P2P-Banking.com

Asked by Netbanker whether Loanio.com will face an SEC filing process and a quiet period like Prosper and Lending Club, Loanio CEO Michael Solomon answered:

“…from the perspective of (Prosper) going silent, it is actually great for us as I think we will quickly gain lots of lenders and hopefully we can wow them into sticking around. From a regulatory standpoint, we believe that at some point we will seek to introduce a secondary market platform, but we will focus the greater part of the next 12 month on building our platform and seeking out a national bank partner to cover the rest of the U.S. Our plans for a secondary market are too far ahead for me to contemplate at this time.”

If you sign up at Loanio.com as a new lender using this link, the peer to peer lending service Loanio will credit you $25. This promotion may be time-limited, so sign-up now, even if you want to start lending later.

After the Loanio launch yesterday, already some more loan listings are up at Loanio.com. Right now I count 8 listings. Probably more are in the making. No bids yet, which is not surprising as the lenders have to sign up and transfer money to Loanio first.
Michael Solomon, the CEO and founder of Loanio had a lucky week according to the Loanio blog - not only did he launch Loanio, but he also won $1,000 in the New York State Lottery.

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Last week I titled ‘Loanio Launch‘. That was a little premature (I was not the only one fooled by the site apparently going live - see Tom’s blog). Well today Loanio.com is really live. And there are 5 listings at the moment (see screenshot). For a list of features see the previous loanio coverage.

Netbanker has a list of states (with max. interest rates), open to Loanio borrowers. You are welcome to discuss your thoughts on Loanio in Wiseclerk’s Loanio Forum.

Updated: Just after I wrote this, access to the Loanio website has been restricted again.

Finally! After more than a year of anticipation and announcements Loanio has entered the p2p lending stage. When I looked there were no loan listings yet, so let’s have a look on the concept in the meantime.

Borrowers

US residents with a VantageScore (Experian) of 569 or with a Co-Borrower with a higher score can borrow at Loanio, provided Loanio is licensed in their state. Currently this is not the case everywhere (e.g. when I looked today, it was not available to California or Florida borrowers). The maximum loan amount is dependant on the state limits (e.g. 25.000 US$ in New York).
Terms are 36, 48 or 60 months. Borrowers can repay the loan early without penalties.
Borrowers pay a origination fee of 1 to 4% of the loan amount (dependant on credit grade). Borrowers can opt for platinum verification which costs 35-45 US$. If chosen, Loanio verifies photo identification, proof of income, bank account, employment, salary, postal address and homeownership.

Second loans are possible if the first loan has been paid at least 6 months on time.

The initial interest rate is set by the borrower. If the listing ends with less then 100% but more then 35% funding, the borrower can elect to accept a loan for the funded amount (partial funding).

Lenders

All US residents can lend. Lenders are charged a 1.25% annual servicing fee. Lenders bid at the interest rate they want, lowering the interest of fully funded loans in an auction based style.

Co-Borrowers

Co-Borrowers have so far not been used often in peer to peer lending.  To make loans to users with lower credit grades more secure for lenders Loanio introduced this feature, which might be used by close relatives or friends of the borrower.

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Tom reports that Loanio.com will launch this fall. Loanio has a welcome page up since 3 month, collecting email adresses of those who want to be notified at launch.

The site Loanio.com currently only consists of an announcement saying “People Lending to People - Coming Soon”. But they are already advertising the site.