As your may have seen in my comment on my earlier picks this week, Lending Club pulled my top pick before it was funded, I guess some things are too good to be true. Hopefully these picks will all fund without a problem.
I should also give a quick performance update; my net return is 12.46% right now, up .03% from the beginning of the month:
I've been selling my lower interest rate notes on the secondary market at cost (present value + accrued interest + 1% to cover selling costs) and investing in higher-return notes to boost my rate. Here are some of those very notes I'm using to bump up my average:
Top Pick: Utility Footwear Business
The reason this is my top pick is because this is one of the few times I like the story behind the loan better than the interest rate, although 17.74% isn't bad at all. This is a rare case in which the borrower gave up anonymity to post
her blog which has a video of her demonstrating her invention. To summarize, the shoe is a small flat of the variety that is evidently called a "Mary Jane," the Mary Jane I've always known is not a shoe, but then again, I don't wear heels, either. Basically this shoe folds in on itself to form a kind of pocket. The idea is that heels, I've been told, are uncomfortable to wear for extended periods of time, like what would happen if you took public transit and walked somewhere formal. You could wear these shoes until you got to the event, then put on your heels and keep these "Flip Slips" in your purse. I consulted with some people that do wear heels that think this is a good idea so I'm taking their word for it. Financially, this loan looks pretty good. There is a delinquency on record 82 months ago but the revolving credit is below 20% so it looks pretty good.
$11,200@17.74%
Under Review/Unverified
Runner-Up: Extremely High Returns
This is another business loan but it's the kind I like, and the kind you should like to. The borrower already has an established business with stores in California and Colorado that sell fragrances and needs money to secure Christmas inventory. This all sounds logical to me, the only bad thing on the report is the right revolving credit, $151,202/87% but you kind of expect this with a small business owner that finances on personal credit. The listing isn't income-verified but I requested the borrower do that because this looks like a solid listing.
$24,000@18.09%
Under Review/Unverified
Final Thoughts
If you have any comments about these listings then feel free to contact me, either by leaving a comment here or by
emailing me.
I do have one final listing for you to
look at.
If you're a borrower, especially looking for a business loan, you can learn a lot about what not to do from this listing.
The borrower refuses to give any information about his company, which is understandable because of the desire for anonymity, but he also refuses to give any details about his personal finances.
The thing to remember when getting a business loan on lending club is that the debt is in your name, not the company's, which means that we definitely need to know your financial situation (ie mortgage).
retiredUSMCinvestor, who is probably the best known investor on Lending Club, asked some very fair questions that the borrower basically refused to answer. It's not smart to be hostile to the folks that are lending you money,
The moral of the story is to be as open as possible, lenders can respect your desire to be anonymous but we need to know what your monthly bills look like. The other moral is to be nice to retiredUSMCinvestor because he is the hero of every lender on lending club.
