loanDepot LLC has announced plans to begin offering personal loans in early 2015. The move marks the first milestone in the company's strategic plan to enter and redefine the consumer lending category as the premier national lender of choice.
"Today, fewer consumers are looking to national banks for loans, and there's no national nonbank consumer lender serving our nation's consumer's financing needs," said Anthony Hsieh, loanDepot chief executive officer and chairman. "loanDepot is uniquely positioned to expand into consumer lending, and personal loans will be our first offering in this growing category. Our lending technology, consumer-direct marketing platform that facilitates over 8,000 meaningful interactions every day, and the ease in which we can offer additional products to our current borrowers makes this move a natural extension of the loanDepot brand.
"While mortgage lending remains the heart of our business, our vision has always been to build a national consumer lending brand committed to delivering a full spectrum of loan products. It's an exciting era of change in the lending industry and loanDepot will be leading the way."
Similar to peer-to-peer lending, loanDepot will empower consumers to quickly apply for personal loans and make installment payments online. Borrowers will be notified of approval status within seconds, and fast fundings for approved borrowers are expected to occur within one business day. Loans will be fully amortized with funding levels up to $35,000. FICO scores on approved borrowers are expected to average at 700.
"Since our launch in 2010, loanDepot has aggressively grown market share and expanded origination channels in contracting market conditions. We're once again ready to drive growth. This time it will be through an expanded array of products that integrates us further into the financial lifecycles of borrowers who will soon turn to us for mortgage and consumer lending products."
As part of the announcement, loanDepot has also announced the appointment of Tim Li as general manager of consumer lending.
"I'm excited about joining loanDepot because I believe the company is leading the industry in innovation and serving consumer needs," Li said. "Research shows our borrowers are interested in consumer loan products backed by loanDepot. I'm looking forward joining the company and building upon the success of the brand."
Li brings a wealth of experience in consumer and small business lending, mathematical engineering and credit risk analysis to the company. Prior to joining loanDepot, Li served as senior vice president, consumer insights at Think Finance, where he is credited with implementing the industry's first cross-bureau credit risk score, fraud solutions using social media, and implementation of big data analytics. Prior to that, Li served as vice president, risk director at JP Morgan Chase where he introduced identity authentication and emerging credit attributes. Li also served as a mathematical engineer for Intel, and more recently as chief risk officer for Quick Bridge Funding. He is also a former member of the Experian Fraud Advisory Board.
"Tim has an outstanding background in consumer and small business lending that will help us execute upon our mission of being consumer's lender of choice," said Hsieh. "We're very excited to welcome him to the loanDepot team."
