SocietyOne, an Australian marketplace lending platform, says it has topped $1 billion in online lending in January.
SocietyOne notes that it launched a secured lending product in December and said the month generated a record amount of originations. The secured product first completed a pilot with a small selection of brokers, who were said to have provided extremely positive feedback.
SocietyOne CEO Mark Jones commented:
“We’re hitting the ground running in 2021 and building on our strong growth momentum by diversifying our product offering through a range of new product launches and improvements to the customer experience. With the launch of a secured loan product, we’re able to increase accessibility and flexibility for our customers, while maintaining our high credit quality for our investors. Eligible borrowers will now be able to access an increased loan amount and longer-term while receiving a 1% rate discount compared to our unsecured loans by pledging security such as a used car.”
Jones said SocietyOne continuously seeks out new solutions for borrowers as well as investors.
The secured personal loans are currently available via all affiliated brokers and will soon be released more broadly to any applicant seeking finance through the SocietyOne website. Borrowers must pledge security like a vehicle and may access larger loans of up to $70,000 for a term of 2 to 7 years.
SocietyOne also offers unsecured, fixed-rate personal loans between $5,000 and $50,000.
SocietyOne is backed by a diverse group of shareholders including News Corp Australia, Seven West Media, Consolidated Press Holdings, Reinventure Fund (Westpac Group’s venture capital arm), Energy Industries Superannuation Scheme, and several credit unions and mutual banks.