• Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • About LendIt Fintech News
  • Home
  • Menu Item
  • Menu Item
  • Menu Item
  • Menu Item

Lend Academy

LendIt Fintech News: Daily Coverage of Fintech & Online Lending


  • Editorial
  • Daily News
  • Podcast
  • Investor Forum
  • Events

Credible Adds Ron Suber as Executive Vice Chairman

Ron Suber's newest role is working with Credible, a marketplace he has previously invested in.

August 1, 2017 By Ryan Lichtenwald 1 Comment

Views: 1,088

It was only a month ago when we broke the news that Ron Suber was stepping down as Prosper’s President to pursue what he stated as a ‘rewirement’. Today, it was announced that Ron is joining the multi-lender marketplace Credible as Executive Vice-Chairman and member of the board of the directors.

Ron Suber was not only involved in rebuilding Prosper for a number of years but as many people already know he has been an active investor in fintech companies, investing in 21 companies. Credible is a company he has been involved with since 2015, having originally invested in the company’s Series A and Series B rounds and acting in an advisory role.

Stephen Dash is the founder and CEO of Credible and was interviewed on the Lend Academy podcast late last year. Dash built Credible in the United States after seeing successful multi-lender marketplaces in Australia, his home country. What makes them unique is their deep integrations with their lending partners. The company started as a marketplace for student loans, but has since expanded into personal loans.

The press release announcing the addition of Ron Suber to the team also mentioned that Credible was piloting a credit card marketplace. When we spoke to Dash he said that the site, which launched today, is  version 1 of the credit card offering. Credible has always focused on user experience and helping customers get the best product for them so it will be interesting to see how this product develops over time. Credible already has a large customer base so it can be expected that adding personalized offers is on the product roadmap. According to Dash 90% of their existing audience has at least one credit card. Through the first half of 2017, over 80,000 people have been qualified for loan offers through Credible which provides a sense of scale of the business today.

Peter Renton spoke with Ron yesterday about his involvement with Credible. Ron shared that he will be “leaning in” with some of the companies where he has invested. He has participated in both equity rounds at Credible and he really wants to help the company however he can. He will not be an employee at Credible, he will be Executive Vice Chairman and Ron expects this role will involve about one day per week.

Ron still firmly believes in helping with EAU (education, awareness and understanding) of our industry and he continues to help spread the word in this way. He has also organized his new entity Rewire LLC that will support his new initiatives during his “rewirement”.

Stephen Dash told us that Ron will be helpful in a broad range of activities related to the business whether it be fundraising, strategic decisions or helping the team as the company scales. Dash noted that despite the headwinds many online lenders have experienced, Credible’s marketplace continues to grow and Ron will help in navigating the growth they expect going forward.

Conclusion

Given Ron’s role in fintech he sees many companies that come across his desk and the fact that he’s taking a more active role says a lot about his confidence in Credible’s business. Credible’s business model is very different than some of the other aggregator sites and they are certainly one to watch in this space.

Filed Under: Peer to Peer Lending Tagged With: Credible, marketplace, Ron Suber

Views: 1,088

A 23 Year Old Backed By Mark Cuban, Eric Schmidt, and Peter Thiel Leads Upstart to Take on Lending Club and Prosper

April 23, 2014 By Jason Jones 17 Comments

Views: 2,358

upstart
At 23 years old, Paul Gu has attended Yale, been awarded a $100,000 grant as a Thiel fellow, co-founded Upstart, attracted millions in venture capital money, and is earning a 6-figure salary as Head of Product. Wow – what were you doing at 23?

Surprisingly, Paul found it nearly impossible to get a good rate for a loan. The banks wouldn’t lend, Prosper rejected him, and Lending Club offered him a loan with an interest rate in the high 20s. What gives? Using traditional credit scoring metrics, Paul has less than 3 years of credit history and is deemed high-risk.

Paul and his team at Upstart came to the realization that he is not alone and that there is an entire category of select “thin file” borrowers who have been overlooked by the system. These are recent graduates who have entered into the workforce with very promising career trajectories.

“We’re identifying prime borrowers before anybody else sees them,” said Dave Girouard, co-founder and CEO of Upstart.

In addition to credit and salary data, Upstart uses education-related variables to predict a borrower’s earning potential, employability and their propensity to repay the loan.

“We want to support those who just finished their education and are starting a job,” said Girouard, “In addition to looking at [your credit] and your income, we look at where you went to college, what your area of study was, how you performed academically.”

Since early 2013 Upstart has originated $3.5 million worth of income-sharing agreements to 309 people backed by 2,192 lenders. Upstart has used their intelligence in the income sharing business to formulate their new product that is launching today.

Introducing the Upstart Marketplace

Starting today, Upstart has launched a marketplace much like Lending Club and Prosper to offer three-year standard term loans available in all 50 states. Borrowers can request loans of $5,000 up to $25,000, and interest rates can range from 6.5% up to 20% APR.

Upstart’s new product crosses the boundaries of consumer and student loans, which means borrowers can use the funds for pretty much anything: to pay off credit cards, retire student loans, or pay tuition for a course.

Upstart’s investor marketplace will be available to accredited investors only and will offer fractional ownership in $100 increments. As you can see in the screen shot below, Upstart loans are given a letter grade and interest rate along with a progress chart to monitor funding levels. Investors can view details of each loan, but will not be able to see the identity of the borrowers.

browse_loans

Upstart also levels the field among individual and institutional investors by making all loans available on equal terms. In contrast to Lending Club and Prosper, Girouard said, all investors have access to every published loan since there is only a single pool of loans. Upstart’s platform offers lenders the ability to create filters for loans in which they’re interested. The investor, then, can automatically make a bid for those types of loans as they become available.

“Investors can set up as many rules as they want,” such as setting the maximum amount, risk grade of the loan, or even how the loan is (claimed to be) used, according to Girouard.

Borrower Acquisition Strategy

“We’ll have a steady flow of borrowers,” he continued. Upstart already has partnered with 13 coding bootcamps, which normally aren’t eligible for education loans, in the United States.

Borrowers, once verified and approved, can receive funds within 7 days, and can opt to defer their first payment for 3 or 6 months.

Aside from being able to discover early prime investments, Upstart has also structured itself to bolster loan repayment by not imposing fees for early repayment, and by educating borrowers on their finances and on how to improve their credit.

This education push has already paid off for Upstart’s investments, where they’ve “seen 3,056 unique repayments to backers in 14 months without a single default.”

“We understand that our borrowers are recent graduates, so we’re adding an educational component,” said Girouard.

Upstart is Well Positioned for A Borrower’s Life Cycle

Upstart is using educational data in a new way to bring something unique to market. They are able to expand the prime borrower market by uncovering a large overlooked pocket of borrowers. They are also in a great position to establish themselves early with borrowers who will need credit for many of life’s major purchases like a new car or a new home. While nothing has been announced, we can see how Upstart may be in a position to expand their offerings to other lending categories over time.

Paul Gu will be speaking at LendIt on May 6, and his panel will be available by webcast. We hope that he posts his loan request on Upstart. We will be the first in line to fund him!

Correction: The above post misidentified Paul Gu’s title. He is the Head of Product at Upstart. Also, Paul attended Yale University and has not graduated.

Filed Under: Investing/Lending, Peer to Peer Lending, Student Loans Tagged With: consumer, marketplace, thin file, Upstart

Views: 2,358

Investor Intelligence

Peter Renton's Returns

Investor Forum

Lending Club Review

Prosper Review

Investor Resources

Most Popular Editorials

The Pure Marketplace Lending Model is Dead, the Hybrid Takes its Place

The 2018 Lending Club and Prosper Tax Guide

My Returns at Lending Club and Prosper

Map of Available States for Lending Club and Prosper Investors

Banks and Marketplace Lending Platforms: Ideal Partners?

Subscribe to the Podcast

Subscribe to the Lend Academy Podcast on iTunes
Subscribe to the Lend Academy Podcast
List of Podcast Episodes

Archives

Follow @LendAcademy Follow @LendIt

ABOUT LENDIT FINTECH NEWS

LendIt Fintech News, Powered by Lend Academy, has been bringing you all the news and information about fintech and online lending since 2010 when it was founded by Peter Renton. We not only have the industry’s most active news site, but also the largest investor forum and the first and most popular podcast.

We are a team of fintech enthusiasts who have been covering the industry for many years. With a deep knowledge of online lending, digital banking, blockchain, artificial intelligence and more our team covers the daily news and writes in-depth editorials.

Recent Editorials

  • LendIt Fintech USA is Just Two Weeks Away
  • Top 10 Fintech News Stories for the Week Ending April 10, 2021
  • Podcast 293: Atif Siddiqi of Branch
  • Caring Consumer Collections Policies Gain Traction
  • Top 10 Fintech News Stories for the Week Ending April 3, 2021

Copyright © 2021 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in