Uncrunch America Contest for $5,000 0% APR Loan

Uncrunch America is a consortium of peer to peer lending companies including Lending Club for personal loans, Virgin Money for mortgage loans and On Deck Capital for small business loans. Credit Karma and Geezeo are also part of the “Uncrunch” team because of their money management tools.

Uncrunch America formed in January 2009 because of the tightening credit market to educate people about social lending opportunity and available alternative capital sources. This month’s prize is a $5,000 interest-free loan. Participants submit an essay about how they would like to “Uncrunch America” through access to credit.

Participants can enter by submitting a story online and encouraging others to vote for it. Uncrunch America’s stated goal is to “help resolve the credit crunch and rebuild the economy by delivering consumers secure, trustworthy tolls and infrastructure to finance necessary expenses and make critical investments.

About the organization:

Lending Club is a social lending network where members borrow and invest money. Qualifying borrowers can obtain a personal loan of up to $25,000 at fixed interest rates for 3 years with no penalty for early payment. Read more here.

Virgin Money is a financial services pioneer dedicated to improving your overall mortgage experience. Read more here.

On Deck Capital is a direct lender for small businesses unable to obtain traditional funding or that need faster access to capital for unexpected business opportunities.

Credit Karma is a provider of free credit scores and credit improvement resources and tools.

Geezeo is a suite of online personal finance tools with tasks like budgeting.

You can read Tom's earlier post about the launch of the Uncrunch America campaign online here.

Jessica Ward is a freelance writer and blogger from Seattle. She also blogs at http://www.pennywisefamily.blogspot.com/.

Virgin Money joins the Uncrunch America Campaign

Uncrunch America originally attracted attention when it amassed thousands of votes and was a top 10 idea in change.org's campaign to find the top ideas for change in America. The idea gained additional momentum this week as Virgin Money joined competitor Lending Club to help raise awareness about the availability of alternative sources of credit.

Virgin Money facilitates loans through family and friends which is different than Lending Club's model. While loans between people who know each other can be made through Lending Club most of Lending Club's loans are made between people who do not know each other.

In addition to social loans, Virgin Money just entered the traditional mortgage loan market. Virgin Money is approved in 35 US states for both conventional and FHA loans and they expect to be fully licensed by the end of 2009. More than 150 mortgage brokers have joined their network.

Here are the three options presented to visitors at Uncrunch America:

Personal loans - If you have good credit you can now get a personal loan of up to $25,000 funded by fellow members at a fair interest rate through Lending Club. Free membership and easy online application.

Small business loans - If you are a small business and need more than $25,000, On Deck Capital has been actively lending to small, healthy, store front businesses throughout the credit crunch.

Home loans - Traditional Mortgages or Social Mortgages, Virgin Money has creditworthy borrowers covered. Check out our traditional mortgage for fair rates and a fast closing or consider our social mortgage for a great deal if you're borrowing from family.

Uncrunch America: Solve the credit crisis from the bottom up through social lending

Twenty-five year old entrepreneur Scott Krager has earned over 6,000 votes for his idea on change.org to solve the credit crisis from the bottom up through social lending. In the first round of voting it placed 2nd in the social entrepreneur category.

On Friday, Change.org will co-host an event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC to announce the top 10 rated ideas and plans for supporting the formation of a national advocacy campaign behind each idea. Krager's social lending idea is currently in 18th Place and needs 3,779 more votes to be among the final 10 ideas.

We interviewed Krager to find out more about uncrunch.org and his ideas to promote social lending.


What is your background and what inspired Uncrunch America?

I'm a small business owner myself. I know how valuable credit is to many small businesses. I've been following this space for the last few years. Kiva is what originally attracted me to the whole social lending niche, and then Prosper and Lending Club.

What is Uncrunch America and what do you hope to accomplish?

Uncrunch America is an organization that came out of a simple idea from Tobin Smith (leading equity and economic researcher, author and commentator) to 'uncrunch' the consumer credit markets for deserving, credit worthy Americans by promoting "social lending" networks and other web 2.0 financial education and management tools.

I fell in love with the idea and their website, and approached approached them with the proposal of promoting them by signing them up on change.org's voting contest: Top 10 ideas for Change in America.

My goal was to build awareness around social lending, gain the support of the Obama administration, and convince the government to match funds. Uncrunch.org supporters believe this is the most efficient way to put government funds to work for the people, not financial institution profits.

Who is behind Uncrunch America?

Tobin Smith and his organization ChangeWave, along with Lending Club, Credit Karma, Geezeo and OnDeck Capital.

How did you bring all the supporters together behind Uncrunch America?

I didn't personally. I signed up for change.org and submitted and promoted the idea. The founding companies have since reached out to their customers and followers to build support for the idea as well.

What has the reception been like so far for Uncrunch America?

So far, it has gotten amazing traction and I think it's because of how timely this idea is to the current credit crisis. First it made it to the second spot in the first round of voting with a few hundred votes. Now, it is in the 21st position (out of 90) in the second round of voting with 4 days left. I really thing it has a great chance of making it to the top 10.

What are Uncrunch America's biggest challenges?

The immediate challenge is to make it to the top 10 on change.org. Whether they accomplish this or not, I think their next challenge is to gain traction and get the message out there. Uncrunch will be promoted by all its partners, similar to the (RED) campaign, so it is critical that they get more supporters, and the message does not get lost in the noise.

What future plans does Uncrunch America have?

Unrcunch America will be launching a campaign to get their idea out there. In the process, they will be recruiting more members to help in this endeavor. I think it is a great initiative and hope they succeed.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Vote, vote, vote. With only 3 days left to vote, I hope your readers click here and submit their vote for this idea. Making to the top 10 will be a great push for social lending in the US, and a great way to get attention from the incoming administration.