Laplanche said Lending Club has issued over $1,000,000 in loans over the last ten days. He said the number of borrowers and lenders has gone up dramatically due to recent events. The number of borrowers has increased due to tighter credit. Lenders have also increased due to a stock market which is not performing as well as normal and investors who are looking for alternative investment opportunities.
Although Laplanche did not mention Prosper, he tried to differentiate Lending Club from other peer to peer lending companies that have higher default rates by emphasizing their exclusive focus on prime borrowers. He said Lending Club has been very careful on protecting lenders from sub-prime borrowers and risk. According to Laplanche, the default rate since May 2007 has been “less than 2%.”
Lending Club was also featured on ABC News back in April.
