Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on Social Lending

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Frequently Asked Questions

Lending Club is a social lending network where members can borrow and lend money among themselves at better rates.

Is Lending Club regulated?

Lending Club has partnered with WebBank, a FDIC-insured, state-chartered Industrial Bank organized under the laws of the State of Utah to originate the loans in a consistent manner across all 50 states. Lending Club loans are regulated under WebBank's Industrial Loan Charter.

How can Lending Club offer such great rates?

Banks incur significant costs by collecting deposits from the public on one hand and extending loans or issuing credit cards on the other hand. Lending Club eliminates most of these costs by creating a place where people can lend and borrow directly among themselves. As a result, you can lend or borrow at better rates than you might get from a bank. Compare our rates or learn more about our rates and fees.

Who is servicing the loans?

Lending Club is servicing the loans, electronically transferring funds from lenders to borrowers and vice versa. Lending Club is working with collections agencies to manage defaults. In the unlikely event that Lending Club failed to service the loans, we would have a third party take over loan servicing. You would not need to do anything as they would continue to manage the funds collection and distribution process.

Do you report borrowers' accounts to the credit bureaus?

Yes, we report all of our account experiences to our credit bureau partners, including both positive and negative payment histories.

How does the matching system work?

Lending Club takes a unique approach to social lending. We use a matching system that combines the latest search technology with the power of social networking—in other words, this is where the magic happens.

Our matching system uses a powerful algorithm called LendingMatch™, which works along the lines that any two people are connected to each other by varying degrees of separation. LendingMatch™ finds relationships between borrowers and lenders based on geography, education, profession, or connectedness within a given social network and then presents lenders with diversified loan portfolios reflecting these relationships as well as the lenders' individual risk preferences. Moreover, LendingMatch™ serves to show borrowers that their loans are being funded by real people who rely on their loan payments to meet their own obligations.

LendingMatch™ underscores a founding principle of our company—we believe that bringing lenders and borrowers together in a marketplace that leverages existing communities and relationships will make for a better experience for all participants. Pointing lenders toward compatible borrowers will help ensure that loans get funded, while letting borrowers know that members of their community supported their financial needs will increase the overall performance of the loan (as borrowers would be less likely to default).

What are Connections?

When a borrower or lender is a member of an association or a network or group in Facebook or MySpace, we call that membership an affiliation. Shared affiliations constitute a connection. Lending Club uses connections to match borrowers and lenders to expedite successful transactions on the site, both in terms of the existence of a connection and the degree of closeness that the connection represents. For example, knowing that a borrower and lender not only live near each other but also went to the same college may help a lender decide to fund a particular borrower. The Connections column that appears while browsing loans indicates the existence of such connections between lenders and borrowers, while clicking on the individual connection icons will show how the lender and borrower are connected (in terms of geography, education, employment and associations).

How much does all of this cost?

If you are a borrower, you will pay a processing fee based on the loan grade (A-G) that ranges from 0.75% to 2.00% of the loan amount. This fee will be deducted from the loan proceeds prior to depositing the loan in your bank account. For example, if you receive a $5,000 loan with a 1.00% processing fee of $50, you will receive a loan amount of $4,950. If there should be any delinquencies or collection activities on the loan, additional fees will apply.

Lending Club charges a processing fee to lenders for managing payments and servicing loan portfolios. The processing fee is one percent (1%) of each monthly payment from the borrowers.

Since Lending Club loans are all amortizing loans, the impact on the return is below 1%. It comes out to approximately 0.6%-0.7%, depending on a number of factors. You can calculate the fees yourself in Excel with the following formula: "=RATE(36,monthly_payment* 0.99,amount_loaned)*12-quoted rate"

Thus, if you were lending $100 at 10%, you would receive a monthly payment of $3.23, which comes to "= RATE(36,-3.23*0.99,100)*12-0.1", which equals -0.6198%, meaning you would be getting a net of 0.62% less after fees due to the 1% fee from every payment received. Your net interest rate would then be 9.38%.

For more information, visit our Rates and Fees page.

What happens if Lending Club goes out of business?

In order to make our members comfortable, we will use a backup servicing relationship whereby our agent would service all outstanding loans including collecting monthly loan payments from borrowers, distributing funds to lenders, handling collections and credit bureau reporting, as well as providing necessary loan documentation.

Account Basics

What is involved in the registration process?

There are two types of registration on the site. The basic membership registration process takes less than a minute to complete, and it starts by clicking the [Join Now] link at the top of each page. After registering as a basic member, you will be able to register as either a borrower or a lender.

I haven't received the email to complete the registration process. Can you help?

First, click on the link to have another email sent to you. If this does not work, you will need to open your email program and examine your settings. In some email domains, the email not only goes directly to the junk folder, but it could even be immediately deleted from your junk folder, depending on how you have set up your preferences. To remedy this, access your email program options or preferences and enter lendingclub.com as a safe sender. If you are still experiencing issues, please contact us at support@lendingclub.com.

How do I change my password?

You can always reset your password by going to My Account and clicking on My Profile.

How do I verify my bank account?

During registration, you will supply the bank account and routing number and we will transfer a small amount (under a dollar) from that account into your Lending Club account. When you see the transaction post to your bank account (usually within a few days), sign into Lending Club and go to the My Account section to verify your account. The debit amount will automatically be returned to your bank account. Please note that if you are a borrower, you will need to verify your bank account in order to receive your loan.

Can I be both a borrower and a lender?

Yes, you can be both a borrower and a lender, either consecutively or concurrently. Note that your borrower and lender accounts are considered separate, thus you will need to use a different email address for each account you open, and for the protection of your account, you will need to go through the verification and authentication process each time you open a new account.

How do I close my account? Will you delete all of my information?

It is possible to cancel your account, provided:

you are not a borrower currently repaying a loan
you are not a lender with an active portfolio

Because Lending Club is a financial services company, there are certain legal reporting and information retention requirements with which we must comply. Therefore, we cannot delete your account information outright. However, we will encrypt your information and archive it so that your account will be inactive and not accessible to anyone other than Lending Club authorized personnel. Moreover, once your account is deactivated, you will not receive any further communications from Lending Club.

To cancel your account, please contact Member Support.

Lending

Who are the lenders and who is eligible to lend through Lending Club?

Both individuals and organizations can be lenders. If you are an individual and want to lend through Lending Club, you must be at least 18 years old and have a valid Social Security number and successfully pass our identity verification mechanisms. Family trusts, companies or other organizations will need to contact us for verification purposes before becoming a lender. LendingClub Corporation is also a lender.

Can I see which of my friends are using Lending Club?

When you browse loans or use LendingMatch™ to generate a portfolio recommendation, you will see to what degree borrowers are connected to you. However, to protect our members' privacy, members are identified only by their chosen screen names.

How do I lend money?

You can either lend directly to one or several borrowers that you choose from browsing loans or through the creation of a diversified portfolio. If you choose to receive a portfolio recommendation, the risk level you select will determine the composition of the portfolio. There are seven main types of loans, A, B, C, D, E, F and G. These letters refer to the credit grades assigned to borrowers based on their credit scores. "A" loans are from borrowers with the highest credit scores (deemed to be the lowest credit risk).

Lenders can start a new portfolio that is built around these loans, or they can simply contribute to these individual loans without creating a diversified portfolio. There is a minimum contribution level of $500 to lend through a diversified portfolio that we build for you. To contribute money to specific loans, you can lend in $25 increments starting at $25. Learn more about lending.

Do you pull my credit file when I register as a lender and, if so, will this impact my credit score?

No, we do not pull your actual credit file, and we do not receive any actual data from your credit report such as your payment history or credit score. We do, however, use certain information about you from your credit profile to verify your identity, thereby protecting you and our community. This information is used strictly to verify your identity, and this verification process does not impact your credit score.

When you register as a lender, we submit your name and other basic information to the credit bureau to check against their databases for verification as well as other special statuses such as a fraud alert. For some of our members where the information is not appropriately matched, we will run them through an authentication program which is an industry standard service offered by the credit bureau companies.

In compliance with federal regulations, we request your permission in order for us to verify your identity against existing information in the credit bureaus' databases. This will in no way impact your credit score or be recorded as a credit inquiry. We can only allow you to lend money on Lending Club once your identity has been properly confirmed.

I placed a security freeze on my credit file to prevent ID theft. Can I still become a lender?

With a security freeze, the credit bureaus will not allow your credit profile to be accessed. This means that it will not be possible for any third party verification of your identity, which is required to lend on our site. To register as a lender, remove the freeze temporarily, then register as a lender and re-freeze your account after your identity has been verified.

Can I override the loan and portfolio recommendations?

Yes, you are always in control of your loan portfolio. If you want to build your own portfolio, you can start with the recommended portfolio and make changes to it based on your browsing and searching activity on the site, or you can just build your own portfolio from scratch.

Is my money insured?

Your Lending Club account cash balance is covered by FDIC pass-through insurance. Lending Club holds these funds at Wells Fargo Bank. This coverage does not include funds that have been lent out to borrowers.

How do I transfer money to or from my account?

We offer four ways for you to move money between your bank account and your Lending Club account: ACH, PayPal, wire transfer and check.

ADDING FUNDS:

ACH

Once your Lending Club account has been created and your linked bank account has been verified and accepted, you can transfer funds between your bank account and your Lending Club account via ACH. To move money into your Lending Club account, click on the "Add Funds" link on your Account Summary page. You can manage these and other account transactions by clicking on the My Account tab.

PayPal

You can initially add funds into your Lending Club account via PayPal. If you have funds in an existing PayPal account, you can transfer these funds to your Lending Club account. If you don't have a PayPal account, you can still use PayPal to move funds into your Lending Club account using a major credit card.

A PayPal payment functionality is available as part of the lender registration process and will remain available in the My Account section for a few weeks or until you link your bank account to your Lending Club account, whichever comes first.

Wire Transfer

You can wire money into your Lending Club account. Each bank has its own process and fee structure, so be sure to get the appropriate information from your bank before proceeding. When you are ready, initiate the transfer by instructing your bank to wire funds into your Lending Club account using the following information:

Account #: 4121648281
Bank Name: Wells Fargo
ABA #: 121000248
SWIFT Code: WFBIUS6S
Address: 420 Montgomery, San Francisco, CA 94104
Screen Name: Your Lending Club screen name

If your wire transfer is processed by your bank today, the funds will be available in your Lending Club account tomorrow.

Note: Your bank might charge you $18 to $25 on average to wire money out to your Lending Club account. If your first wire transfer exceeds $1,000, we will deposit $25 into your Lending Club account to cover those wire fees.

Check

You can also add funds to your account by mailing a check to Lending Club at the following address (be sure to write your Lending Club screen name on your check to ensure proper processing):

Lending Club
Attention: Finance Department
440 North Wolfe Road
Sunnyvale, CA 94085

WITHDRAWING FUNDS:

Once your Lending Club account has been created and your linked bank account has been verified and accepted, you can move funds bank to your linked bank account by clicking on the "Withdraw Funds" link on your Account Summary page.

If you would like to withdraw funds and do not have a verified bank account linked to your Lending Club account, please contact Member Support. You have the following options:

Wire transfer to your account: a $25 fee will be assessed on the transferred amount to cover wire transfer costs, and the money will be transferred within 10 business days
Mail a check at no cost: a check made out to the name of the account owner will be mailed to the address on record within 10 business days

How long does it take for money to be transferred to my account by ACH?

Funds transferred from your bank account to Lending Club via ACH will normally take four (4) business days. All transactions received before 10:30am PST on a business day will be submitted for processing that day. Any transactions received after 10:30am PST will be processed on the next business day. Business days are defined by banking business days which do not include weekends or bank holidays including New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, President's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. In general, transactions processed:

on Monday will be reflected in your account on Thursday by 11am PST
between 10:30am PST Monday and 10:30am PST Tuesday will be reflected in your account on Friday by 11am PST
between 10:30am PST Tuesday and 10:30am PST Wednesday will be reflected in your account on Monday by 11am PST
between 10:30am PST Wednesday and 10:30am PST Thursday will be reflected in your account on Tuesday by 11am PST
between 10:30am PST Thursday and 10:30am PST Friday will be reflected in your account on Wednesday by 11am PST
between 10:30am PST Friday and 10:30am PST Monday will be reflected in your account on Thursday by 11am PST

What is the risk level I am asked to select? How do I choose and can I change my mind?

When you make loans to other members, you have an opportunity to tell us how much money you want to lend and your risk comfort level. The risk is measured on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represents the lowest tolerance for risk and 5 represents the highest tolerance for risk. Risk is relative to the types of loans that are available on the site at the time that you build the portfolio.

You can use the slider to see the different types of portfolios you can create (note that the percentage of each type of loan changes at each risk level). The portfolio diagram under the risk selector indicates a target portfolio composition. Your actual portfolio may vary based on the availability of certain types of loans on the site at any given time. You will always be able to select a risk level for each portfolio. In fact, some lenders choose different risk levels for each portfolio as a way of testing different strategies.

When selecting a risk level, consider the following:

Choose a risk level that matches your general attitude toward risk
Evaluate the portion of your total financial holdings that a Lending Club portfolio will represent
The risk level determines the composition of your portfolio, i.e., the percentage of A, B, C, D, E, F and G loans to be included
While this level will remain constant for many people, you can choose to set a new risk level for each new portfolio, so that each portfolio represents a different strategy

How do I get my loan payments from borrowers?

Lending Club automatically withdraws payments each month from the borrower's bank account and then transfers it to your lender account. While in the lenders cash account, your money will be insured by FDIC pass-through insurance. You can withdraw these funds or you can select additional loans to fund.

If one of your borrowers is late on a payment, Lending Club charges late fees on your behalf. All late fees will be credited back to a lenders account based on the portion of the loan that you originally funded. We will send the borrower's account to our collection agency partner after 30 days past due and their late payment history will also be reported to our credit bureau partners.

What if one of my borrowers is delinquent?

In the event that things don't go smoothly and one of your borrowers is late on a payment, we charge a late fee that you will receive each time a payment is late. If necessary, we will also report a late borrower to credit bureaus and we will ultimately work with collection agencies to recover your money. Learn more about delinquent loans and collections.

How do I know my loan will be repaid?

Alas, there are no guarantees that a loan will be repaid. Borrowers undergo multiple layers of screening and no borrowers with credit scores under 640 are approved for loans. Despite our best attempts to give you only the best qualified borrowers, sometimes things don't go as smoothly as we hope. We provide lenders with a borrowers' credit history to enable you to make a lending decision. Additionally, borrowers are automatically assigned to credit grades to better help you evaluate the potential for default risk. One way to protect yourself against default is to lend money through diversified portfolios.

What if one of my borrowers prepays a loan?

Borrowers can prepay their loans at any time with no penalty. If a borrower prepays a loan, your money will be transferred to your Lending Club account where you can reallocate it to new loans or withdraw it to your bank account.

I've just contributed to a loan. Are my funds tied up for the duration of the loan?

Our loans have a 36-month term. However your funds are not totally tied up for the duration of the loan. As monthly repayments start occurring (30 business days after the loan has been funded), these payments are electronically remitted back to your Lending Club account for you to either withdraw or reinvest in other loans.

What if a lender dies with an active Lending Club investment?

If a lender dies with an active portfolio, the executor or administrator of the estate must send a death certificate to Lending Club, after which we will get in contact with the executor or administrator to liquidate the assets.

How are my earnings on Lending Club treated for tax purposes?

Lenders receive monthly income from their portfolios which would be treated as ordinary income. This income is composed of interest and occasional fees (if borrowers are late). We will send you a 1099 for the interest and fee earnings from each calendar year. If you have additional questions concerning tax consequences, you should consult your tax advisor.

Can I use Lending Club to lend to a specific person that I already know? How would we hook up on your service?

Sure! We encourage people to help out their friends and family members using our site. Simply have the borrower send you a link to the loan once it is posted, and you can click on the Lend button on the loan listing page to start the process. Or, have the borrower send you his or her screen name or loan title, and you can use either of these to search for the loan on the Browse Loans page.

Keep in mind that the borrower would need to meet our credit requirements, and you both would need to verify your identities through our online authentication process.

One of the loans I funded is "In Review." What does this mean?

For the protection of lenders, we review selected loans for credit approval. Most of the review process takes place while the loan is still "In Funding," but it does happen occasionally that this process continues after the loan has been fully funded, in which case the loan listing will be marked "In Review" for up to 3 business days after it has been fully funded or expired. If the borrower's information still hasn't been verified within 3 business days, the loan listing will be cancelled and the funds returned to the lenders who had committed to fund that loan.

Borrowing

Who is eligible to borrow through Lending Club?

To borrow through Lending Club, you must be a US citizen or permanent resident, and at least 18 years old with a valid bank account and a valid Social Security number. In order to qualify for funding, you will need a FICO score of at least 640 with a debt-to-income ratio (excluding mortgage) of no more than 30%. You should also have at least 12 months of credit history. Additionally, your credit file should not contain any current delinquencies, recent bankruptcies (7 years), open tax liens, and charge-offs or collections account in the past 12 months. We also use strong identity verification and authentication mechanisms to avoid the risk of identity theft.

Are you pulling a credit report when I apply for a loan, and will this hurt my credit score?

We do a consumer inquiry or "soft pull" to evaluate your creditworthiness when you apply for a loan, but there will be no impact to your credit score until your loan closes.

How do I borrow money?

To request a loan, click on the "Borrow" tab, or any of the "Get a Loan" links or "Start Borrowing" buttons on the site. If you are not already a member, we will guide you through the quick process of creating an account before taking you to the borrower registration page.

The borrower registration process includes several steps, during which we collect information to verify your identity and assess your creditworthiness. You will then be asked to complete a simple loan request. Once you pass the initial screening, we will show you several loans for which you qualify. After you select the loan option you prefer, we will list the loan. You will be asked to authenticate your bank account, which must occur before you can receive your loan funds. Your loan will be listed on our site for two weeks, during which time interested lenders will contribute portions of the amount you requested. We will let you know your loan has been funded, and you will be able to relist your loan if you don't receive full funding. Learn more about borrowing.

What is a FICO score?

A FICO score is a numeric rating which can range between 300 and 850. It is calculated by the three credit agencies using predefined criteria to evaluate and rate a person's past credit history. Consumers with higher scores typically represent a lower risk of defaulting on their loans. They may be considered by lenders to be more desirable customers than those with lower credit scores. For more information regarding FICO scores, or to get access to your own FICO score, please visit www.myfico.com.

What if I have a fraud alert with the credit bureau?

Unfortunately, Lending Club cannot verify users with a fraud alert on their account at this time. What you may be able to do is to contact TransUnion's Fraud Department at 888-909-8872 and have them temporarily remove the alert. In the meantime, we will also keep you on our list to contact if we make updates to our policy. You can also contact us when your fraud alert expires.

I recently listed a loan but have only received a little funding. Is there a problem?

There are two issues at work with respect to your funding situation: amounts and timing.

Most lenders contribute small amounts to many loans in order to achieve diversification across their investments. As a result, borrowers can have up to 75 or more individual lenders contributing these small amounts to their loans. That's why you may receive funding in small increments.

As for the timing, it is common to see low funding levels at the beginning of your loan listing period. The way that our matching algorithm, LendingMatch, works is that loans are recommended to lenders in part based on how much time and funding are remaining in the loans on the site. This helps to ensure that all loans receive the maximum possible funding within their listing timeframes. You should start to see more funding on your loan as the listing period progresses. If you're curious, you can learn more about LendingMatch™.

How long will it take for my loan request to be approved? How quickly will I get my money?

Our credit scoring technology allows Lending Club to instantly present you with several loan choices. After you make your selection, your loan request will be posted on the Lending Club site for two weeks or until you receive full funding, whichever happens first.

If the loan is funded, we will deposit it, less our fees, into your bank account automatically, normally within one business day, and repayment will begin a month later. In certain cases, Lending Club may review the loan to ensure the validity of the identities, income and other information provided by selected borrowers. If selected, Lending Club will notify you via email. If we receive no response within 3 business days, or if information is not validated, your loan will be cancelled. We will withdraw your loan payment once a month from the bank account you verified during registration. These withdrawals will take place on the same day of the month as the date of the loan origination.

What if my loan isn't fully funded when my listing ends? Can I relist my loan to try again?

If your loan isn't fully funded when your listing ends, you have two choices if you still wish to pursue funding. You can accept the partial funding amount that you have received toward the total you requested (if it exceeds $1,000). You may also relist your loan request for another 14 days.

To accept the partial loan amount, go to your Account Summary and click on the "Take partial amount" button to initiate the process. You must approve the revised Truth in Lending Disclosure containing your new loan terms (the loan amount and monthly payment amounts will be different, but the interest rate will remain the same). You will have four days to take the partial loan amount before the funds are returned to lenders.

It is also possible to relist your loan, if you prefer. To initiate this process, please contact Member Support. The loan amount and interest rate cannot be changed, but you will be able to modify your loan title and description to make your loan more attractive to lenders (recommended).

For further information or assistance with your account, please contact Member Support.

How do I move my funds to my bank account once my loan has been funded?

As long as you have verified your bank account on Lending Club, your funds will automatically appear in your designated bank account within 2-4 business days, depending on your financial institution. Please note that 100% of the loan amount minus the origination fee will be transferred as the entire loan amount carries interest.

Can I have more than one loan at a time?

Yes. At this time, you can have up to two loans on Lending Club, either concurrently or consecutively, if your credit profile allows it and if your total indebtedness (including loans that are still "in funding") remains within our credit policy guidelines.

How do I make loan payments? Can I pay online?

Your loan payments are automatically withdrawn from the verified checking account that you specified when you registered with Lending Club. We will send you a payment reminder a few days before your loan payment is withdrawn each month, and you should ensure there are sufficient funds in your account to cover your loan obligation to avoid an unsuccessful payment fee. At this time, it is not possible to make a payment online.

What if I want to prepay my loan?

You can prepay all or part of your loan at any time without penalty. To see your loan payoff amount, go to My Account or contact us for assistance. To initiate this process, contact us at support@lendingclub.com (from the email address you used when you registered your account) or by phone at least 10 calendar days before the due date of your next loan payment. We will email you back with the amount that will be electronically debited from your bank account. After receiving this email from us, you will need to confirm via email at least 5 calendar days prior to your payment due date that you would like us to proceed. Of course, please also ensure that your bank account contains sufficient funds to cover the transaction to avoid an unsuccessful payment fee.

What if I am late in making a payment?

Borrowers have a 15-day grace period to make payments. If you have not paid by that time, we will charge a late fee. That fee will be passed onto the lenders who funded your loan. Depending on the lateness of your payment, we will report late borrowers to credit bureaus and work with collection agencies to recover the lenders' money. Learn more about fees.

If you are having a problem making your payments, we suggest that you contact us. There may be something we can do to help prevent this from becoming a more serious problem.

I applied for a loan and was declined. Can you provide me with a copy of my credit report?

Unfortunately, our contract does not allow us to distribute copies of credit reports. However, you can contact TransUnion to request a copy. There is no charge if you request it within 60 days of submitting your loan application. You can reach TransUnion at:

TransUnion LLC
Consumer Disclosures
2 Baldwin Place
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, PA, 19022
800-888-4213
www.transunion.com

I received a loan and saw my credit data, which I believe may have errors in it. How can I get these errors corrected?

Lending Club has no way to access your credit file or make any modifications to it on your behalf. We use TransUnion as our credit bureau partner, so you will need to contact TransUnion directly to have your file updated or corrected. You can reach TransUnion as follows:

TransUnion LLC
Consumer Disclosures
2 Baldwin Place
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, PA 19022
800-888-4213
www.transunion.com

What if a borrower dies before repaying a loan?

If a borrower dies with a loan in repayment, the executor or administrator of the estate must send a death certificate to Lending Club, after which Lending Club will file a claim on the borrower's estate to recover the outstanding loan balance. The amount to be recovered for each lender will be determined by a) the size of the estate and b) each lender's proportional share of the loan. Depending on the size of the estate, lenders may only receive a partial repayment. In the case where the estate does not include sufficient assets to cover the outstanding loan balance, the loan will be written off as defaulted with zero value.

Privacy

Do you share my personal information with other parties?

Lending Club will never sell, rent or otherwise distribute your information to other parties for marketing purposes. We only share whatever information about you is necessary to complete the transactions you request, such as listing a loan, making payments or transferring funds. Any information we do share and to whom is explicitly defined in our Privacy Policy.

Are lenders and borrowers allowed to know each other's identities?

No. This information is kept strictly confidential to protect everyone's privacy on the site. Borrowers and lenders are only known to each other by their chosen screen names. Further, borrowers and lenders never have any need to contact each other directly, since Lending Club automatically manages loan repayments and, if necessary, collections activities.

Why do you post information about my personal interests or affiliations with groups and networks?

Lending Club is only using information that members have either agreed to provide and make public during the registration process or that they have already made public on other community sites. On our site, there is a small icon ( Public icon ) next to any information we intend to make public, either as part of a loan listing or a borrower's or lender's public profile. This process increases the likelihood that the borrower will receive a loan and the lender will be repaid. Furthermore, your listing is anonymous. A loan listing only ties back to a screen name, not your actual identity. For more information on our privacy practices and other user policies, please read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Is my physical location disclosed in the map on your home page?

No. The map is a visual representation of all Lending Club borrowers and lenders based strictly on their zip codes. As indicated in your profile, the only information that is displayed publicly about your physical location is your state and zip code.

How do I share or hide information about my Lending Club activities on Facebook? Why should I consider sharing my information?

Facebook uses Mini-Feeds and Notifications to publish information about your Lending Club loans and portfolios to you and your friends. You can set these options during borrower and lender registration and then modify your settings on your Lending Club profile at any time. If you have listed a loan request, enabling these notifications will give your friends and family an easy way to contribute to your loan and help get it funded faster and more fully. However, once you point people to your loan listing, your information will no longer be anonymous (your information is still displayed under your screen name, but your friends on Facebook will now know this is your loan). As a lender, you can benefit by sharing information about your portfolios, because this will help spread the word about Lending Club and bring more trusted borrowers onto the platform.

Note that you can edit certain settings in Facebook, such as opting out of Mini-Feeds, but Facebook does not currently let you control whether the Lending Club application sends notifications. The only way to opt in or out of sending notifications to your friends is to use the check box in your Lending Club profile.

Security

How is my personal and financial information protected?

Lending Club takes strong steps to safeguard your personal and personally identifiable information through physical, electronic and operational practices that meet or exceed industry standards established for financial institutions. All data is considered highly confidential. Data can only be read or written through defined service access points, the use of which is password-protected. The physical security of the data is achieved through a combination of network firewalls (there is no direct communication allowed between the database server and the Internet) and servers with hardened operating systems, all housed in a secure facility. Further, we also equip our servers with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology to ensure that when you connect to our web site you are actually on our site. SSL also ensures that all data entered into the web site is encrypted. We also use a 128-bit secure browser for logins and transactions.

We store all sensitive financial data such as Social Security numbers and bank accounts in a highly secure environment hosted by our partner, BankServ, a PCI-compliant payment solution provider. The PCI data security standard was developed by credit card companies to impose the strictest security standards. You will find detailed information about additional methods we employ to protect your personal information and financial data in the security section of our Privacy Policy.

How does identity verification work?

When you register as a borrower or lender on our site, we work with credit bureaus to validate the information you provide. That is, we first make sure you are in fact a real person with real credentials (i.e., a valid Social Security number). Next, for the safety of our community, we also need to make sure you are the person you claim to be. This step involves cross-checking the information you provide, to ensure that your home address matches your Social Security number and date of birth, for example. We also ask you several questions that only you should know how to answer. Finally, we check your information against several databases to ensure you are going to be a safe transaction partner on our site. These steps will not take you too long to complete, and they are essential to providing a safe place for you to do business.

What do you do about identity theft?

We have a vigorous policy and will not hesitate to prosecute offenders. Lending Club utilizes state of the art authentication technology to verify identities. However, if a lender suspects that one of their loans belongs to a person who has committed ID theft, we will work with law enforcement authorities to track down and prosecute anyone who has committed identity theft. We will reimburse lenders for the unpaid principal balance of loans where the borrower has committed identity theft.

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Frequently Asked Questions