Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Lending Club Returns 2014 EOY Update

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If you’ve been reading here for very long, you’ll know that I’ve been posting and discussing my Lending Club returns since the end of 2011.  For the first year or so, I updated with quarterly updates.   I didn’t do that in 2014.  Part of the reason for that was that it was a busy year for me, and the time to put together a full post on that every quarter just wasn’t always there.  The rest of the reason was that it was beginning to feel redundant to me, so I slowed them down a bit.  Now, I’ll be doing the updates on a yearly basis (twice a year at most) to hopefully avoid that feeling of repeating myself in each one.  On to the Lending Club Returns 2014 update.

If you don’t know what Lending Club is, the simple answer is that it’s a peer-to-peer lending network where people like you and me can both borrow and lend to people like you and me.  Want a little better explanation?  Head over to my Lending Club page to read more.

Lending Club Adjusted NAR

Beating Broke Lending Club UpdateWhen we left 2013 behind, my NAR on my Lending Club account was sitting at 13.16%.  A full year of lending has passed, and, as I’ll explain in just a bit, there’s been some changes to the account.  At the end of 2014, my NAR is now showing at 9.61%.  Down from 2013’s EOY number, but still a very healthy return on my investment.  For comparison’s sake, the S&P 500 returned about 11% for 2014.  So, ultimately, I could be getting more of a return on my money in an S&P 500 index fund.  The biggest difference for me is that each of the loans I’ve invested in on Lending Club has a set rate of return.  The only thing that changes that rate of return is a default.  I’ll talk about defaults in a minute, but the rate of default is pretty low.  Try and get a set rate of return on an index fund.  Your brokerage will laugh you out of the office.

Lending Club Defaults and Late Notes

As of the time of this writing, there are no late notes listed on my account.  In 2014, three notes went into a default status.  At the end of 2013, only one had gone into default.  It’s a little bit higher rate, obviously, than it had been previously.  But, as my portfolio on Lending Club has grown, the odds of a default here and there also has grown.  The full picture looks pretty good still.  Since I began investing in Lending Club, I’ve invested in 118 loans.  Only 4 of those have gone into default.  That’s a default rate of about 3.4%.  Flip that around, and if the trend holds, 96.6% of the loans I invest in will not default.  96.6% is a pretty good success rate if I do say so myself.

The 4 loans that have gone into default meant a total of $52.17 in written off principle.  Of that $52.17 that was written off, $10.74 has been recovered through collections for a total loss of principle of $41.43.  I’ll go into further detail in the next section, but the interest I make on the non-default loans more than makes up for that lost principle.

Lending Club Income

The biggest reason that I invest in Lending Club is for the higher rates of return and the income that it provides to continue building my portfolio.  I bank the interest payments and then reinvest them into new loans when I’ve passed $25 in available funds.  Those interest payments, after fees, totaled $115.69 for 2014.  That’s up from $109.88 in 2013.  Less of an increase than I expected, honestly, but still $115.69 that I didn’t have before.  And it still leaves me with about $75 in income on the account after you account for the lost principle that was written off.  And that’s $75 that I’ve reinvested into principle and am now earning interest on.  Given my current rate of return, I can expect that to increase by about $12 next year.

[Tweet “I invest in Lending Club for the higher rates of return and the income.”]

Another of the metrics that I like to look at is the average amount of interest earned each month.  I reached point where the payments (principle+interest) each month exceeded $25, and I could make reinvestments each month, but the next benchmark I’d like to reach is to make $25 in interest each month to reinvest.  That’s one new loan to invest in each month.  The average for 2014 was $9.64, so I still have a way to go, but it’s increasing year over year.  It was $9.16 in 2013, $5.94 in 2012, and $1.91 in 2011.

I think the thing that I like the most about Lending Club is the income potential and the growth I’ve managed with my portfolio.  I haven’t deposited any new money into the account since November of 2012.  Through active investing and reinvesting, my portfolio has increased by almost $200.   I think that’s pretty good on deposits of just a hair over $700.

The Future of my Lending Club Portfolio

In the past, I’ve talked about changes I planned on making to my investing strategy in this section.  I’m pretty happy with my returns, and with the numbers that I’ve just shown you, and so there won’t be any immediate large changes.  If the default rate jumps by a lot, there’s a good chance that I might begin investing a bit more conservatively. But, if it holds steady, I see no real reason to do so.  My portfolio is pretty heavily weighted towards the B and C grade loans in any case.  And I don’t know that moving to A grade loans would give me the return I’m looking for.  So, short term, there won’t be any changes to my investing strategy.  I’ll just continue to reinvest the payments and see what kind of growth I get in 2015.

Do you have any questions I can answer about my experience with Lending Club?  Other things related to peer-to-peer lending that you want to know?  Let me know in the comments below, or through the contact form linked in the bar on the left.

Want to open an Investment account with Lending Club?  Click here to start the process.

How to Get Started with Lending Club

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Over the past couple of years, I’ve been talking about peer-to-peer lending.  I’ve shared my returns each quarter (see last quarters’), and shared how I go about selecting the loans that I invest in via FolioFN.  One thing I haven’t talked about in detail is how to get started with Lending Club.  So let’s do that.  Let’s talk about how the strategies that you can use to get started with Lending Club.

What is Lending Club

Before we talk about strategy for investing with Lending Club, we need to briefly discuss what Lending Club and other peer-to-peer lenders are.  They act as a service for both borrowers and lenders.  As an individual, you can apply to get a loan, or you can invest in a loan.  If you’re getting a loan, the peer-to- peer lender will vet the loan for risk, and then provide that information, anonymously, to the prospective investors.  As an individual, you can also invest in the loans that have been vetted.  The borrower then repays their loan just like they would if it were borrowed from a traditional lender (banks, credit unions, etc) and each payment (with interest included) is split out to each of the investors.  In short, they make you and the other investor/lenders into the bank.  There’s a lot more too it, but that’s the basic rundown. Now, lets talk about three strategies that you can use to get started with Lending Club.

Go Big or Go Home Strategy

Getting Started with Lending ClubThere are some people who refuse to do anything on a small scale.  You know who you are.  If this describes you, this is likely the strategy that you will use.  Decide on the percentage of your overall portfolio that peer-to-peer lending will be, then calculate how much of an investment that means you’ll be making.  Deposit that amount into your Lending Club account and start investing it into loans.  Depending on the size of your deposit, it might still take a little time to get it 100% invested into loans, but you’ve got the full amount in the account and ready to go.  As you progress, you’ll also want to make regular deposits that match the % of portfolio that you’ve set for your investment accounts.

Slow and Steady Strategy

Some people really like systems.  They like to decide on a path, set the system that will take them down that path and rarely deviate from that system.  In this strategy, you still decide what the percentage of your portfolio that your Lending Club account will occupy.  But, instead of making one large deposit to assign it, you make several smaller, timed deposits to bring it up to the % of portfolio that you’ve decided on.  Each deposit will be invested as you go.  Ongoing deposits will likely be larger than they would be with the above strategy because you’ll be increasing the account balance to match the % of portfolio as well as including your amount of new investments.

Get Your Feet Wet Strategy

Some of you are still a bit leery of peer-to-peer investing.  You’ve heard that it’s risky.  You aren’t sure if it has a future, or, more specifically, if it has a future in your portfolio.  Maybe you like investing in high-value stocks and bonds and playing it safe.  But, still, you’re tempted.  Tempted by the rate of return that I and others are claiming to receive.  This is the strategy for you.  Instead of selecting a percentage of portfolio like the above two strategies, you want to just get your feet wet a little and test the water.  Decide, instead, on an amount of money that you want to use to test the waters.  At a minimum, it should probably be something like $125-$250 minimum.  That amount will allow you to invest in $25 increments and reduce your risk by having at least 5-10 loans in your account.  Using this strategy lets you feel the system out with a minimal amount to lose.  Even if you lose it all, it’s not a large percentage of your investments.

Get Started with Lending Club

As investors and stewards of our money, it’s important to find the best way to handle our money.  For many of us, that means finding ways to eliminate our debt, earn more, and invest smartly.  I’m not a financial adviser.  I’m just some guy that likes learning things about money.  I share those things, and my thoughts on them here.   One of the things that I’ve been using to grow my investment portfolio is Lending Club.  I’ve been very happy with the service, and I recommend it.

Which strategy do I use?  At this point, I still have significant debt.  I happen to believe that investing while you are in debt is not all that smart.  So, I’m more focused on my debt than I am on investing.  I’m still firmly in the get your feet wet strategy with my investments.  In the time I’ve been testing the waters, my portfolio has grown to quite a bit more than the minimum investment I suggest above, but that’s where I started, and that’s the strategy that most closely resembles my usage of Lending Club today.

If you’re thinking about getting started with Lending Club, be smart, know that there are risks, but I don’t think they are as bad as some would claim.  Know that, just like stocks, there is a chance that you will lose your entire investment.  Just like investing in stocks, that chance is pretty small.  I’m not an adviser (that hasn’t changed in the last two paragraphs) so if you’ve still got questions, and want professional advice, I suggest you talk to your adviser first.

I’ve consistently been getting returns on my money of 13-14%.  Even in the boom times of online savings accounts, the interest rates weren’t that high.  Heck, even if you believe Dave Ramsey and his 12% returns on stock investments claim, it isn’t that high.  Getting you feet wet in Lending Club offers a potentially good rate and, I think, is worth a try.

Original Image Credit: Feet by lukasberg, on Flickr

Lending Club Returns Update 3Q13

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Another quarter has come and gone.  We’re bracing ourselves for the coming winter.  It’s also time for a check-up on my Lending Club account, and the returns I’ve gotten.  In my 2Q13 update , my account was showing a return of 14.08%.  Keep reading to find out if I’ve managed to maintain that rate.

No More Defaults

One of the other things that I wrote about in last quarters update was that my portfolio finally suffered it’s first defaulted loan.  In this quarter, I had a few loans that went into the late categories, but ended up coming back to normal.  I’m still a little surprised that I haven’t had more defaults.  I’m glad that I’ve been lucky enough to only have the one default since January, 2010.

Active Passive Income

Beating Broke Lending Club UpdateThe closer you get to true passive income, the less work you have to put into it.  Lending Club portfolios are not true passive income.  I’ve discussed it before, and it bears reiteration.  They are awful close though.  In all, I spend about 20 minutes a month to reinvest the payments and interest that have come in.  It’s not all at once, usually.  With the $9-$10 in interest that my portfolio is earning each month, that’s a pretty good wage.  Maybe it’s an active passive income stream.  Oxymoron for the win!

Lending Club Return Rate

Now, for what everyone has been waiting for.  (Or scrolled down really quickly for)  Without any further defaults, and staying on top of reinvesting the funds as they come in, I’ve been happy this quarter with my return.  As of 10/4/13, my current Lending Club returns rate displayed is 14.69%!  It’s bounced back nicely from the default.  I’ve been investing the funds a little more aggressively over this quarter which helps explain some of that.  At this point, my reasoning is that I’ve been investing with Lending Club since 2010 and have only had one default.  The risk is still there, I think, but I don’t think it’s quite as bad as some would like to make it sound.

Where will my rate be at the end of the year?  I’m hoping it will remain steady.  I’ll be maintaining the same Lending Club investing filter, and hope that doing so will maintain the low default rate I’ve been lucky enough to have.

How is your Lending Club portfolio doing?