Entries from November 2007 ↓
November 21st, 2007 — Lending Club, Referral
After my gripes I will reproduce the post on p2p no bank post in entirety…
- User must sign up in the same session… Amazon, EBay, Prosper, and many many more affiliate programs have a cookie that lasts 30 days.
- Any page of the lending club website (including the blog if I am wishing) should be linkable with a referral query parameter. This makes any content produced by lending club a potential hook for an affiliate.
That being said the clarifications are awesome… I really like knowing what the deal is… Stay tuned for my tomorrow’s post on how RateLadder would change lending on Lending Club.
Here is the forum post from Rob @ LC the Web Production, Director (here is a link):
Hi everyone!
Thanks for your comments and questions. And apologies for the long post, but I wanted to address all the comments at once:
QUESTION 1. What are the terms of the program?
The referral program was initially introduced back in July as a $5 prize for any friend who joined. We quietly revamped it on Oct 25 to increase the prize to $25 for any friend who became a borrower OR lender. This was a test to see how users will receive it, and we noticed users liked this idea better. Today, we officially launched the program and the rules are:
When you refer friends to Lending Club and they become borrowers or lenders, we will deposit a bonus into both your and your friend’s accounts:
- $25 when your friend successfully submits a loan application
- $25 when your friend opens a lender account with $1-$999
- $50 when your friend opens a lender account with $1,000 or more
QUESTION 2. Can I use the URL?
Absolutely! In fact, I was very excited to see some of you discovered this even before we announced it. Basically, the URL in the email can be reused to post on your sites. The URL is generalized as I mentioned in my new features post today. Just make sure it has your Lending Club screen name as the referrer.
In a couple of weeks, we will be offering small images you can also add to your blogs or personal pages.
QUESTION 3. Can I point my referrals to a different page?
Yes. You can use 2 different links.
LINK 1: http://www.lendingclub.com/landing.action?referrer=ScreenName
This one drops referrals on our home page, and if the user creates an account within the same session, you get the bonus. Use this for friends that still may need to read more on the concept before signing up:
LINK 2: http://www.lendingclub.com/refer.action?referrer=ScreenName
This one drops referrals on the sign-up form. Use this for friends you think are ready to sign.
QUESTION 4. Are the terms different depending on which URL the user took?
No. The terms I mentioned in Question 1 are valid whether the referred person came through from the invite friends email, or any of the 2 links above, which you can post on your site or blogs.
QUESTION 5. Does the referred user have to sign up immediately or is the referral stored?
The information is stored in the session, so the referred user has to sign up while in the session. Information is not saved in our back end or a cookie. The session will “expire” if the user closes the browser. This means that if the user closes the window, and comes back next day to sign-up, and types up “lendingclub.com”, the system will not recognize the referral.
QUESTION 6. Why do you have 2 links in the email?
This is an issue. The second link is supposed to land users on the home page but still remember the referral in the session. Thanks for catching this. This was completely unintended and I will follow up with the tech team to correct as soon as possible.
Let me know if I missed any of your comments.
Best regards
Rob Garcia
Web Production, Director
Lending Club
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November 21st, 2007 — Lending Club
Today Lending Club announced new features on their blog.
To summarize…
- Be both a borrower and a lender
- Multiple loans
- Weekly performance statistics
- Ask the borrower a question
- $25 both way referral program
- Update your profile
- Change bank account
I like the changes, but forgive me for yawning…
My biggest gripe as a lender (lack of an advanced credit search) has not yet been addressed… It is very hard to get you money into play on LC. (-4)
My next biggest gripe performance statistics has been minimally addressed. (+3)
My 3rd biggest gripe lack of an automatic Lending Match investment portfolio with advanced credit filtering. (-2)
(+3) for the referral program. (+2) for the $50 bounty on $1000 lenders. (-1) for only being able to link to the signup page… I would much rather be able to link to any LC page (like prosper), for example the statistics page would make an excellent referral link… But then you would have to track the cookie and there would need to be an expiration of that cookie. That being said if you want $25 for signing up at LC use this link… https://secure.lendingclub.com/refer.action?referrer=RateLadder
Overall LC upgrade score (+1).
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November 19th, 2007 — Lending Club
Over at the P2P No Bank Forum on the Lending Club board several of us had been discussing using the link generated from the referrer a friend email as a referral link on our websites.
Do you want to start your Lending Club experience with $25? Signup via this link and receive a $25 startup bonus.
BTW — Lending Club representatives monitor the p2p no bank lending club board and will respond to relevant respectful question posted there. What are you waiting for? Join the p2p no bank forum today.
These same LC representatives confirmed that the link can be used in websites.
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November 19th, 2007 — News, Prosper.com
I received a marketing email today from Prosper regarding the 100MM in loan volume. Titled: You Couldn’t Have Done It Without You. How corney is that? Essentially thanking every lender for their part is reaching 100MM in loan volume.
Here is the rest of the letter…
Prosper is pleased to announce that you have helped us reach $100MM in loans!
Your involvement as a lender in the Prosper community has enabled people to start businesses, eliminate debt, improve homes, and fund educations. Thank you for helping us create opportunity for fellow Americans through the Prosper marketplace.
Next stop, $200MM - bid on a loan listing now!
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November 18th, 2007 — Features, Prosper.com
I think Prosper is doing some interesting things lately and Portfolio Plans are no exception…
A portfolio plan is a series of slices of data that when combined make getting into a diversified investment of Prosper loans extremely simple. There are 4 risk levels for the current plans.
- Conservative (estimated ROI 8.37%)
- Balanced (estimated ROI 9.14%)
- Moderate (estimated ROI 10.39%)
- Aggressive (estimated ROI 11.48%)
These portfolio plans are based on the slices of data… Which brings me to the ugly. There are almost certainly thin data issues. Readjustments can help, but Heisenberg rules this arena.
With the ugly out of the way on to the 1st good. Newbie small lenders. Over and over again I have watched newbie lenders come and go. They come in bid on 29% HR, get killed in defaults and leave. I would imagine that newbies will now come in and signup up for a portfolio plan. Viola! No more instant HR burnout. I think this will be very good for Prosper’s long term growth. Pennies add to dollars. The small inexperienced lender will no longer get slaughtered. If you are new to Prosper you should strongly consider Portfolio Plans. Watch the listings you bid on. Don’t bid the loan further down if you are outbid. Learn what makes a good loan.
Now the bad. Many experienced lenders will tell you that their strategy lies within many of the slices currently employed by portfolio plans. These experienced lenders thought they had an edge and now Prosper has taken away that edge. Many will consider portfolio plans the reason they now have to look elsewhere. Large lenders will have even more issues if they stick to the portfolio plan slices.
Which brings me to the final good (so good it might be great). With the newbies locked into slices in the portfolio plans and the experienced but unwilling to adjust lenders sitting out or playing in the sandbox with the kiddies, the opportunity for large lenders and experienced nimble lenders is better than ever. Portfolio plans changed the game. In many ways they define the game. A more defined game has sharper edges. More opportunity outside of the portfolio plan slices as there is less competition. Less competition means high rates. Higher rates = higher potential ROI.
High rates can make up for a lot of sin. Perhaps a perverse example, but the former #1 lender by size (pensioner) believed almost solely in high rates. While his portfolio has taken some astronomical lates, even the notoriously fickle lending stats has him at a positive ROI (currently 2.25%).
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November 17th, 2007 — Collections, Features, Prosper.com
Just read this on the forum from a formerly late borrower (Mr Deluxe)…
My loan was recently under 30 days late (now current) I received several emails from Prosper, but the letter I got in today’s mail was very effective.
It was a letter from Prosper reminding me that 155 people contributed to my loan and they are not ‘big banks’ or ‘Warren Buffett’. The letter went on to say that lenders are people too, with jobs, families, bills, etc. and asked ‘how do you think they feel now that you are late.’
It was very well written and should open the eyes of borrowers that intentionally are late or default.
I like it! Seems like another positive collections step. I hope it works as well as this borrower seems to think… Plus if it works prior to actual collection I pay less fees. There is a call for a scan of the letter on the forum. If it posted I will re post…
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November 17th, 2007 — SEO, Site Review, Site Statistics
This is a guest post from regular reader Melissa…
It may seem at times payday loans are sold as a cure-all for everyone. However, these loans are far from a cure-all and are a consumer-lending product that is targeted for a market that has very few other alternatives. The market is for people with little or no credit history, no other sources of lending, and few assets. Most bankers will have a tough time approving lending for people in this category and so payday loans offer people who have this background a chance to obtain short-term loans that are paid back on their next paycheck cycle.
The interest rates on these loans are typically higher than other sources of lending, like credit cards or installment loans. However, they are also higher risk loans for the lender since no credit check is performed. This allows people who have suffered a foreclosure or a bankruptcy to still have options to borrow, even though the rates are higher. If they show a willingness to repay these loans on time, it can be an excellent way to rebuild their credit histories while providing needed funds in the short-term. Without this industry, people who don’t qualify for conventional sources of credit would not have any other way to meet short-term losses in income.
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November 16th, 2007 — Collections, Features, Prosper.com
I had noticed several days ago that several (6 out of 15 in collections to be exact) of my delinquent loans had a new agency with the name “NEW AGENCY TEST”…
Today I received the following email from Prosper…
Prosper is committed to improving our collections on delinquent loans. To do this, we plan to test collection alternatives to provide lenders with better collections rates across all loan categories.
As a result, we have engaged a new collection agency and we are running a limited test of loans through this agency. One or more loans you own have been selected to be included in this test. To execute the test, we had to move the selected loans from your designated collection agency to the new test agency. We believe this test will ultimately yield better recoveries and we would appreciate your cooperation. The new agency will take steps at least as forceful as your original collection agency. There is no additional cost to lenders whose loans are included in the test.
Tests of this nature are not specifically mentioned in the Lender Registration Agreement, but we hope you will afford us the flexibility and opportunity to innovate in the collection area, to conduct a test that we believe will result in better collection results. If you object to your loan being included in the collection improvement test, please let us know by Tuesday, November 20, 2007, by sending an email to support@prosper.com. We will remove the loan from the test if there are serious objections, and return it to the original collection agency for normal collection.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Prosper
Thanks you very much!!!! I appreciate your attempts to improve the collections at Prosper. How could anyone object to this? I am very glad they are trying.
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November 15th, 2007 — Prosper.com
This is a major milestone for p2p lending… I can’t wait to see what the next 100MM brings.
From the marketplace data in the public xml data file (after I imported into ProProsper)…
| Date: |
|
| Principal Closed: |
|
| # Registrations: |
|
| # Lenders: |
|
| # Groups: |
|
| Historical Interest Rates |
| Credit Grade |
Group Member |
Average Rate Less Than 5K |
Average Rate 5K to 10K |
Average Greater Than 10K |
| NC |
0 |
|
|
|
| HR |
0 |
0.23706 |
0.15465 |
|
| E |
0 |
0.25773 |
0.04000 |
|
| D |
0 |
0.20430 |
0.22453 |
0.11575 |
| C |
0 |
0.15986 |
0.17901 |
0.21070 |
| B |
0 |
0.12858 |
0.13581 |
0.16370 |
| A |
0 |
0.10615 |
0.11453 |
0.13910 |
| AA |
0 |
0.07777 |
0.09706 |
0.12682 |
| NC |
1 |
|
|
|
| HR |
1 |
0.22707 |
0.15550 |
|
| E |
1 |
0.23389 |
|
|
| D |
1 |
0.19329 |
0.19891 |
0.17540 |
| C |
1 |
0.15327 |
0.18556 |
0.19803 |
| B |
1 |
0.11401 |
0.13296 |
0.15779 |
| A |
1 |
0.07346 |
0.10295 |
0.12796 |
| AA |
1 |
0.07938 |
0.08100 |
0.14180 |
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November 15th, 2007 — Prosper Days 2008, Prosper.com
Stephen Dubner, co-auther of Freakonomics, will be the keynote speaker at Prosper Days this year.
Described as a melding of pop culture and economics with more than 3 million copies sold worldwide. It is a collection of economic articles written by Levitt and then translated into prose meant for a wider audience.
The range of the articles is startling… from demonstrating the existence of cheating in Sumo to the reduced crime because of legalized abortion.
Prosper Days 2008 should be interesting… For more information sign up Prosper Days
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