Comments (scroll down to add your own):

1. I’ve been investing for about 6 months. Started with just $100. That did so well, I kept adding until I have 42 notes; one paid off early.

   I’ve practiced withdrawing funds as well. All works as advertised.

   My net annualized return is 12.33%. No loans have gone bad. I plan on investing much more in 2010 as it’ll be part of my retirement portfolio.

   Add http://www.mint.com to your money management tool belt and you can go to one place and watch your credit & debit card transactions, bank accounts, investements, lending club transactions and mortgages. And, it’s free.

   Comment by Larry F. — Nov 5th 2009 @ 5:20 pm

2. I haven’t tried it but one of my friends has. She hasn’t made any real money yet, due to early prepayment. One loan she has looked bad from the beginning and is delinquent every month, has all the signs of a write off. That bothers me, as I have 25 years experience in the auto sales business, and have seen so much bad credit.

   John DeFlumeri Jr

   Comment by John DeFlumeri Jr — Nov 5th 2009 @ 5:22 pm

3. I’ve been with Lending Club for 5 months. Started with a $100 and have regularly added each month. Now I have 86 notes with all 100% current. My net annualized return is 11.56%. I too plan on investing much more in 2010.

   Comment by chris — Nov 5th 2009 @ 5:58 pm

4. My plan for 2009 was to put in $1,000, spread over 40 notes, and evaluate how it does for possible additional investing in 2010. I’ve purchased 36 notes so far. Not all have had a payment due yet, but at least so far none have failed to make the first payment which was my biggest concern.

   I tend to be picky about which notes I’ll fund and it gets to be kind of labor-intensive when you consider how long you’re spending to make investments that will at best make you a only a few dollars in interest. The screening tools recently changed and it’s maybe becoming easier to weed out what you don’t want.

   Comment by Storch Money — Nov 5th 2009 @ 8:02 pm

5. Things are still good with me.

   Comment by Eric — Nov 5th 2009 @ 8:19 pm

6. So far so good for me, only one of my notes has had a payment due and that went fine.

   Comment by Noadi — Nov 5th 2009 @ 8:50 pm

7. I would like to invest in this, but I really need to focus everything I have on my mortgage until I get PMI knocked off. If I figure correctly, an investment of $800 with an average interest rate of 9% will give you a monthly payment of just over $25. That way you could reinvest in one new loan each month with your returns. You would make about $6 per month in interest and after 36 months you would have 36 accounts in a ladder. Occasionally you could either take a payment out of the account or invest in an extra loan.

   Comment by John — Nov 5th 2009 @ 9:05 pm

8. So far all is good – averaging about 14.8%. Everyone is paying, though a few haven’t made their first payment yet (last month’s investments).

   Comment by Patty — Nov 5th 2009 @ 10:29 pm

9. Nickel,

   What’s the average age of your portfolio? Those of us who were early adopters of Prosper have had a difficult time making money. It’s great and all that those LC lenders have gone 6 months and made a few bucks, but long term data from Prosper isn’t very favorable. My lending “over there” occurred from May 2006 – July 2007, and I will not be making money when it’s all said and done — no matter how favorable the six month returns were looking.

   I’d like to see how LC folks are doing at the 18 month mark or so.

   Comment by Dan — Nov 6th 2009 @ 9:58 am

10. Dan: Good question. My loans max out at around 6 months, as I started in May or so. You can, however, look at historical data from LC to get a better feel. I wrote about this back in June. Here is the link.

    Comment by Nickel — Nov 6th 2009 @ 10:13 am

11. Did they ever declare the winner of that big giveaway for new people signing up? I signed up, but never heard anything else about it.

    So far, I have 2 loans, just bought a 3rd today, and they are current, and going well. I don’t know my return yet, because my status on the loans still says New, even though I have received a couple of payments from each. I went the high risk route, but did a little research and even though they are at 18% interest rates, they have been paying, so I guess I am happy with it so far.

    Comment by Seth @ Boy Meets Food — Nov 6th 2009 @ 10:24 am

12. LC isn’t authorized to sell loans in my state, but I can buy them on the secondary market. The nice thing about this is that the loans all have history which makes picking them less dicey, in my opinion. On the other hand, the loans are all less than 36 months and there are far fewer to choose from.

    Also, on the secondary market people try to sell loans for more than the interest payments are worth, now or in the future. You’d have to be stupid to buy these. I spent two hours on a Saturday morning buying 6 loans for a total of about $450. I’m annualizing over 12% and everyone is current.

    So far, so good.

    Comment by MITBeta @ Don't Feed the Alligators — Nov 6th 2009 @ 10:36 am

13. I too, would like to join LC, but they are not authorized in my state(OH). Can someone explain to me why this is, and can I get around this.

    Comment by Donnie — Nov 6th 2009 @ 11:02 am

14. @Donnie
    As MITBeta said, they do allow you to participate if you go through their secondary market. You cannot contribute to new loans, but you may purchase existing loans, or sell any that you might buy.

    I had to do this as well. I am in KY, and we are not on the approved list either.

    Comment by Seth @ Boy Meets Food — Nov 6th 2009 @ 11:32 am

15. I have two loans on LC now. How does this work out with the IRS? What will I get from LC about the interest I have earned?

    Thanks!

    Comment by s jensen — Nov 6th 2009 @ 2:25 pm

16. @Seth

    Do I do the secondary markets through LC website? How do I get started or at least read up on this? Your help is greatly appreciated!

    Comment by Donnie — Nov 6th 2009 @ 2:33 pm

17. @Donnie:

    Yes, go to the Lending Club website and click on the “Trade” tab at the top of the screen. There’s a secondary process to get you set up to buy secondary market loans, but once this is set up, the site is integrated with LC, so your balance carries over to the other site (called Foliofn). Once you purchase loans, they get shown back on the Lending Club main site in your portfolio(s) there.

    Comment by MITBeta @ Don't Feed the Alligators — Nov 6th 2009 @ 2:37 pm

18. I started at the end of July and quickly joined their prime club. Took a huge risk and invested most of my ready cash in LC, just under 30K. I am rolling the payments into additional investments. I got sick of the money sitting in Cap. One online savings at 1.6% APY and then having inflation devalue that. So far I have two B funds that are late. The one I am concerned about is a guy that borrowed 20K to get married, made one payment and has no contact with a disconnected phone when LC tries to contact him. I am only out $195 but that will hurt my overall return. If losses are unacceptable to me I will stop investing and take custody of the payments instead of reinvesting them.

    Question: Does anyone know how to write off the bad loans as a bad debt with the IRS? I don’t see how it can be done since I do not know the borrower’s address to send the 1099-C form.

    Comment by almost there — Nov 14th 2009 @ 7:02 pm

19. Any word on when LendingClub will become legal in Washington, DC? I tried to start investing with them months ago but was informed that it is not a legal business in the district and a few other states.

    Comment by Campy — Nov 15th 2009 @ 11:21 pm

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