Marketplace lending

A program recently started in New York helps entrepreneurs improve their business plans and cash flow before sending them to a bank. The nonprofit lender behind the program, meanwhile, hopes to boost small-business borrowers' credit scores and lower their rates.

San Francisco Fed President John Williams discusses the potential for new fintech products to make predatory lending easier, whether big banks need to be broken up, and the likelihood of another recession.

Favorable economic factors won’t last forever for lending startups. Here are the factors that will make or break nonbank lenders when market conditions get rockier.

Online lender StreetShares' strategy is based on the premise that borrowers are more likely to repay when they have a genuine personal connection to the lender.

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the executive branch for its views on a legal case that has sparked worry within the financial industry. That opinion is expected to have a big impact on whether the justices decide to hear Madden v. Midland Funding.

Chicago-based Avant said Monday that it has started offering to refinance car owners’ loans. The firm also plans to begin financing purchases of new and used vehicles later in 2016.

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Obama administration to express its views in a case that has raised doubts about the business model used by many online lenders.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., is readying a package of bills, one of which could provide financial tech firms with national standards, so that they wouldn't have to comply with the various state regulations.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

A small Connecticut bank takes the plunge into mobile-friendly mortgages in a bid to turn an attractive pool of student-loan borrowers into lifetime customers.

Moody’s Investors Service, which put three of Citigroup’s securitizations of unsecured consumer loans originated by Prosper Marketplace under review for a downgrade, was not invited to rate the latest offering.

A leading alternative lender has admitted that balance sheets and liquidity matter, and that it is a problem that such lenders need to keep growing lending volumes to prosper.

Prosper Marketplace on Monday announced a three-year agreement to offer financing to consumers making improvements to their homes through the website HomeAdvisor.com.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp in Massachusetts invested in technology to beef up its small-business lending, an area ripe for the picking by alternative lenders.

Traditional financial institutions are often seen as the outdated rival to new disruptors, but the idea that a bank can't be a marketplace lender, and vice versa, is a myth.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

Startups, including one in the virtual currency field, have approached the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency about applying for banking charters, the agency's chief counsel said Thursday.

Prosper Marketplace is rebranding a personal-finance app that it acquired last year, a key part of the firm’s efforts to engage more frequently with its borrowers.

LendKey, which manages online lending programs for banks and credit unions, has named Salil Mehta to senior vice president of credit risk and analytics.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's move to collect complaints about online marketplace lenders is a sure sign it is laying the groundwork for rules or enforcement actions against the industry.