Microlending.ca reports that CommunityLend may be ready to launch soon as it cleared another registration hurdle. A legal document published at the Ontario Securities Commission site gives lots of details on CommunityLend’s p2p lending plans.
It also reveals that p2p lending in Canada will (at least initially) be restricted to accredited investors (high wealth individuals).
See Dan’s articleat Microlending.ca for a review of the document.
IOU Central, headquartered in Kennesaw, Georgia, Wednesday submitted an SEC S-1 Registration filing in order to launch in the US. IOU Central did launch a p2p lending service in Canada in Feb. 2008 for a brief period of time before it was closed due to regulation constraints.
Barry Coleman, VP Marketing at IOU Central, told P2P-Banking.com earlier this year:
… we are getting ready to release an online marketplace that will revolutionize peer-to-peer lending. Our platform will give borrowers the benefit of a true marketplace that allows for better interest rates. The platform will also give lenders freedom in lending with our real-time bidding system. We have taken a lot of the good from the original IOU Central platform and added features that make it much better for both borrowers and lenders.
The registration filing shows the minimum requirements IOU Central will apply to borrowers (Equifax Vantage score of at least 670 and others) and the validation process (most borrower income, employment and occupation information will be self-reported and not verified). The interest rate is set by the IOU Central loan marketplace based on several borrower related criteria. There will be auction bidding by lenders (like at Prosper) and an auto-fund option. Furthermore lenders can set auto-bidding parameters.
IOU Central will charge lenders a servicing fee of 1% of the remaining principal balance. Borrowers pay a 2% loan origination fee.
Terms of the loans will be 1, 2 or 3 years.
The Spanish translation of p2p lending is “Préstamos P2P”. In 2008 Vicente de Luna (Economist and lawyer, expert on finance and taxation of companies) and Maria J. Bustamente (Lawyer specialized in collection and recovery) founded the company P2P Lending, S. L. The company operates the p2p lending site Lubbus.com. The site is online since January 1st, but not in operation yet. It is based on invitation only registration of users. For the launch Lubbus awaits the go ahead of the Data Protection Authorities, which currently are reviewing the invitation system.
Users can be registered only through an invitation from a relative or friend, who benefits or suffers (in case of non-repayment) economically (0.10%) of any transaction the invited user makes. There is also a voting mechanism.
Lubbus.com charges a fee of 1% from lenders and 1.5% of the loan amount from borrowers. Lubbus offers the borrowers optional insurance which covers risks like unemployment (2.5% fee of the insured amount).
Lubbus has a secondary market (“mercado secundario“). The unusual feature about it is, that not only lenders can trade loans, but the secondary market also allows borrowers to repay early and let another borrower step in and continue to use the remaining loan. Lubbus charges a 1% fee on transactions. As a lender on an affected loan I would be wary of the exchange of the person I did lend to.
Credit scores used are supplied by Delta-R and Axesor.
Founder Vicente de Luna told P2P-Banking.com:
It is quite possible that in March [it] can function .. as the social platform. Community Projects will be effected through a foundation that works with local NGOs in various countries of the Third World. If all goes well, the business model is to develop in all Spanish speaking countries as possible (2010). Now it is possible for users [with an] domiciled bank account in Spain [to sign up]. We are the first Spanish company to invest in the p2p lending [market]. We hope to have over 3000 registered user in the first half of 2009.
People Capital (website people2capital.com) receives second financing round from private equity firm Radcliff Group Inc.
People Capital plans to launch a peer to peer student loan platform in 2009.
(Source: press release)
Prodigy Finance has an elitist approach. Only MBA students of selected schools are eligible as borrowers:
We have built our model with the specific profiles of top international MBAs in mind. Our close partnerships with the schools means that we are able to approve the vast majority of applications and are able to lend to participants from most countries (…). Provided you are accepted at one of our partner schools, it is very likely that we will be able to approve your loan in principle. However at this stage it is important to remember that we are still in pilot stage and thus our ability to provide funding is limited by the size of the funding pool that we have.
But that’s not all. Lenders are required to be alumni of the school, too. Minimum investment amount is 10,000 Euro. Loan term is 7 years with a 16 to 18 month grace period. Interest rates are tied to the underlying base rate.
Currently only borrowers and lenders from INSEAD are accepted.
The interesting part is that Prodigy Finance aims for cross-border, multi-currency lending:
The currency of the loan balance is determined by the currency in which tuition fees for the university are paid. If you are only lending to one university, your funds will be held in that currency alone. If you choose to spread your funds to other universities, we will convert your funds at the best available rate (and with your consent).
Prodigy Finance was founded by Cameron Stevens (CEO), Ryan Steele (COO) and Miha Zerko (CTO).
That’s the title of an email I’ve just received from PertuityDirect.com, a Virginia based p2p lending service in pre-launch stage. Pertuity Direct announces:
… If you have been keeping tabs on the space, you know that the social lending industry has been pretty interesting over the last two to three months. The guidance that regulators have given with regard to the segment, combined with the fact that consumer loans are still hard to come by, fits perfectly with what we are bringing to market. There is a real need for alternative sources of capital for consumers, as well as new and better investing options. Social lending is a great answer to the problem – and Pertuity Direct is poised to bring it to the mass market.
We are in final preparations to launch immediately after the New Year. All of the pieces are finally in place and we are revving up for Day 1.
We’re excited about 2009 and are looking forward to reaching out to you very shortly as we open for business. …
Since the Loanio delays I am a bit wary of launch dates, but ‘immediately after’ sounds confident – looking forward to the launch in January 2009 then.