On Monday, Lending Club explained to retail investors how they could participate in their upcoming IPO. They did not choose Loyal3 as many people expected, but instead their shares will be available through Fidelity.
I admit I have not been following this closely this week. I have been in London for the LendIt Europe conference and have been very much pre-occupied with that. Anyway, Ryan over at Peer & Social Lending has an excellent write up of how to register for the IPO – you can read all the details there.
There is a deadline to register – it is 12 noon PT this Sunday, November 23. So, I wanted to let you know as soon as I could. Below is a graphic of the email that was sent out by Lending Club on Monday that has more information.
[Update Nov 25, 2014: I just received the following email today from Fidelity with steps needed to participate in the Lending Club IPO Directed Share Program. You will only receive this email if you had followed the steps above by last Sunday.]
[Update Dec 1, 2014: Lending Club released a new S-1 with more details about the IPO.]
I like you am very excited about this upcoming IPO. Just wanted to make sure I was getting the same thing as everyone else. I clicked on the link that was provided and it then had me login to my lending club account and essentially just showed me my account information and what not. My question is, is that the correct screen that everyone else got or did you guy’s get some sort of confirmation link? Any input is appreciated and looking forward to the upcoming weeks.
Phillip, that was the same screen everyone ended up on – there was no confirmation. (unfortunately)
Phillip. We all got pointed to that same screen. I believe they asked us to verify our name, e/mail address and phone number. My guess is that Fidelity will be in touch with us.
Dave
Hey everybody. I haven’t heard from LC or Fidelity after several days of indicating I want more information. Apparently, if you look at the thread on the IPO in the LC Investing Forum, some HAVE received follow up e-mails from Fidelity with a link to opening a DSP account. The link worked for one and not another person. Is this thing being mismanaged? I’m just setting off the alarm because I don’t want to miss the bus. Evidently, you can’t just open a Fidelity account. You need to open a DSP Fidelity account and that requires a follow up invitation. What’s going on?
Can somebody provide a link for opening this DSP account at Fidelity?
I think the URL for opening the DSP account at Fidelity includes client-specific information, so my link won’t help you. If you responded to the initial interest survey but were not contacted by the Fidelity Directed Share Program you can try calling them at 800-358-2670. Good luck.
Got my invitation today. It provided a link to open a new account.
Today I recieved the following! I went ahead and setup the brokerage account using the special link that was in the email. It appears to be a different account than if you were a regular fidelity customer account,
As you may know, Lending Club filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell common stock through an initial public offering (IPO). Lending Club currently expects to reserve a portion of its IPO shares for investors like you through a directed share program (DSP) administered by Fidelity Investments (“Fidelity”).
To be eligible to participate in the DSP you’ll need to open an account with Fidelity. If you already have an account at Fidelity, you will still need to open a new account for this program. Opening an account is not a commitment by either you or Lending Club, but is merely a necessary step in order to receive additional information concerning the DSP when it becomes available.
The key steps to participating in the DSP are outlined below.
Step 1 Open a Fidelity brokerage account – you can do this now by clicking the link below.
After a Preliminary Prospectus with a price range has been filed with the SEC:
Step 2 Review the Preliminary Prospectus on a secure website, which will describe Lending Club, the initial public offering and its potential risks.
Step 3 Complete the FINRA Rule 5130 Qualifying Questions.
Step 4 Enter your Indication of Interest.
After the registration statement has become effective:
Step 5 Confirm your Indication of Interest after the offering has priced.
Step 6 Pay for any shares allocated to you within 3 business days of the first day the stock trades on the NYSE.
Thanks Ap999 for the detailed instructions. I have still not received my confirmation email from Fidelity so I imagine they are sending these out slowly.
Laurie,
I don’t think anyone can provide you link here, as link was unique for each user.
If it helps, I have received email from fidelity around 12:30 PST, so you should check you spam folder if you have not got it yet.
I’ve reieved a confirmation email from fidelity today. Figured I’d let everyone know to keep an eye out in their emails. Are there any other benefits of using this D.S.P other then potentially not paying a commission from fidelity? Has anyone done this before? Are we most likely going to have these stocks slightly discounted before they hit the market. If so
Anyone have an idea what percentage we could possibly receive cheaper then when they hit the market? Thats taking into account the stock goes up, anyway. Thanks!
You need to use the DSP to get the pre ipo pricing. Other wise you’ll have to buy in after its open on the first day of trading.
I also received my initial email. It has you sign up for an account and then you must wait a day or two for them to validate your account. After that it becomes a waiting game because we have to wait for other tasks to be completed that we don’t control but step 1 is done.
I followed the steps that Fidelity sent and my account is now under review. Does anyone know if there are limits on who can invest in the IPO?
All, I finally received my email from Fidelity this morning. Looks like they are sending these out over several days. I updated the post above with a screenshot of the email.
So now that everyone’s receiving the email’s and signing up how long before Step 2 per the Fidelity email happens. To be specific: After a Preliminary Prospectus with a price range has been filed with the SEC we shall review the Preliminary Prospectus on a secure website, which will describe Lending Club, the initial public offering and its potential risks. So with that being said are we talking a few day’s for this to happen or weeks or again possibly months? Any input is appreciated.
I am thinking we will have a few days here and no more. The rumors are now we will hear something from LC in early December, possibly next week. And then the entire process will likely happen in a matter of days. Most people I have spoken to say LC will want to have completed their IPO no later than December 15th.
Got my e-mail this morning and set up an account. I have no idea how much to fund so it might be an over kill. Any rumors out there about #shares? (Prolly not, but I thought I’d ask, the audacity of hope you know.)
Laurie, I have a feeling this is going to very much oversubscribed. I would fund what you would like to get with the knowledge that it will probably be smaller than that.
I been keeping an on my email like a hawk. I am not sure how they are doing it, but I suggest everyone keep an eye your email. It might even be based on a first come first served basis. Probably there might even be a cap to how many shares we can request, even after the request you may even get less shares than were requested. Well it’s just a waiting game. This is a first time experience for me regarding buying ipo shares.
thanks for tracking this peter.
i have had accounts at fidelity for over 25 years, as well as being a lendingclub lender since 2008, and have taken the steps to participate in the lendingclub directed share program.
here is info that may be helpful (this is NOT investment advice. ipo’s involve risk)
first stop should be to visit the official registration statement (s-1) on the sec website.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1409970/000119312514323136/d766811ds1.htm
there are many amendments and supplements since this initial filing, so do your own due diligence. (note the sec name is ‘lendingclub’, all one word)
i see them offering $500mm.
newflash – they have just upped the amount to $650mm ref: http://www.ft.com/fastft/242092
the primary reason to get into an ipo is hoping the price will jump way above the offering price (e.g., netscape, visa, gopro, google). yes, you get the ipo shares without commission, but that is not the reason to participate in the ipo.
my contacts tell me the ipo ‘indication of interest’ window and preliminary pricing will be on or about 1 dec, with the final pricing and launch of trading on the nyse on or about 10 dec (symbol ‘LC’)
if you have registered with fidelity, be sure to follow all instructions carefully and on time. ipo pricing is typically very last minute, and you may have only a few hours to make final commitments — usually between 7pm and midnight the night before the ipo launch.
good luck to all loyal lendingclub supporters
Thanks Paul. Appreciate your detailed thoughts here.
And just an fyi for everyone there was some news today that Paul alluded to:
https://www.lendacademy.com/lending-club-increases-ipo-to-650-million/
hello peter – i just received this from fidelity
Fidelity is pleased to announce that we are able to provide eligible customers* (see *Eligibility below) with the possibility of participating in the following public offering:
Name of Issuer: LendingClub Corporation (NYSE symbol LC)
Industry: Financials
Security type: Common Stock
Expected size of offering: 57,700,000 Shares
Expected price range: $10.00-$12.00
Offering type: Initial Public Offering
Distribution by: The Issuer and Selling Stockholders
Expected pricing date: 12/10/2014
Indication of Interest Period: 12/01/2014 to 12/09/2014 by (4pm EST)
for those interested in participating, be sure to follow instructions and deadlines very carefully.
cheers
I got all the previous emails fast and probably was one of the first ones to get them. I have not got gotten this one yet. I’ll keep checking.
Thanks Paul. Appreciate you copying the email contents here. I am still waiting on my email as of right now. I am sure it will come soon.
To answer Laurie’s question about why it taking so long…we have been hearing rumours out here in Silicon Valley that Lending Club is still looking around (up to the last minute) to get acquired/purchased by someone. I’m not sure how long they are allowed a window to pull out of this if they want to. But this could have been why all these emails were taking a while to get through the pipeline.
I have heard from multiple sources that there is no truth to the rumors that Lending Club is looking to get acquired.
here is a link to today’s (1dec) lendingclub form s-1 filing with the sec.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1409970/000119312514428454/d766811ds1a.htm
57,700,000 Shares/ COMMON STOCK
LendingClub Corporation is offering 50,000,000 shares of its common stock and the selling stockholders are offering 7,700,000 shares of common stock. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders. This is our initial public offering and no public market currently exists for our shares of common stock. We anticipate that the initial public offering price will be between $10.00 and $12.00 per share.
Our common stock has been authorized for listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “LC.”
The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell nor does it seek an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
PROSPECTUS (Subject to Completion)
Issued December 1, 2014
Hello All,
I got an alert that the lending club IPO was available in Fidelity.
I got the invite for participating in the DSP and opened an account with fidelity as well. Now I am not able to express interest in the number of shares I want to purchase. Is anyone else facing the same issue. Were anyone of you able to express interest via the DSP account yet.
Please let me know.
Thanks,
Srini
Nope, I am still waiting on the actual invite so I can express number of shares. I have setup my DSP account and all.
Has any one else here not received the latest email?
I have not received the email from Fidelity mentioned above either.
No email for me yet. My brokerage account is all set up and ready to go.
STILL WAITING AS WELL TO START STEP 2
I have not received the most recent e-mail either. In that recent e-mail, how is “eligible customers* (see *Eligibility below)” defined? There is mention in a post here: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/topic_view.php?catid=52&threadid=1405629&start=30
of some sort of requirement of a $500K balance and/or number of trades with Fidelity. Who can confirm?
The $500K require applies to IPO via Fidelity in general, not directed share programs.
https://eresearch.fidelity.com/eresearch/ipo/ipocalendar.jhtml
It looks like the last Fidelity e-mail posted above by “paul” MAY have been sent to “paul” as a Fidelity Investor and NOT someone who is part of the Lending Club retail investor Directed Share Program.
well I got a little antsy and sent a email to fidelity customer service. And this is what I got…
Thank you for contacting us regarding the LendingClub Directed Share Program (DSP). I will be happy to assist you today.
I have contacted our DSP group on your behalf and confirmed that these email messages to indicate interest are still in the process of being sent.
With this being said, if you have not received this email shortly, please contact our DSP group and they can research this further. This group can be reached by calling 800-358-2670. Please note that this group is not currently available through this email channel.
Hello All,
Just received an email with subject – LendingClub Corporation Directed Share Program – Invitation to Participate.
Looks like there is very low limit. It shows only 350 for me. How about others, do you face the same limit as well.
Thanks,
Srinivas
I was offered the same 350.
I just received the email and went on to complete Steps 2 and 3 and I too was offered 350 shares so that must be the maximum. Anymore we’ll have to wait until opening day on the market.
I rec’vd the enail at 6:35 pm EST. Filled it out and requested 300 shares. I was offered a max of 350. Does anyone know if there will be a “hold”!period whereby I must hold onto shares for 6 months minimum, etc…? Says that I can pay for shares within 3 days of notification date (12/9 or 12/10 ). Do you know if I need to have funds in my fidelity account to purchase or can I come up with separate monet? Please advise.
I can’t remember where i read it, but there is no holding period for us. You are free to sell your shares right away if you wish too. But you must fund the account… failure to funding the account within 3 days you will forfeit all gains and shares. If there are any losses then you would still owe the losses, at least that’s how i understood it.
I also have a feeling that there is a chance we may not even get what we requested and could be less. So I went with 350 the max, and started the fund transfer to have them ready and cleared before it trades. I am transferring enough based on a price of 12 dollars a share, plus about another 800 dollars just in case as a buffer or if I decide to purchase a few more after it goes public.
350 max here too
We have a 180 day hold from what I’m tracking. Also we must fund the account or amount for shares within 3 business days or they’ll be released back to the public.
Not correct. Read and download the FAQ, in particular the last page. The 180 day rule does not apply to most of us here. Unless I am interpreting this wrong. I am reading the FAQ right now and that is my understand.
I do not recall seeing anything about a hold period. I requested the max of 350 because I do not expect to be allocated the max.
I am also at 350 max shares. With at least 50,000 interested investors and only 5 million shares available I am not surprised the max is so low. I’m guessing we might not even get the full 350 we have requested.
And my understanding is that there is no 180-day hold for retail investors.
assuming a 10dec ipo launch, anybody awarded shares must fund the account to cover the cost of shares (e.g., 350 shares at $12/s = $4200) within three days (i.e., 12dec – 10, 11, 12 = 3 days). there are no commission charges in an ipo.
i would not wait until day-3 (i.e., friday, 12dec), but remember that funds must have ‘cleared’, usually 5-7 business days for a check, 3 days for ach (i.e., electronic funds transfer – etf), or same day for a wire transfer.
to be safe, have your money in your account. you can always request any excess funds by check, or transferred back into your bank account.
if you do want to establish ach capability between fidelity and your bank, be sure to set this up asap. it will take several days to have this in place. i usually do a minimal ach transfer of just $1 to confirm all systems are go. there are no fidelity charges for ach, nor from most banks.
if you are unfamiliar with wire transfers, be sure to contact your bank to have all the necessary info, so you are not rushing at the last minute. most banks require wire transfers be initiated before 15:00 et for same-day clearing. and of course, you must have funds in your bank account to cover the wire transfer, plus the $10 – $25 fee.
Paul,
I was planning not to fund fidelity account because the language of FAQ doc says we must pay for the IPO shares by check or wiretransfer. Can you confirm if this is not the case and we can pay using amount in brokerage a/c?
—–
Shares of LendingClub Corporation purchased at the IPO price as part of the Directed Share Program must be paid for in full no later than three business days after the stock trades in the secondary market. Payment can be made by check or wire.
if you already have a fidelity account, just be sure you can transfer funds between accounts.
this may be problematic if the different accounts are various types (e.g., ira or taxable) or in various names (e.g., joint, individual, trust). i have all my accounts cross-linked — with my bank as well, to facilitate transfers.
note: if you are moving funds from a joint account into an individual account, you will need permission from the joint account holder — so it doesn’t look like you are withdrawing funds without their knowledge (it happens).
Hey Paul,
Thanks for the heads up regarding moving funds ahead of time. Do you have any insight whether the share price might be closer to $10 or is it pretty safe to assume it’ll be closer to $12?
Also, what do you recommend strategy wise with the purchased shares. Are you planning to hold on to them for a certain time or sell if they hit a certain price? First-timer over here.
Thanks,
Jon
I think it is is safe to assume it will be closer to $12 and it may even go slightly higher.
Every investor is different when it comes to strategy on investments in individual stocks. I intend to hold the shares for many years.
hello jon – if LC stock is as popular as the press buzz, i expect to see the ipo price nearer to $12/share — and even higher, if the institutional investors show strong interest.
with at most 350 shares, i don’t expect to retire on any appreciation. even if the stock doubles in a year, this is about $3500 – $4200 in long-term gains — before taxes. helpful, but not life-changing.
if you are new to stock investing, this promises to be a valuable experience (financially, as well as educationally)
i have been with fidelity for decades, and find they offer some of the best research. i also have other accounts with discount brokers, but they offer little research and minimal real-time customer service. if i ever have a question, fidelity reps are very knowledgeable and helpful, as well as being domestically based (e.g., nh, tx, fl — if you catch my drift).
i wish you the best and hope LC is good to you and your portfolio.
cheers
Anyone not receive their invite email? I have not received mine, but indicated my interested, opened my account, etc…
Just an fyi, I read that the only 2 ways to pay for shares is overnight check or wire transfer. I assumed funding the fidelity account would be suitable, but it may not be. Check for yourselves and keep your cash liquid just in case.
I opened my account last week at Fidelity and just did an ACH transfer from my bank.
It sounds like having money in your individual Fidelity account is one of the ways you can pay as well. This is what I did.
“Upon completion of the account opening process, you will be asked to fund your account.
This is not required at account opening, but if you decide to participate in the directed
share program and are allocated shares you will need to pay for them by the settlement
date.”
Just spoke with a fidelity representative and if you have the money in your account then you’re good
So I’m just going to give my 2 cents since im bored and hyped up about this company going public. IF you arent a risky investor and plan on being short term like myself , put a stop loss pennies behind the market open price that expires at the end of the day, do not sell unless prices drop. When market closes create another stop loss pennies below the new market open with a experiation of that day… Rinse and repeat till the stock drops , and it will drop in my opinion by the second day towards the end because there’s investers like myself that bring a decent amount of cash to the table (120k) that want to get in and get out….every one knows this stock is votile and way undervalued so this is your chance to bring what you can afford to loose to the table… My second thing I will confirm with you guys , If you are participating in the directs shares program there is ONLY a 180 day hold to retain value in the stock if you are a executive officer or director . Which means that’s not you , if you aren’t making upwards of 6figures and receive a paycheck every week from lendingclub and show up to lending club Monday – Friday from 6am to 5pm then you can sell those shares the minute the market opens on Friday the 10th of december (if they go public that day) I hope this helps anyone skeptical if you have any other questions I don’t mind answering them , and I’ll break it down in the simplest form so any level of investor can understand… IF this becomes a success and you want to continue investing look into new company’s going public that are worth more then 100 million… PayPal goes public in 2015 , I would suggest hopping on that train aswell…. Goodluck everyone and I hope we are all successful before Christmas …. Happy holidays.
LC has updated the price to $12-$14 instead of $10-$12. Wondering if any of you think this changes dynamic? I personally would be investing for lesser than max allowed (350) as LC is planning not to leave any money on the table here.
i see this as favorable for LC, as well as early investors. the nature of ipo’s is to create buzz, and nothing says buzz like an opening day pop from the ipo price. the increased range to $10-12/s tells me the investment bankers are confident in selling all available shares at an increased price.
my prediction is a $12/s price, closing at the end of day-one trading at $15/s.
Just got my shares. Asked for 350. Only rec’vd 250. 🙁
Also asked for 350, but only received 250. How long until we can sell these again?
You can sell anytime. You are not subject to 180 day hold as executives and board members are subject to. But, you’ll pay short term capital gains on the profit.
I’m not seeing any updates as of yet on the ticker. Any insight? It’s been an hour.
250 for me as well. Not what I wanted but better then nothing.
I requested 350 and got 250. I was expecting it be less, this is pretty common to get less shares than stated for a big ipo.
Is anyone else getting a message that allocation hasn’t happened yet when they log into Fidelity?
My account is saying that allocation hasn’t happened, but then when I log into Fidelity proper the shares appeared.
I confirmed for 100 and received all 100.
Yea I’m getting the same message. But I do see my position in the regular account. Also they debited the amount of money from my account, that I had ACH into the account several days ago.
Sold 150 shares. Gonna hold onto the other 100 and see how it goes. I got greedy and did not sell at $25 but rather $23 and some change.
Seems like everyone got 100 less than requested, as I requested 325 and 225.
BTW – LC popped up 50%.
I got 200 shares and dumped 175 at 23.80. Kept 25 shares to see how it goes over the long term. It was exciting to watch it pop at the open.
I only got 250 shares. Since this is not a huge amount. Equates to less than 1 percent of my investable assets. I am going to hold them for some time and see how things develop with lendingclub as a company. What is every one else’s take on holding or selling early?
Got 250. Sold 100 and will hold the remaining 150 for the long term.
I received 250 shares and plan to keep them for 6 months to see where this goes. Nice surprise to see it at $25 this morning. Do you think it’s unwise to hold on to it this long?
I also got 250 shares and I intend to hold on to these for many years. As I have stated here many times, I am a big believer in this company and think they can be a true leader in financial services for the 21st century.
Having said that, any one individual stock is a risky investment. Bad things can happen that lead to big swings in the price of any one stock. But over the long term the value of well run companies in profitable industries tends to increase. So, I have bought and intend to hold indefinitely.
Hello all,
Is it enough if we have enough cash in DSP fidelity account or is it mandatory to wire the amount to JP Morgan Chase.
Please let me know
Regards,
Srinivas
I am not sure where you see anything about wiring to JP Morgan Chase. The DSP program was run by Fidelity and funds to pay for the shares come out of that account.
jp morgan chase is fidelity’s bank. you would wire funds to fidelity’s account at jp morgan using the following information. (similarly, you would write a check to a merchant, but wire funds to the merchant’s bank)
your bank will know what to do.
Information Needed to Wire to Your Fidelity Account
Instructions for U.S. dollars only
Brokerage accounts
Wire funds to J.P. Morgan Chase,
Routing number 021000021
For credit to National Financial Services LLC
Account number 066196–221
For the benefit of List all owners on the Fidelity account (for retirement accounts, also include contribution type here).
For final credit to Your account number (letters included if applicable)
Address One Chase Manhattan Plaza, New York, NY 10005
SWIFT code
For U.S. Dollar wires from foreign banks, use SWIFT code “CHASUS33”
http://personal.fidelity.com/accounts/pdf/bankwireinstructions.pdf?rt=individual
I had transferred cash via ACH when setting up the DSP. I did this almost about a week prior to the IPO hitting the market. On the first day it opened, they already debited the cash amount for the shares I received. Might want to get done this ASAP, I do remember seeing a 3 day window to get this done after shares went public. That is why I moved money over well in advance. I didn’t get the shares I wanted, so i ll be just simply moving the excess cash out, or maybe I ll be more shares?
Anyone else get an email saying they didn’t pay for their shares even though they did?
I wired the money the day LC ipoed. Saw the money in my Fidelity account. Sold and withdrew the funds from my shared the following day.
Tried calling, but all their lines are busy.
Nope no emails. I had ACH the money in about a week prior before the ipo went public. First trading day, fidelity debited my account for the amount of shares that were issued to me.
Could of been an automated email error. But doesn’t hurt to confirm things. Try emailing customer service through your fidelity account.