Lendingclub quiet period – lenders can not sign up or bid on new loans

Surprisingly Lendingclub.com stopped signup for new lenders and existing lenders can not make bids on new loans (old loans are continued to be serviced). Borrowers can still obtain new loans – they are funded directly by Lendingclub. The announcement email sent out to members is quoted in this blog post.

The Lendingclub website states this message:

Lending Club has started a process to register, with the appropriate securities authorities, promissory notes that may be offered and sold to lenders through our site in the future. Until we complete the registration process, we will not accept new lender registrations or allow new commitments from existing lenders. We will continue to service all previously funded loans during this period, and lenders will be able to access their accounts, monitor their portfolios, and withdraw available funds without changes.

The borrowing side of our site will remain generally unaffected by this registration process; borrowers can continue to apply for loans and new loans posted after April 7, 2008, will be funded and held only by Lending Club.

Until the registration process is completed, the company will undergo a quiet period and will not be able to respond to press and other inquiries about Lending Club or the registration process during that time.

On Techcrunch there is speculation that "Lending Club is looking to obtain a broker dealer license from the SEC that would legitimize its operations".

If this is the case I could not find a recent SEC filing connected to this. The last one I found dates February 13th.

Netbanker has a short statement from Prosper, essentially saying that Prosper believes itself to be in compliance with all state and federal laws.