Yesterday Loanio launched and there are already six loan requests. On the Loanio blog, CEO Michael Solomon says it has been a wonderful week for him despite the uncertain financial markets - his son turned one, he won $1,000 in the New York State lottery and finally launched Loanio. Loanio has released the following press release about their launch:
Loanio.com unveils its peer to peer lending platform today and offers subprime, thin and no credit borrowers, the opportunity to get loans without exposing higher risks to its lenders
NEW YORK, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Loanio, Inc. launched its p2p lending website (https://www.loanio.com) today, addressing the needs of an underserved market--those with poor or no credit profile histories. Prior to the launch, borrowers with poor or no credit scores have been turned away from, or have had little luck, with other p2p lending platforms. Loanio is looking to change this.
Borrowers with poor or no credit scores will be permitted to participate on the p2p lending platform by using a Co-Borrower or guarantors. According to CEO and Founder Michael Solomon, "only around 10% of borrowers on p2p sites wind up getting a loan. Many of them have less than stellar credit profiles. With options for these borrowers drying up elsewhere, we believe this feature and others on the website will fill a sorely needed void in the p2p lending arena."
To provide lenders on the platform with more reliable data, the company also introduced "Platinum Verification Services." This service is optional and available to borrowers at the time they create their loan request. A Platinum loan will indicate to lenders that Loanio has verified certain, otherwise "self-reported", financial profiles of borrowers such as last year's filed tax returns, employment and income, and more. "We want to provide as much data to our lenders as possible and the verification of these items allow borrowers to tell lenders they are serious about this process. Lenders, in turn, will have the benefit of not having to wonder if the borrower may have given their income data a 'little extra padding.'"
While the Co-Borrower option is mandatory for those with bad or no credit, both the Co-Borrower and Platinum Verification features are available to all users as an option. Solomon says, "The idea is that we want to provide all borrowers with as many possible tools to shine and present appealing loan requests to the lenders." With these features available to all users, even a fair credit borrower may be seen as a better risk if they have a Co-Borrower with an excellent credit record attached to their loan. The combination will also help the borrower get even lower rates. "If you saw two loan requests for the same money and rates, but one had an excellent rated Co-Borrower attached to it and went through the Platinum Verification process, which one would you bet on? I think the choice would be clear" Solomon continues.
