Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (2024)

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As many of you know, I’ve been a P2P investor for almost two years.

For those needing to catch up, here’s my last P2P results update.

I had weathered the Lending Club scandal of firing its CEO and thought all was well. I was pulling money out to get me down to the $50k mark or so, but I was planning in sticking with them after that.

Then in late May I received an email from Lending Club. It read as follows:

Important Update for Your Lending Club Account

Account ending in: XXXXXXXX

Dear ESI,

Thanks for being a part of Lending Club. As part of our ongoing commitment to your financial security, we’re taking steps to strengthen the security of your account.

We continuously look to enhance our customer verification processes and started asking some investors to submit documents that confirm their identity and current residence. To increase the safety of existing investor accounts like yours, we need you to submit a copy of a valid government-issued photo ID by May 31st in order to continue investing on the Lending Club platform. Doing so helps us safeguard your account and ensure that transactions are authorized by you.

Sending the document requested should take only a few minutes of your time.

To quickly and securely upload your document, click here to access our investor document center.

If you’d rather fax us, please fax the following information to XXX-XXX-XXXX:

• Your name
• Your account number (you can find it in your Account Summary)
• A copy of your government-issued photo ID

Once we review your document, we’ll email a confirmation to you within one business day. We’ll get in touch with you if we have any more questions or need additional information.

It’s important that you complete this by May 31st so you can continue to invest with us.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at [emailprotected] or (844) 409-0619.

Thanks for investing with us,

Lending Club Investor Services

This seemed a bit fishy to me.

First of all, I was wondering why they needed a copy of a “government-issued photo ID”. I don’t think I’ve provided one to any other company I’ve ever dealt with (Vanguard, Fidelity, Prosper, etc.)

Second, it was late May and had this “act now” sort of messaging that phishing scams use a lot.

Third, the email address they listed was [emailprotected] while on their site it was [emailprotected]. Not a huge difference but it just seemed off. I’m suspicious that way.

Besides, I’m not a big fan of providing my personal information to anyone when it’s not needed. Let’s face it, companies get hacked. Even companies who people say “will never get hacked” (like banks) get hacked. The less they have of my personal information when they do get hacked, the better.

So to be safe I went to Lending Club’s site, got their official contact email, and sent them back this reply:

I received an email that was supposedly from you saying I needed to provide you with a government issued ID. I want to know if this was actually from you or if it was a phishing scam.

If from you, it said I would not be able to invest with you if I did not provide it. I do not want to provide it, so please let me know my options for de-investing with you. I don’t provide ID to any other investment service (Vanguard, Fidelity, Prosper, etc.) and I’m skeptical that 1) you really need it and 2) you could keep it safe from a hack attack.

Please respond to this email address.

Thank you,

ESI

After a day or so they responded back as follows:

Hello ESI,

Thanks for contacting us and we can assure you that this is not a phishing attempt. We take your security seriously.

As part of our ongoing commitment to your financial security, we’re taking steps to increase the safety of your account. Please note, if we do not receive the requested document(s) required to verify your information by May 31, 2017, your account will be restricted.

Account owners with restricted accounts cannot participate on the LendingClub platform, which includes adding funds, purchasing Notes, buying or selling Notes on Folio, and withdrawing funds. You will continue to receive payments to your account from your outstanding Notes; to the extent borrower payments are received.

To quickly and securely upload your document, click here to access our investor document center.

If you would prefer to close your account, you may be able to liquidate your portfolio prior to maturity by listing your Notes for sale on the trading platform operated by Folio Investing.

Please note that liquidity is not guaranteed and if you haven’t already done so, you may find it helpful to read more about the trading platform on our website by clicking here.

Once your account is liquidated, please reach out to us to request a close account form.

If you have any questions, you can reach us at (888) 596-3159.

Best Regards,

LC

Now let me say that I have no idea why they really wanted my photo-ID. It’s certainly not to “increase the safety of my account.”

More likely some exec decided that they could use the info in some way and thus they decided to collect it.

If it was required by law I’m sure they would have told me that.

I replied with the following:

I am not happy with these options.

I’m ok with no additional investment, but I would prefer to withdraw money as loans are paid, not sell them at cut-rate prices just to clear out my account.

This is what I’d like to do, so please send my request to a higher level for approval.

This has absolutely nothing to do with my “financial security” (how could it?) and everything to do with you all requesting sensitive information from me that is not required subject to being lost or stolen.

I ask that you reconsider and give me a waiver.

Thank you,

ESI

Then there were crickets.

I sent them the message again a few days later and a day or two after that they replied with the following:

Hello, ESI.

Thank you for your email and sorry for the delayed response.

Your account will be eligible for withdrawals after May 31st. However, we are unable to waive the ID requirement within your account.

If we do not receive an ID by May 31st, you will be unable to invest in new Notes through your account.

We hope this is helpful. Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions.

Best Regards,

LC

Still not absolutely sure what this meant, I tried to clarify:

So just to make sure I’m clear, if I do not provide my ID then:

1. I’ll still be able to withdraw funds
2. I will not be able to make new investments

Is this correct?

They responded a couple days later:

Hello ESI,

Thank you for your email and you are correct.

We hope this is helpful. Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions.

Best Regards,

LC

So now I’m withdrawing money as the loans come due and I’ll draw it down to nothing over time. At the rate it’s going it could take me well over a year.

If they hadn’t backed off a bit my plan was to file a complaint with the SEC and the FTC (note the section at the top where you can voice a concern about a company handling your personal information.)

Anyway, I’m done with Lending Club.

It’s not a big loss as their returns were very low for me (3% or so) and I’m not sure they will come back up.

Prosper’s are at 7%, so I’m good with them.

Just wanted to give you all the complete story as well as a head’s up.

Update: In my 2017 financial update, I noted that I’m still liquidating (Prosper too).

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Comments

  1. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (2)Coopersmith says

    I am done with LC also… My portfolio was small in comparison but with the loans going in an out of grace periods, some even 120 days late and returns that are half of the stated low part of the range I started selling some on the folio listings. I have 3 loans charged off so a $75 hit.

    My goal is to break even and realize I do not have the stomach for this type of investment.

    Reply

  2. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (3)VagabondMD says

    Interesting. I am an LC investor (much smaller balance), and I did not receive the same request for additional identification.

    I guess that they could restrict you from investing on their platform, for whatever arbitrary reason they want, but I cannot believe that they could legally restrict you from withdrawing money from your account.

    FWIW, I stopped making new investments about a year ago and am drawing down my account over time. It should take a couple years to do so. I thought it was a lot of hassle for returns much below what I expected (my return rate is under 5% and seems to be decaying over time).

    I made more money in the IPO than I have made cumulatively investing on the site. Fortunately, I sold my shares within days of the IPO as the stock has spent much of its time well under the IPO price in the $5 per share range. I worry about the long term viability of the company and what that means to my modest investment. My balance is under $4000, so I do not worry too much. 😉

    Reply

  3. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (4)High Income parents says

    I’m glad you at least had positive results with them. I lost money and have been pulling money out over the last few years as the notes mature.
    It seems like a lot of financial bloggers are less and less happy with LC.
    It seems like a great investment on paper. The company seems to be doing more and more things to upset people though.
    They haven’t emailed me for any photo ID either but I have less than $100 in that account by now.

    Tom @ HIP

    Reply

  4. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (5)The Green Swan says

    That is a bit troubling! I have never gotten into P2P lending but would have been just as annoyed as you about this and likely shut it down. I’d save the role of lending money to bankers.

    Reply

  5. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (6)Lance @ My Strategic Dollar says

    Thanks for sharing! I’ve considered jumping into LC. It’s good to hear about personal experiences!

    Reply

  6. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (7)Amy @ Life Zemplified says

    Sounds like that letter was a blessing in disguise. Thanks for the heads up!

    Reply

  7. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (9)Freedom 40 Plan says

    Interesting and concerning story. It’s curious that I don’t recall getting any such letter from them. You’d think there would be some consistency across their user base if they did have a new requirement. At any rate – I too have been in the process of liquidating my account for several months now. Primarily due to the lackluster returns that seem to be coming in. I’ve sold some notes, but I think I’ll need to wait for many to just run their term, which will unfortunately take a year or two at this point…

    Reply

  8. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (10)soawesomejohn says

    I wonder if the request is based on balance, or activity. I only have around $500 in LC and in reality, it’s been an auto-investing, almost forgotten savings account (~3.5% return). I haven’t received any such request. Every so often, I get this email about an auto-invest order (normally in the amount of $25). I’ve debated whether I should pull my money out or just let it ride.

    But this post has made me decide to go ahead and stop auto investing and withdraw as notes mature. Since the return has never really gotten above 4%, I might as well put that money to some better use somewhere else.

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (11)ESI says

      I’m thinking they saw me taking out money and wanted to put a stop to it/slow it down for some reason. But maybe it’s something else.

      Anyway, not cool in my book…

      Reply

  9. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (12)soawesomejohn says

    I decided to look into prosper as well since I hadn’t before. I discovered that Pennsylvania is doesn’t allow P2P loans, and therefore Prosper is not available. I then discovered that the same restriction applies to Lending Club, but I guess it might not have when I signed up in 2009. Technically, I should be allowed to do trading on LC, but I’ve only ever done the straight investing bit.

    Reply

  10. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (13)Mr. Freaky Frugal says

    I don’t invest with LC and now I’m glad. Your experience is a new reason I don’t.

    But I’ve also read lots of other posts about people leaving LC because of much lower returns than expected. I’ve always been nervous about LC and Prosper because they approve loan applications with no skin in the game – they provide no funds themselves.

    Reply

  11. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (14)Kyle Globerman says

    My results with lending tree have been about 3% as well. I also invest with Upstart and the returns have been much better. I have only had three loans out of 100 get charged off and the return has been about 7%. The automatic investment forces you to invest across all classes of loans but you can choose between 3 and/or 5 year loans.

    Reply

  12. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (15)tkbuz says

    I’m not sure I see this quite the same way you do. In my opinion, anything they can do to validate the authenticity of the participants (especially those taking out loans) is a good thing. On the negative side, it probably means they have been having issues with fraudulent loans which could increase the default rates. On the positive side, this action could improve default rates going forward. I agree that it is troubling that they need to take this step, but I wouldn’t necessarily view it as a sign to stay away from this service. Just my first reaction, and no I am not currently a LC member so it is without any experience with the service. Thanks

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (16)ESI says

      First of all, I’m not taking out loans, I’m lending.

      Second, I gave them the chance to explain a good reason why they needed this information and yet they couldn’t.

      Third, the returns weren’t great, so I figured why bother…

      Reply

      • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (17)tkbuz says

        Right – I understand that. My point was only that if they are enforcing the same rules for borrowers it might help to reduce fraudulent borrowers in the future (and thus potentially reduce default rates). I am not challenging your reasons for leaving the service based on the low returns and the way you were treated, but wanted to offer a possible upside for their action as well.

        Reply

        • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (18)sfbernal says

          I sure hope they were and are doing a thorough credit review prior to extending any credit. Any borrower will surely need to submit much more documentation than a lender.

          Reply

        • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (19)PM says

          What is odd is that they are not asking all lenders for this information. I never recieved such a letter.

          Reply

          • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (20)ESI says

            Maybe it’s because I’m withdrawing money and they want to dissuade that.

            Reply

      • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (21)Zed says

        I would guess they have a government agency asking for the info and restricting what they can say about it. Investigating money laundering or something similar. Just a guess.

        Reply

  13. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (22)aileen says

    what’s your thoughts in crowdfunding (like realtyshare)?

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (23)ESI says

      I’m kind of waiting to see how they sort out before I get involved.

      Reply

  14. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (24)John says

    I have 3 accounts with LC. One a cash account, one my Roth IRA and my wife’s Roth IRA in order of age of the accounts. My cash account return has fallen to below 6%, my Roth below 5% and my wife’s Roth barely 3%. In the last year or so LC has given out loans to just about anyone who walks up with their hand out in my opinion. This was in order to enhance their market share at the expense of investors. (Again, my opinion). Defaults are terrible. None of my accounts have shown an increase in 2017 at all. Don’t know how I’m suppose to withdraw earned interest every month to supplement my income when there’s no interest to withdraw. I am in the process of liquidating my LC account and will close it ASAP. Glad I didn’t commit the major amount of dollars I had planned on or I’d be working well into my 70’s.

    Reply

  15. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (25)Joe says

    Why would they need an ID? That’s ridiculous. I’d do the same if I’m an investor. I have some investment at Prosper, but I’m drawing down there too. I have been getting about 7%. However, I think real estate crowfunding is the way to go now. We’ll see if it works out.

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (26)kyle Globerman says

      I have used groundfloor off an on. ITs not bad but I think you run the risk of lot of house flippers who are using short term financing to flip a house. If the mark turns at any time, I think you will run into bad loans

      Reply

  16. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (27)david freilich says

    I’d totally stay away from these investing schemes, too much default risk for my liking…..
    One could easily be left holding the bag IMHO….

    Reply

  17. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (28)Josh M says

    It’s probably an anti-money laundering (AML) regulatory thing. Banks have been going through it ever since Dodd-Frank. We had to remediate every single one of our customers, took the bank I work for (a decent sized regional bank) over 5 years to complete. The regulators are probably just now getting to the FinTech space.

    Can I ask why you didn’t want to provide the info? I’m assuming they already have your address on file, so they weren’t really getting new information that could be hacked. Just verifying that you are who you say you are.

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (29)ESI says

      I thought the same thing, but gave them the chance to say that — and they never did.

      They would be getting my driver’s license number, which would be something new. Also, why do they need to verify that I am who I say I am? I’m NOT borrowing, I’m lending.

      And if they had a really good reason (like being required by law) why didn’t they just say so?

      Reply

      • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (30)Josh M says

        Most companies don’t want to come out and say “We don’t really want to do this, but the government is making us.” So they say that it’s in the name of “cybersecurity” or whatever buzzword that marketing says is best. The reason the government wants them to do it is because if you can’t provide this info, that’s a red flag that you might be using ill-gotten gains to fund your account. It’s basically the government using the FSI’s to do their job for them.

        • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (31)ESI says

          So if they “have” to do it, why did they give me a waiver? (How could they be allowed to do so if the government requires this?)

          Reply

          • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (32)Financial Rookie says

            It’s because of an anti-terrorism/anti-laundering law. Even if you are lending, it could be a way to launder money and like Josh said, the feds are probably just now getting to the online p2p platforms.

            Reply

  18. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (33)wishicouldsurf says

    I did a small lending club experiment with less than $4,000 and did one of their recommended portfolios except I restricted some of the uses of the funds (thinking that would perhaps make an already very risky type of lending less risky). My returns have been terrible and the default rate is much higher than the so-called “data” showed. Although it’s a bit more complex, for peer to peer lending, I use Peer Street since the assets are backed by collateral and after 21 months, I’m still averaging about 8% on returns. I’m curious to know why you think Prosper is any better than Lending Club. I don’t have an opinion either way. Thank you in advance!

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (34)ESI says

      I’m not sure. Maybe Prosper is vetting their applications a bit better?

      Reply

  19. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (35)JayCeezy says

    ESI, sorry this happened. We’ve talked about this in the past, and I have two observations…

    1) Anyplace you do financial business with (whether lending or borrowing) must determine that you are who you say you are, and that the funds are real. The government-issued ID is something your bank, mortgage (if you had one), car dealer, DMV, employer, etc. all have, rightly so. There are a number of services (in addition to Credit reporting services) that share financial information about their clients (whether lending or borrowing). They do this to determine financial responsibility trends (did this guy buy 20 automobiles last week? Bounce a bunch of checks? Take out loans from one institution that might be re-invested with LC or another institution? etc.)

    2) LC (and other institutions like your bank(s), credit card companies, anyplace you might hold a membership like your gym, Costco, etc.) “shares” information about you. It is in their policy, which nobody (including me and maybe you) ever reads. By “share”, I mean LC makes money by bulk-trading client information.;-)

    You will never get a direct answer to your question from LC, but I hope you find this useful and can see now why they won’t provide the answer in plain language. Continued success to you!

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (36)ESI says

      I still don’t understand why they need it now.

      1. They determined who I was when I opened the account. Why do they need more info?

      2. Yes, I know they share info. Are you saying that this is this why they won’t provide an answer in plain language — that they want more info to share about me?

      Reply

      • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (37)JayCeezy says

        1. recourse
        2. Yes, that is what I’m saying.

        You won’t get satisfaction from LC; if they told you what I just did, you would do exactly what you’ve done. I think you do understand, very well, and are correct to take the action you did.

        Reply

      • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (39)ESI says

        I’m wondering if they changed the “information they collect” policy between the time I started the account and now.

        Also interesting how you can limit some information you have to give them and what they share. I guess that’s what they allowed me to do — limit what I shared.

        Reply

        • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (40)JayCeezy says

          I’m sure the answer is ‘yes’, my bank(s) change it every year (as they should) and are required to send a notice (indecipherable to regular busy people, by intention).

          Had a last-minute thought…LC went public 2.5 years ago at $23/share, and is now around $5/share. It has never made money, and never will. I’ve never understood the P2P model, why would any investor lend money to somebody who’s best option for borrowing is LC? Let’s face it, the borrowers aren’t even people you would want to have lunch with.

          Anyway, maybe the Board is trying to shine it up for sale, and needs a real metric (substantial investors like ESI, not the bloggers who take a $10K flyer) for the client-base that comes along with the acquisition.

          Reply

  20. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (41)Mighty Investor says

    I have used Lending club for a number of years. I’m getting better returns and didn’t get a letter like that. Odd…. I’ve been drawing down my account however as I don’t want a major balance with them once we go into the next recession (no idea when that will be). It could get ugly when the cycle turns.

    Reply

  21. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (42)Dave says

    Thanks for sharing this information. I currently do not have any money invested in Lending Club or any other P2P account. I am still doing research on this type of investing. I have never had to provide that type of identification to any major investment firms. I too would have found that shady. It sounds like you are doing the correct thing my emptying the account and moving on.

    Reply

  22. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (43)Ms. Frugal Asian Finance says

    Wow what a chain of emails! I’m sorry to hear about such a frustrating experience. I hope you have your money in a safe place now and won’t have to deal with something so disappointing anymore.

    Reply

  23. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (44)Debbie says

    I also am DONE with LC. I invested $15K about 5-7 years ago and got $10K back. Maybe I was just bad at picking the borrowers. So many loans went unpaid and were just charged off, just like that. Free money for the masses!
    I took out my measly leavings and said close my account. They said I had to fill out some paperwork to close it so I guess it’s still open. I am really fed up with them. I don’t know who is making money, it sure wasn’t me.

    Reply

  24. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (45)Divnomics says

    What a story, and it really smelled a bit fishy like that. I’m not familiar with lending club (as a Dutchie), but they might feel something when others, like you, will stop with investing at LC. And probably hold back others that were thinking of joining in.

    With a lot of contracts I do have to send out my ‘government-issued photo ID’, but that’s also how regulations are set up here.

    Reply

  25. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (46)Rob says

    Not sure if it helps, but i called the LC investor line and was told the ID request was due to anti-money laundering requirements. I don’t recall what I had to submit to Prosper when I applied, but did not get a request from them.

    Also — on the investments in Prosper and Lending Club. I use a company called lendingrobot to auto-invest for me. They charge a small fee for the service, but I have been happy with the results to date.

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (47)ESI says

      I wonder why they wouldn’t just tell me that. It would have made things a lot simpler/clearer.

      Reply

      • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (48)Rob says

        True… which is why i called. I was NOT happy about the email content and wanted answers. I almost did the samething as you, but P2P is in my plan for creating future income streams.

        Granted, I have only been in for 12 months, but have had 9% at LC and 10% at Prosper so will continue.

        Reply

        • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (49)Joe says

          Why? These loans are not backed by any assets. Borrowers can walk at any time. Why not invest in asset backed loans with recourse?

          Reply

  26. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (50)Mora says

    Pure guess here- LC is requiring Customer ID on accounts to comply with anti money laundering standards and the Bank Secrecy Act. They might only require ID on accounts in excess of $x.

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (51)John Wedding says

      Actually, I think there may be something to this. It may center around Suspicious Activity Report filing requirements.

      Banks can file a Suspicious Activity Report any time they feel that the … activity is suspicious. But if the transaction is $10,000 or more, then they *have* to file one, regardless of whether it looks suspicious or not. (At least, that’s what my credit union has to do; I would suspect that the bank part of LC has to as well.)

      If you’re looking like you might withdraw $10,000 or more, then that might explain the extra ID, maybe they didn’t have this in place at the beginning, etc.

      I haven’t been asked for extra ID, but I have less than $1,000 in notes. But, again, you’re right: Why so nebulous?

      Reply

  27. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (52)Tim Kim @ Tub of Cash says

    Hmm..thanks for sharing. I haven’t gotten into P2P lending. But I see it at every PF site I go to. And lending club is typically the one that’s being touted. Thank you for sharing the other side of the coin.

    Reply

  28. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (53)Travis @ Student Loan Planner says

    I think the average person (not personal finance bloggers) have no idea how bad this investment would be (p2p) if liquidity was ever truly required in a bearish market. I think you’d see huge discounts

    Reply

  29. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (54)Jack says

    That’s odd. I’ve been earning over 9% for years. Although I did some research on how to find favorable loans.

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (55)Matt says

      Jack- Can you share your expertise on picking “favorable” loans? Appreciate it.

      Also, a question for others whose return have been lower than they expected. Are you basing your return on LCs calculation of your returns on the main LC page, or are you calculating your return yourself? Just wondering if LC uses some funny method to boost reported returns.

      Reply

  30. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (56)Mrs. Groovy says

    Any financial institute that thinks it’s cool to send an email request for sensitive information — with a quick turnaround date no less, would make me question their integrity. They should have sent a letter by regular mail way in advance of the deadline to introduce the new policy. Glad you’re cutting bait.

    Reply

  31. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (57)HM says

    I’ve put $60K with LC and it’s worth about $69K now, giving me a ~5.75% return, which I’m ok with as I see it also as a way to diversify. I’m less that thrilled by their behavior as a company though and if I was slightly less lazy I’d look for an alternative place that could add diversification with similar returns.

    I keep hearing the Rich Uncles ads on podcasts and am intrigued, but like you ESI, I want to see how the Real Estate crowdfunding scenario plays out a little longer (like a downturn).

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (58)Joe says

      And you know how LC loans will behave in a downturn so that’s why you choose to invest with them? Hmmm…

      Reply

      • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (59)HM says

        Yes, that’s right. Marketplace (P2P) lending did much better then the market did during the financial crisis.

        Reply

  32. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (60)Tyler says

    I’ve been using Lending Robot for almost 6 months (small sample size, I know) my LC account fluctuates between 9% and 11%. After reading this, I may just ride it out, not invest any more capital, and see how it performs over a longer time span.

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (61)ESI says

      Early on, returns are high (mine were almost 10%: https://esimoney.com/my-entry-into-peer-to-peer-lending/), but then the defaults come and they cut returns down big-time.

      Reply

      • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (62)Tyler says

        Any thoughts on Lending Robot? They charge 25bps for managed accounts >$5k.

        Portfolio looks like :

        A(18.7%) B (12.9%) C(14.7%) D(21.5%) E(19.2%) F(10.4%) G(2.5%) total 606 notes.

        Reply

  33. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (63)Richard Monahan says

    Sorry to hear you guys are not getting the returns you deserve but i have two loans with lg one for $9000 at 21% interest for 3 yrs and just paid it off i want to thank you for investing you guys save my butt.my 2nd loan for $4200 at 11:92 % for 3 yrs about half paid off again you guys have saved my butt.i wish i was a smart you you guys.now i going after my debt and trashing all credit card debt.After paying off my first loan from lg i wanted to get another loan from lg but got refused and that woke me up and it time to pay off my loans

    Reply

  34. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (64)Dividend Growth Investor says

    I never understood the fascination of index investors who claim they cannot pick stocks, but think they can properly evaluate risks to make loans.

    When the economy does poorly, returns suffer. Just ask yourself where the P2P investors from 2006 – 2009 are today 😉

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (65)Mighty Investor says

      DGI,

      Hilarious point, actually.

      Reply

  35. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (66)Peter says

    I didn’t have as much in Lending Club as you, but I’ve been with Lending Club for a few years now and in that time my returns have been anywhere from 8%-10%, with returns more recently closer to 8% after a bunch of defaults. I’ve been happy with the returns as far as they go, but I’ve been drawing down my account as well as I have similar questions about the company as of late.

    I never did get any requests for further ID though. Kind of strange.

    Reply

  36. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (67)George says

    I’m late to the party on this one, but I’m at 1 year now with LC. I also stopped investing w/ them (a few months ago) due to the troubling news but primarily the just awful loans that were coming up. I agree that their standards have fallen despite their claims otherwise. I’m still above 8%, but I’m sure that will drop quite a bit over the next year.

    Reply

  37. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (68)Jerry says

    I too am done with LC. Various issues.
    1) due to extremely high write offs (on a portfolio of 410 notes, I have 40 + write offs and I am sure an additional 10-20 to follow)
    2) the returns are miserable. I am nearly 2 years in, and I have $221 dollar return to show for a $10k investment. I would prefer to just leave it in the bank
    3i it seems as though the filters that I applied when selecting notes did not completely do what they said they would do. I was selecting notes manually, but was never fast enough to scoop up any decent ones….. LC recommended using Automated Investing to purchase notes as soon as they were posted. It only got me a boat load of poor quality borrowers.
    4) I do not get a good feeling about the company. I cannot quantify it, I just don’t. Pure gut instinct

    I have withdrawn $6k so far, and continue pulling money as it becomes available. I just hope that in the end, i get at least my investment back.

    Reply

  38. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (69)No2Bank says

    I love Lendingclub. I was with them from the beginning, got the option to buy the IPO and everything, because I hated the bank so much. I love the idea that I can put my money to work; while on vacation, on a snow day, watching the kids playing sports, basically anywhere and anytime, especially, when I’m trying to kill time. My account had gotten too large for my comfort (without collateral). I’m in the process of reducing it back down to 5-8% of my overall portfolio.

    Reply

  39. Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (70)GenX FIRE says

    I am not sure if you will see this, but have you had good luck with Prosper now a year later? Would you still recommend it for diversification purposes?

    To be certain, I would have done the same regarding Lending Tree. That situation would have made me angry, and that is not a situation one want’s to be in with money.

    Reply

    • Why I'm Done with Lending Club - ESI Money (71)ESI says

      I’m done with them both. I basically decided I wanted out of this form of investing, started pulling the plug, and haven’t looked back.

      So Prosper “could” be a decent option, but I haven’t really evaluated it recently.

      Reply

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