Some peer-to-peer lenders not only differ in the ways they evaluate prospective borrowers — they can also diverge in how they tell a story.

The creators of P-to-P lender Upstart recently told American Banker about how 22-year-old co-founder Paul Gu encountered difficulty securing a loan. Lending Club offered Gu an interest rate above 20%, Upstart Chief Executive Dave Girouard said. A bank and another competitor, Prosper, rejected Gu's application, according to Girouard as well as Upstart's press materials.

Gu's experience showed that young, responsible borrowers often lack access to affordable loans because of their short credit histories, Girouard says.

But Lending Club's records show the company actually offered Gu a better deal, according to Scott Sanborn, its chief operating and marketing officer.

"We'd love [Gu's] help in locating the offer information he shared with you, as the only profile we see in our system shows a significantly lower interest rate than what he relayed to you," Sanborn wrote in an email Tuesday. The company declined to share the exact interest rate figure, citing privacy concerns.

That said, Sanborn acknowledges that young people with thin credit files often do have trouble getting loans through traditional underwriting models.

"We're glad we were able to make Paul an offer," he wrote. "For young people who are new to credit it can be a challenge within the traditional banking system, as limited experience with credit is typically seen as a risk factor, even for those with a high FICO [score]."

But there are additional reasons why Gu may have been stymied in his hunt for credit, according to Sanborn.

"It's also worth noting that if [Gu] applied for a loan at several locations, he could inadvertently have negatively affected his ability to get approved and the price he'd be paying for his loan," Sanborn wrote.

"While checking your rate at Lending Club does not impact your credit... many institutions will place a 'hard inquiry' on your credit file when you apply. Several of these inquiries within a short time period would commonly be seen as an indicator of risk that could negatively influence an application."

Home Federal Bancorp of Louisiana (HFBL) in Shreveport, La., has hired a new chief financial officer.

The $290 million-asset Home Federal said in a press release Wednesday that Glen Brown would succeeds Clyde Patterson, who has been its CFO for the last 10 years. Patterson, who has been with Home Federal for 50 years, will remain its treasurer until his planned retirement at the end of 2017.

Brown, who has 37 years of banking experience, recently served as controller for Teche Federal Bank in New Iberia, La. Teche Federal's parent company was bought on May 31 by IberiaBank Corp. (IBKC) in Lafayette, La. Before joining Teche, Brown worked for 19 years in accounting and finance roles at First Federal Bank in Lake Charles, La.

"Glen has been a key member in implementing a community bank strategy for large thrifts in Louisiana," James Barlow, Home Federal's chief executive, said in the release. "We are excited to have someone with Glen's experience to provide the guidance we need to handle the current and future growth of the company."

Home Federal has four branches and a commercial lending office.

As his friends and colleagues describe him, R. Michael Menzies was a voice of reason in an unreasonably difficult time.

Menzies, president and chief executive of the $143 million-asset Easton Bank and Trust in Maryland and the 2009 chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of America, died on June 24 after a nearly four-year battle with cancer. He was 67.

Menzies "was the intellectual soul of the ICBA and he helped guide it into the 21st century," says Camden Fine, the association's president and chief executive. Menzies transformed the ICBA's policy development and played a role in rewriting the organization's bylaws, Fine adds.

Menzies was profiled by American Banker in March 2009 as he sworn in as the ICBA's chairman during its annual conference in Phoenix.He served in that capacity at a critical juncture for the banking industry.

Menzies testified before Congress at least nine times in 2009, as legislators grappled with financial services reform. Industry observers noted when he became chairman that the Maryland banker's proximity to Washington would be helpful and convenient.

Among his banner issues was how the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. levied fees. Before 2010, a bank's assessment was based on its domestic deposits. The Dodd-Frank Act changed the base to a bank's average consolidated assets minus tangible equity.

The original system was considered unfair by community bankers since very few community banks have foreign deposits. Menzies urged the ICBA to push for changes years before the financial downturn, says Larry Winum, president of Glenwood State Bank in Iowa and the ICBA's treasurer during Menzies' tenure.

"Quite honestly, we all liked what he was saying, but thought it would be hard to sell," Winum says, adding that Menzies' focus on the fee issue likely contributed to key changes that appeared in Dodd-Frank. "It is a good example of how he was always two or three years ahead of everyone else in his thinking."

Fine agrees that Menzies played an instrumental role in pushing for the change. The new system has reduced FDIC assessments for most banks — besides the country's largest — by a third, he says.

Winum was among several bankers from across the country that traveled to Maryland for Menzies' funeral. Besides their ICBA involvement, the men bonded over the losses of their wives and later celebrated both of their remarriages. An obituary in The Star Democrat says Menzies is survived by his wife, Midge, and sons, R. Michael Menzies Jr. and Wade Menzies.

"He was a tremendous banker and a good friend who was there for me when I needed him," Winum says.

Fine says Menzies worked at the bank until the week before he died. He sent Fine an email about the ICBA the morning of his death.

"'I love everything ICBA,' his email said," Fine says. "'I'm so proud of us all. What a ride.'"

Capital One has snatched a designer from Google's touted advanced technology and projects team to help boost the bank's mobile commerce and payments technology development.

Dan Makoski noted on his blog that he has left Google to take the position of vice president of design at Capital One.

Makoski was a noted designer behind Google's modular Project Ara smartphone project and also involved in Microsoft's original Surface touchscreen tabletop.

In today's fast-paced technology environment, the surprise factor in the move of a prominent designer from the Silicon Valley environment to the banking industry is not lost on Makoski.

"I don't blame you if you're like a few of my colleagues who think I'm a bit insane to leave one of the world's most admired tech companies for a bank," Makoski says in the July 2 blog post. "But what you might not understand is that there are few spaces as ripe for technology and human-inspired re-imagination as how people relate to their money."

Makoski didn't reveal much about what Capital One had in mind for him when he reported to work this week.

"I'll be working out of the San Francisco studio, building a money team, focused on bold, breakthrough transformations that will help people connect with their finances in meaningful and delightful ways," Makoski says. "That's about all I can say at the moment... let the work speak for itself over the upcoming months."

Makoski notes that Capital One has been "steadily building a quiet but extraordinary design thinking strategy and execution culture on top of its already legendary data analytics capability."

JPMorgan Chase has also looked outside the banking industry for mobile app designers with the recent hire of Yahoo design exec Tim Parsey.

Hudson Valley Holding (HVB) in Yonkers, N.Y. has hired a chief banking officer.

The $3 billion-asset company said in a press release Wednesday that Scott Skorobohaty will be responsible for all commercial banking operations, which include serving small and midsize businesses, professional services firms and nonprofits.

As chief banking officer, Skorobohaty is expected to strengthen product sales and focus on the company's future expansion and diversifying loans and deposits, Stephen Brown, Hudson's president and chief executive, said in the release.

Skorobohaty previously served as a principal of Vortex Group, a commercial real estate company that specializes in tenant representation in New York. He had also held executive posts at BankUnited, Capital One and North Fork Bank.