FinTech

Lending Club Loans Climb to Over $16 Billion

This week marketplace lender Lending Club announced that they have now facilitated over $16 billion in peer to peer loans since starting in 2007. Even more impressive is that fact that it was only three months ago that they surpassed $13 billion. To celebrate the company debuted a new infographic breaking down their latest accomplishment by the numbers.

First Lending Club has now helped over one million people receive personal loans. While we knew that the vast majority of borrowers used their loans to consolidate debt the latest numbers indicate that a whopping 68% of those receiving loans use them for that purpose.

Additionally Lending Club loan customers reported saving an average of 35% from what they were previously paying on their debt. That 35% savings equates to over $1.6 billion — enough to buy 5,465 homes, pay college tuition for 68,346 students, or pay for the expenses of 6,530 children from the time they’re born until they’re 18 years old. When you look at how long it would take for the average person to pay off their credit card debt it’s no wonder why so many Lending Club customers obtain loans in order to consolidate.

Using the 35% savings scenario the company was able to calculate that $15,000 in debt would take an extra four months and $2,000 to pay off on an average credit card than compared to an average Lending Club personal loan. Of course that figure assumes you pay the same $519.87 a month towards your credit card debt, but what if you pay the minimum instead? In that case it would take 15 years and 10 months to pay in full. That’s enough time to watch all seven Star Wars films 8,960 times, fly back and forth to Mars 16 times, or construct the Golden Gate Bridge four times.

At a time when the stock market has seen an increase in volatility and savings accounts have seen historically low interest rates, Lending Club notes that investors on their platform have still seen healthy returns. In fact the company reports that 99% of investors who hold over 100 loan notes (with no one loan making up more than 1% of their account) see positive returns. On top of that investors see an average return of 5.24% on loans graded ‘A’ which rises to 7.30% for ‘B’ and 8.63% for ‘C’s. Finally Lending Club once again stated their mission to make credit more available. This is especially important for small businesses who may have found it difficult to find fair and transparent financing from other sources. In a staggering statistic the company found that if each business could get the financing they wanted in order to hire just one person, it could create three million new jobs and cut the unemployment rate in the United States by one-third!

Overall it was another impressive year and quarter for Lending Club as they continue to grow. For a company looking to “transform the banking industry to make credit more affordable” $16 billion in loans is a pretty good start. Add in the impressive benefits for investors and the economic possibilities that come along with funding small businesses, and it’s easy to see why Lending Club is not only the leader in marketplace lending but a rising force in the credit industry at large.

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