US

Loanio Files S-1 SEC registration

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Loanio has filed a S-1 registration with the SEC. P2P lending service Loanio had been briefly active in October and November last year before voluntarily closing to new users in order to seek SEC registration approval.

In the new SEC filing Loanio wants approval for offering 50 million US$ in notes based on peer to peer loans via their website Loanio.com. The filing includes the outlook for a secondary market (loan trading platform via a broker) and the plan that Loanio might partner with a “national financial institution”. Should that be achieved, borrower loans could be originated through this lending institution and then sold and assigned to Loanio. This would allow Loanio to offer loans to borrowers in more than the 22 states it has individual state lending licenses for now, and would eliminate (some) state interest caps.

The filing also gives insights into the company structure and expenses since foundation. Founder Michael Solomon hold 97% of the company shares.

Under the requirement to file with the SEC, starting a peer-to-peer lending company in the US market takes an unusual long pre-launch phase compared to other internet based business models.

Lending Club already completed the SEC approval process, while IOU Central and Prosper currently undergo this process. Pertuity Direct operates under a p2p lending model with a different setup.

Unithrive – P2P loans for Harvard students

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Unithrive is a non-profits that allows alumni to help students by granting interest-free loans. Currently only alumni and students of Harvard can sign up, but Unithrive plans to expand to other schools in fall 2009.

Students can borrow between 500 and 2,000 US$ per semester. Repayment begins after they graduate.

The founders Joshua Kushner, Nimay Metha and Tanuj Parikh recently graduated from Harvard. For more on Unithrive read this recent New York Times article.

My First Unitedprosperity Loan Guarantee

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I just guaranteed $25 of a loan to Sakho Devi and group, Ritudih, India via Unitedprosperity.org. United Prosperity has launched on May 28th. See my earlier United Prosperity review including an interview with CEO Bhalchander Vishwanath for more information on the concept.

Signing up and selecting the loan went smoothly. For the requested loan of 1,052 US$ a guarantee of 579 US$ needs to be raised.

Sakho Devi has a grocery shop of her own, with which she earns her living. She has applied for a microloan to expand her small grocery shop, so that she can meet the demand from customers.

The listing also states some data about the partner MFI – Ajiwika Society – it’s interest rate, delinquency rate, default rate and target clients.

Kiva to Launch Loans to US Borrowers

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Tomorrow Kiva will announce that it will start to fund loans to borrowers in the United States. Kiva, which so far lets anyone support loans to small entrepreneurs in developing countries, is reacting to lender suggestions who wanted to use Kiva to help borrowers in need in the US.

In the US Kiva will partner with Accion USA and Opportunity Fund to select eligible borrowers. Initially the small business owners borrowing will be from the areas of Atlanta, Boston, Miami, New York and San Francisco. Continue reading →