the credit card refinancing market, Affirm helps consumers finance purchases. Last month, Affirm and Walmart were reportedly in talks to offer financing to consumers.
New CTO at Breakout Capital is Former CTO of Capital One Labs
September 18, 2017
Firoze Lafeer, the former Capital One Head of Tech Fellows Program and CTO, Capital One Labs, is now the CTO of Breakout Capital, a Breakout representative confirmed. Lafeer was with Capital One for five years, most recently running the company’s experimental product & technology incubator and accelerator.
Breakout Capital is a fintech small business lender based in Mclean, VA where Lafeer will lead technology, including scaling their tech platform.
Last month, Breakout hired Robert Fleischmann as Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and Tom McCammon as Senior Vice President, Business Operations. Fleischmann was previously Director of Strategic Partnerships at RapidAdvance. McCammon was previously the Director of Portfolio Management and Credit Operations at OnDeck.
PayPal’s Global Head of Product Comm Joins Lending Club
September 14, 2017Anuj Nayar, PayPal’s global head of product communications, has moved on to Lending Club as VP and head of communications, according to published reports. Nayar was also previously Head of Mac Public Relations at Apple from 2003 to 2008.
At PayPal, Nayar was the primary spokesperson on a range of proactive and reactive issues, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Lending Club has struggled in the PR department since May 2016 when the company’s founder resigned.
