Is the Lending Club Legit?
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This is true for both borrowers and investors who may have their doubts about the P2P format that does have a bit of sketchiness to it, especially since it's all done online. But it must be noted that Lending Club is indeed a legitimate company and clients do get to borrow and invest in it with little to no issue. If you still have doubts about the company, then here are a few things that can answer the question of "Is the Lending Club actually legit?"
The very first thing you'll find when investigating online if Lending Club is legit is all the positive press they get from major media outlets such as the New York Times, CNN, and USA Today. When a company gets significant and continuous attention like that, they get put under intense scrutiny, so they'd be found out in time if their business were inherently crooked.
There is also a lot of positive feedback from people who have made use of their services before. They praise Lending Club for the quick and easy application process, having the lowest rates nationwide, being able to get the cash quickly within six business days, and being able to pay the loan off easily at any time without any prepayment penalties.
They do state as well that the disadvantages with Lending Club is that you can only borrow a maximum of $35,000 and the origination fee isn't stated as clearly as it should be, but those are not big problems.
Their focus on providing secure services should be noted as well. Everything you do in the website is protected with 128-bit SSL encryption, which should keep all the personal and financial information you enter completely private and confidential. That's definitely something that a company like this that utilizes online services as a major part of their business should pay close attention to.
Through all of that, Lending Club has built a solid track record with its service, continually issuing more and more loans every year since its founding in 2007. It started off as a Facebook application back when Facebook itself was also starting out, which goes to show that Lending Club was indeed an innovator in the lending industry by being the first to use a social media platform to market and facilitate an online lending service.
They did move on from Facebook into a platform of their own after many years, but their reputation as a reliable online lender had already been established, having completed over $5 billion in loans within 7 years. This constant evolution shows that they're in it for the long haul and have served clients consistently well throughout the years. It also proves that the online P2P lending platform works, especially since it's both TRUSTe and VeriSign secured.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has recognized Lending Club with full approval by giving them an A rating, the highest accreditation rating they can give. This is a big deal because such a rating doesn't get handed out like free samples in a grocery store; it's something that can only be attained through consistent high quality of service.
BBB has since only received 23 complaints out of over 100,000 loans issued by Lending Club, which means that 99.99% of borrowers were satisfied with Lending Club.
Is the Lending Club indeed legit? If Lending Club does often engage in dishonesty, we'll most likely hear about it one way or another due to how many people know of it and make use of their services. The investors would certainly make a lot of noise if ever the company gets into suspicious activities and other shenanigans, so it's not like they can ever hide it and continue to exploit people for long if they so desire. The reasons stated above should be more than enough to convince most people that Lending Club is indeed legit and they shouldn't have any worries at all in borrowing money from them.
