Interesting to see how problems shift when sectors mature. From where are the lenders, to where are the borrowers!
Marketplace lending is booming — but where are the borrowers? The LendItUSA event, taking place in New York this week, has trumpeted the victories of marketplace lending, and they are considerable: $9 billion in consumer loans written by marketplace lenders in the US alone in 2014, not to mention $5 billion in small business loans; Lending Club partnering with Citi; LendKey securing $1 billion in financing … The money keeps pouring in to marketplace lending — at least from the investor side. But with consumers, marketplace lenders face a problem familiar to banks — finding borrowers. Marketplace lenders, like banks before them, are exploring every available channel and generally spending more to find borrowers than ever before, even as the industry celebrates ever-rising numbers.