Archive for October, 2010
Peer-to-Peer Lending Site Prosper.com Hits 1 Million Member Mark
Posted by: | CommentsProsper.com, a company which operates a peer to peer lending marketplace, announced on Monday that it now has more than 1 million users on its website.
The company allows members on its website to lend money to one another in a process known as peer to peer lending. People that want to borrow money using the site post a profile and a loan request for a specific amount and purpose. Other members on the site that hope to make use of their idle cash can opt to partially fund the loan and receive their share of the borrowers payments and interest as the borrower repays their loan.
“It’s pretty incredible that 1 million people — a population greater than our headquarters city of San Francisco — have engaged with Prosper,” said Chris Larsen, CEO and co-founder of Prosper, which began facilitating loans in 2006. “Peer-to-peer lending represents the future of consumer lending, and the tipping point into the mainstream is within reach.”
Prosper.com has raised $57.7 million in venture capital and has facilitated more than $205 million in loans amongst its members.
According to the company, “Prosper is America’s largest peer-to-peer lending marketplace with over 850,000 and $185 million in loans. It pioneered peer-to-peer lending, which allows people to invest in each other in a way that is socially and financially rewarding. Prosper‘s auction model provides an open and transparent way to get a personal loan or invest in loans on terms that are favorable to everyone involved in the transaction. People and institutions list and bid on loans using Prosper’s online auction platform. Borrowers can list loan requests between $1,000 and $25,000 on Prosper and set the maximum rate they are willing to pay an investor for the loan, and tell their story. People and institutional investors register on Prosper as lenders, then set their minimum interest rates, and bid in increments of $25 to $25,000 on loan listings they select. In addition to criteria commonly used by institutional lenders, such as credit scores and histories, Prosper lenders can consider borrowers’ personal stories, endorsements from friends, and community affiliations. “
This article (Peer-to-Peer Lending Site Prosper.com Hits 1 Million Member Mark) was originally developed by and is property of American Banking News. Checkout American Banking News for up-to-date banking news and peer to peer lending news.
Homes are being foreclosed on in record numbers, amidst the housing market collapse. Tuesday is election day, and banks have had their questionable foreclosure process and robo-signers exposed. All of this adds together to create a recipe for disaster, and that is exactly what is happening.
Attorney Generals have started piling on, with Ohio being the latest. Richard Cordray, the Attorney General of Ohio released two letters today criticizing a number of banks he states are trying to paper over fraud committed in foreclosures with temporary fixes that don’t address underlying problems in the banks’ practices. Specifically, Cordray notes Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), and others as the most egregious offenders. Cordray demanded that the banks vacate any court order or motion that was based on an improper paperwork. He further commented banks would “be well-served to work out a settlement with the borrowers to modify the loans and work out payments.”
This week, several banks have re-started the foreclosure process in many states, claiming that they have reviewed their foreclosure procedures and are resuming evictions. Cordray stated that “The banks are committing fraud on the court, essentially perjury, and then saying ‘Whoops! You caught me! Here’s some different evidence and use that instead.’ I know a lot of judges are not going to take kindly to that.”
Bank of America declined to comment. A Wells Fargo spokeswoman said Friday the company intends to cooperate with Mr. Cordray’s inquiries and doesn’t “believe that any of these instances led to foreclosures which should not have otherwise occurred.” She added that Wells Fargo has “chosen to submit supplemental affidavits out of an abundance of caution.”
A joint fifty state investigation is underway, and this process will likely be dragged out for many month racking up millions of legal bills in the process, for all parties involved.
This article (Ohio AG Takes Aim at Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), and Others) was originally developed by and is property of American Banking News. Checkout American Banking News for up-to-date banking news and peer to peer lending news.
Lehman Brothers (OTC: LEHMQ.PK) Pays CEO nearly $100,000 for July Alone
Posted by: | CommentsLehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (OTC: LEHMQ.PK) may be defunct in the banking world, but is still actively winding down operations for assets not sold to Barclays (NYSE: BCS) and other firms.
The firm has largely fell off the map since filing for bankruptcy, but it still has a Chief Executive, Bryan Marsal, working for the firm. During the month of July, Marsal charged the bankrupt firm $94,350 for 111 hours of work, according to a court filing.
Marsal charged Lehman at a rate of $850 per hour, a total of $244,375 for June, July, and August according to documents filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. According to the U.S. Census, the median household income for all of last year was just under $50,000. This egregious amount is likely going to add even more fuel to the fire of vitriol aimed at the Wall Street banks.
As hard as it may be to believe though, $850 per hour is near the going rate for any top consultant in the U.S. market, so these charges are not really outside the norm. What remains angering though to it’s former investors, and rightfully so, is that Lehman has turned out to be the most expensive bankruptcy in U.S. history, having paid its managers and lawyers about $1 billion in the two years since it filed for bankruptcy in September 2008.
Winding down the firm involves selling off any remaining assets, and trying to repay the creditors as much as possible. Last month, Marsal commented that he aimed to raise $57.5 billion for creditors within five years, cutting allowable claims against those funds to about $365 billion.
This article (Lehman Brothers (OTC: LEHMQ.PK) Pays CEO nearly $100,000 for July Alone) was originally developed by and is property of American Banking News. Checkout American Banking News for up-to-date banking news and peer to peer lending news.