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LendingClub

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5.8

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LAST UPDATED: March 1st, 2024

LendingClub is a peer-to-peer lending marketplace. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, the company's lending platform connects borrowers with people looking to invest. It funds business loans, auto refinancing loans, medical loans, and personal loans for many purposes, including debt consolidation and credit card refinancing. 

How does the LendingClub process work?

Consumers can pre-qualify online, either individually or with a cosigner. This means that you can check which rates you will likely be offered, and whether you qualify to borrow, all without impacting your credit score.

Once you select a loan offer, you fill out the real application. Only once your loan application is approved, a hard pull is done on your credit report, with the traditional credit bureaus. Your funding will be available in about four days. 

LendingClub provides fixed-rate loans to applicants with good to great credit. Loan amounts vary from Most borrowers use the company's loans to as debt consolidation loans, to refinance higher-interest loans or credit card debt. After having a personal loan for three months, some borrowers have been able to raise their FICO score by 21 points.

Approved loans are fully funded by lending partner WebBank, member FDIC. Since January of 2018, all loans issued through the LendingClub platform have been issued with 100% investment backing for the full amount approved (as of March 2019). Most loans are fully invested in and issued within three days of approval. LendingClub is the largest online personal loan lender in the world, having provided over $50 billion in loans since 2008.

Keep reading for pros and cons, plus LendingClub reviews from consumers like you. 

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The Good

  • Few Fees
  • Simple Online Loan Application
  • Investment Opportunities
  • Lender Statistics

Few Fees

A huge money-saving feature of a LendingClub personal loan is the lack of a prepayment penalty — common in the personal industry, but not a feature adopted by everyone.

For example, if you take out a $10,000 personal loan to consolidate multiple high-interest debts with a maximum loan term of 36 months (three years) and are able to pay it off in only a year and a half, you will not have to pay as much interest as you would have otherwise and you will not be assessed a fee for paying the loan off early (a common loan personal loan fee with traditional lenders). 

The opportunity to make early principal payments, without a fee, can be worth thousands of dollars in savings over the lifetime of the loan.

In additon, you'll never have to pay an application or broker fee.

While LendingClub doesn't have excessive fees, it does charge an origination fee ranging between one and six percent of the total loan, depending on what loan grade a borrower has been given. This fee is included in your quoted APR.

Simple Online Loan Application

Applying for a personal loan from LendingClub takes very little time and energy. You can even check your rates without affecting your credit score. 

To apply, first, you will be required to provide basic information (loan amount, purpose of loan, and your credit score). Next, you will be required to provide basic personal information (name, address, date of birth, yearly individual income). 

After providing this information, you will be presented with a number of different personal loan options. These will likely vary in both total dollar amount and maximum term limit. These quotes are provided to you through a soft credit pull that won't affect your credit score.

The process for getting your rates can take as little as five minutes. After doing careful research, you will be able to choose the LendingClub loan that best meets your needs. From there, your loan will be listed and made available to the network of peer-to-peer lenders that LendingClub uses. These lenders review your profile and can choose to fund part or all of your loan. 

Investment Opportunities

Consumers can open a LendingClub account and invest in the marketplace, to earn returns by helping to fund peer-to-peer loans. Historical returns for investing range from 5 to 8 percent. 

Lender Statistics

It's not common practice for a lender to provide easily accessible information about loans issued, and repayment, as well as late and default statuses. LendingClub even provides a full page of statistics about recent loans, payments, and investment returns. Shadier lending sites omit this type of transparent information. 

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The Bad

  • Low-Credit Approval is Difficult
  • Low Debt-to-Income Ratio Required
  • High Interest Rates

Low-Credit Approval is Difficult

The most consistent complaint among LendingClub applicants is the company's potentially challenging approval process. 

The company requires higher than average scores for its minimum credit approval, compared to other traditional and online lenders. While some lenders have a minimum credit score listing of 620 or 640, only applicants with good to excellent credit history are approved for a LendingClub In fact, the average LendingClub borrower has a 699 credit score and roughly 16 years of credit history.

Further, LendingClub does not approve applicants who have had any late payments on their report in the last 12 months. Because of these reasons, it can be a huge challenge for applicants with bad credit to get approved.

Low Debt-to-Income Ratio Required

Similarly, the debt-to-income ratio required for approval is much lower than some other competing personal loan companies, making it more difficult for applicants to qualify. According to LendingClub, the average debt-to-income ratio of its borrowers is 18.32% (not including a mortgage). This means that an applicant with an income of $40,000 a year and has over $10,000 in debts (a 25% debt-to-income ratio) is going to have a difficult time being approved. 

Many individuals looking to consolidate debt will have a much higher debt-to-income ratio than what is required by LendingClub for approval.

High Interest Rates

LendingClub personal loans have APR rates that are slightly higher compared to others in the industry. The lending site advertises fixed rates ranging from 10.68% to 35.89%* (as of June 2020), which is on the higher side of the personal loan APR range, however those with great credit score should be able to secure a fair interest rate.

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The Bottom Line

LendingClub offers personal loans to good to excellent credit applicants at fair interest rates. These loans are ideal for consolidating high-interest debt. 

How's your credit history?

For applicants with good credit, decent income, and a relatively low debt-to-income ratio, LendingClub is a good option for taking out a personal loan. Conversely, if you have fair to poor credit or a high debt-to-income ratio, you will likely not find success with LendingClub.

*All loans made by WebBank, Member FDIC. Your actual rate depends upon credit score, loan amount, loan term, and credit usage and history. The APR ranges from 10.68% to 35.89%. For example, you could receive a loan of $6,000 with an interest rate of 9.56% and a 5.00% origination fee of $300 for an APR of 13.11%. In this example, you will receive $5,700 and will make 36 monthly payments of $192.37. The total amount repayable will be $6,925.32. Your APR will be determined based on your credit at time of application. The origination fee ranges from 2% to 6% (average is 4.86% as of 7/1/2019 – 9/30/2019). In Georgia, the minimum loan amount is $3,025. In Massachusetts, the minimum loan amount is $6,001 if your APR is greater than 12%. There is no down payment and there is never a prepayment penalty. Closing of your loan is contingent upon your agreement of all the required agreements and disclosures on the www.lendingclub.com website. All loans via LendingClub have a minimum repayment term of 36 months or longer.

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Star Rating

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4.3

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103 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

60%

4 grade

23%

3 grade

7%

2 grade

3%

1 grade

7%

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Gigi Batchelder

Although loan process took a bit longer than I was expecting (just under a month) I was very satisfied with the folks at the Lending Club. mY only recommendation would be a bit more clarity that the 14 days average is actually 14 business days not calendar days - and a bit more clarity of "we're working on it" to say "we're working on it - if you don't hear from us within xx hours than feel free to check in. Otherwise - great, professional experience.

8 years ago

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GTRacer

You would think that being an online company, they would be more flexible in their services. While the loan process and funding went great, I am trying to make my July 2nd payment on June 15th and I can't. Well, I can but I have to change my payment date. Why can't they just have a way online like banks and credit card companies to allow a customer to make the payment when they choose? This is actually very inconvenient for me whose pay periods vary.

8 years ago

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Tachevyman Statesville, NC

LendingClub was easy to get approved seemed to be good no problem, only thing i did not like was when i payed the loan off they did not show to the credit bureau the loan was paid off in full. I had to take care of this myself through Experian

2 years ago

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Glenda Glenview, IL

I finished paying my 3 year loan and had no issues whatsoever. I even paid 6 months early. Everything went smoothly. My only complain is that, when I tried to get a second loan, they gave me a worst APR than Prosper loan. Makes no sense to me. Of course I'm using Prosper now.

8 years ago

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Keenan wimbley Garland, TX

Very customer friendly and helpful to people. I can call anytime for questions. To my knowledge, loans are deducted from your bank only. Don't like the Apr rate.Think since I haven't used a lot of lenders, this a fair rating.

8 years ago

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Ashley Pleasant Grove, UT

We took out a personnel load through Lending Club for just 2 days when we knew we could pay it back right away. It was easy to do showing our work history, and showing our previous pay stubs. It was a very high interest rate but for just 2 days it saved us and it was worth it. If you get in a bind and need money quick I suggest going to Lending Club for your needs.

4 years ago

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Amy Leifi Orem, UT

I was in a really difficult spot, and Lending Club approved me for a loan. I almost thought it couldn't be real because of how easy it was. Everything on their site was simple to understand and follow to fill out, the approval was instant and I had the money within 2 days. I could hardly believe it. I would definitely recommend Lending Club to anyone else.

5 years ago

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F. Miller El Dorado Hills, CA

I would recommend the lending club to anyone who has a need for a loan and has 7 - 10 calendar days of time available before they actually need the cash. They are efficient and professional. I would use them again.

8 years ago

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Andrew Reynolds Lake Zurich, IL

Just closed on a $15,000 personal loan. The terms & conditions were good. Good customer service with loan management. Hopefully, after a couple of months of payments, I can draw some more money out.

8 years ago

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James Goodman Port Orchard, WA

LendingClub was a great option when I needed a fast response small loan. The online application was easy and the interest rate was straight forward. My credit was in rebuilding mode, but they treated me like a person not a FICO score. Will use again if needed.

1 year ago

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Brinley Knowles Smithfield, UT

Lending Clubs customer service was amazing, they were so helpful answer all my questions and concerns. I definitely will be using Lending Club in the future.

5 years ago

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Thomas Hullinger Pleasant Grove, UT

The Lending Club gave me a good rate on the money that I needed and have been great to work with. It is easy to track my loan and make payments on line.

5 years ago

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Shelton Germaine Rogers, AR

I am a pretty big fan of this company. I have actually done a couple loans with them over the years. They have a fast turn around time and the rates are normally some of the best I can find.

1 year ago

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Tom Pleasant Grove, UT

They are easy to do and they have great customer service, but they are very pricey and not good to do for a long period of time.

5 years ago

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Valerie Gundersen American Fork, UT

The process was very easy and my loan was approved right away! I appreciated the friendly representatives that assisted me.

6 years ago

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Casmuir long Philadelphia, PA

The process of getting a loan from Lending club was simple , fast which made my experience very good. I'll be sure to definitely tell a friend.

8 years ago

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Barry Henline Logan, UT

Better than most online companies that I've dealt with. Online applications and documents were easy to understand and submit.

4 years ago

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steve Sacramento, CA

Easy! Smooth! This was the least encumbering loan process I've ever encountered.

7 years ago

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Yvonne Charlotte, NC

I was very pleased with the process from beginning to end. Very simple and no hassle.

8 years ago

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Brenda Sun City West, AZ

Fast and easy process. Interest rate was higher than advertised. Got money in just a few days.

8 years ago

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Lazaro Diaz Collierville, TN

Great experience with Lending Club!! Definitely will be acquiring a loan from them again soon.

8 years ago

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amycray Bangor, ME

Everything went fine with my loan but the website wasn't very easy to use

2 years ago

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Owen Haskins Strickland Wilson, NC

I used this service and was pleased. It was very easy to receive this loan.

1 year ago

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Cleshette Nash Milwaukee, WI

The lending process was very simple and easy to qualify

1 year ago