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.
The following is the official press release for the Loanio launch:
Loanio.com unveils its peer to peer lending platform today and offers subprime, thin and no credit borrowers, the opportunity to get loans without exposing higher risks to its lenders.
NEW YORK, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ — Loanio, Inc. launched its p2p lending website (https://www.loanio.com) today, addressing the needs of an underserved market–those with poor or no credit profile histories. Prior to the launch, borrowers with poor or no credit scores have been turned away from, or have had little luck, with other p2p lending platforms. Loanio is looking to change this.
Borrowers with poor or no credit scores will be permitted to participate on the p2p lending platform by using a Co-Borrower or guarantors. According to CEO and Founder Michael Solomon, “only around 10% of borrowers on p2p sites wind up getting a loan. Many of them have less than stellar credit profiles. With options for these borrowers drying up elsewhere, we believe this feature and others on the website will fill a sorely needed void in the p2p lending arena.”
To provide lenders on the platform with more reliable data, the company also introduced “Platinum Verification Services.” This service is optional and available to borrowers at the time they create their loan request. A Platinum loan will indicate to lenders that Loanio has verified certain, otherwise “self-reported”, financial profiles of borrowers such as last year’s filed tax returns, employment and income, and more. “We want to provide as much data to our lenders as possible and the verification of these items allow borrowers to tell lenders they are serious about this process. Lenders, in turn, will have the benefit of not having to wonder if the borrower may have given their income data a ‘little extra padding.'”
While the Co-Borrower option is mandatory for those with bad or no credit, both the Co-Borrower and Platinum Verification features are available to all users as an option. Solomon says, “The idea is that we want to provide all borrowers with as many possible tools to shine and present appealing loan requests to the lenders.” With these features available to all users, even a fair credit borrower may be seen as a better risk if they have a Co-Borrower with an excellent credit record attached to their loan. The combination will also help the borrower get even lower rates. “If you saw two loan requests for the same money and rates, but one had an excellent rated Co-Borrower attached to it and went through the Platinum Verification process, which one would you bet on? I think the choice would be clear” Solomon continues.