October 5, 2017 @ 9:30 am By JD Alois  |  

Earnest, an online lender in the student loan space, has been acquired for $155 million by Navient (NAVI) – the largest student loan servicer in the US. Since 2015, Earnest has refinanced approximately $2 billion in loans saving an estimated $500 million for thousands of… Read More

March 20, 2017 @ 4:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fitch Ratings has taken the following rating actions on Citi Held for Asset Issuance 2016-PM1 (CHAI 2016-PM1), which is backed by marketplace loans originated via the Prosper platform: Class A upgraded to ‘Asf’ from ‘A-sf’; Outlook Stable; Class B upgraded to ‘BBBsf’ from ‘BBB-sf’; Outlook… Read More

December 18, 2016 @ 8:10 am By JD Alois  |  

Fitch shared last week its intent to rate SoFi’s RMBS transaction that included 270 loans with a total balance of approximately $168.79 million. The group of loans consists of prime fixed-rate mortgages originated on the SoFi online lending platform. The presale report was pretty positive… Read More

December 14, 2016 @ 12:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fitch Ratings is out with a note on the recently announced Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Fintech charter. The OCC has crafted a document to allow digital banks to become regulated entities by receiving federal bank charters. Fitch is of the opinion the Fintech charter… Read More

October 17, 2016 @ 12:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fitch Ratings is out with a note on Goldman Sachs’ foray into the online lending market. Fitch says that Marcus, Goldman’s recently launched lending platform, seeks to combine the best of both Fintech and the stability of being a more traditional bank. Marcus is differentiated from… Read More

September 22, 2016 @ 5:27 am By Erin Hobey  |  

P2P Global Investments and Zopa have teamed up to work on Europe’s first securitization of unsecured consumer loans originated online, reported Bloomberg. The £138M ($179 million) transaction is backed by 27,137 loans to individuals, according to Moody’s Investors Service, with a weighted average seasoning of 10 months and a maximum loan… Read More

May 16, 2016 @ 2:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

The marketplace lending industry is getting hammered of late.  The after-shock reverberations following the resignation of Lending Club co-founder and CEO Renaud Laplanche continues to be a hot topic of conversation. Today, Fitch has come out with a report stating “investor confidence in marketplace lending… Read More

February 23, 2015 @ 9:49 am By JD Alois  |  

Global financial rating agency Fitch has shared its $0.02 on the recently announced partnership of 200 community banks with Lending Club noting the agreement may introduce new risk to the small banks.  Fitch qualifies this statement by adding there may also be an opportunity present… Read More

September 11, 2014 @ 11:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fitch Ratings director Brendan Sheehy addresses the emerging peer to peer (P2P) lending industry in a brief video presentation.  Sheehy, believes that P2P lending could be a disruptive force within the banking industry – just like so many others. He notes that since 2009, P2P… Read More

August 14, 2014 @ 11:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fitch Ratings has acknowledged the growing importance of peer to peer lending  companies in statement that P2P lending success is dependent on borrower credit. This past July, S&P and DBRS assigned a landmark rating on the senior portion of a $270 million P2P deal from SoFi…. Read More