Borrowers on Lending Club are only charged as a result of an accepted and approved loan. Fees range from 0.75% to 3% depending on the borrower's credit grade. For example, if a C borrower requests $5,000 they will be charged a processing fee of 2% or $100. This borrower would save $10 by signing up through Credit Karma. The fee breakdown on Lending Club fees is:
- A - 0.75%
- B - 1.50%
- C - 2.00%
- D - 2.50%
- E - 2.75%
- F - 3.00%
- G - 3.00%
Credit Karma is a new company which offers free credit scores. Yes, it's really free. Not one of those tricks where you are suddenly charged monthly fees. I signed up last month. Credit Karma makes money if you sign up for one of the offers which will be presented to you. Credit Karma shows personalized offers, such as this Lending Club offer, based on your credit profile.
The downside for those concerned about privacy - you do have to provide your social security number in order for them to pull the necessary information. Credit Karma claims they "will never share your personal information."
In addition, there are several different types of credit scores - FICO, Experian PlusScore, VantageScore, and others. The score provided to me through Credit Karma was a TransUnion score, not my FICO score. TransUnion's scale is 150-950 unlike FICO which is 300 to 850. It appears Credit Karma may provide different scores to different customers.
I also found Zopa listed on Credit Karma but there were no special offers or coupon codes. Prosper was running banner ads but did not provide other deals.
