Alternative Finances

Alternative Finances
Moving Mortgages Into The Mobile Era
March 13, 2018

Millennials, we have long been assured, were never, ever going to buy houses. Some hypothesized that the lingering memory of the Great Recession’s origins in profligate mortgage underwriting would scare them away forever. Others pushed a theory that the supersized costs of college combined with the stagnant...

Alternative Finances
Honcker’s New Lease On Auto-Leasing
February 27, 2018

There are aggregators for just about everything these days, and loans of all types. Now we can add car leasing to the list. According to the latest trends report from Edmunds, auto leasing has enjoyed a huge spike in popularity over the last six to seven years, with...

Alternative Finances
What The Climbing Debt Defaults Really Mean For The Economy
February 20, 2018

By many measures, the economy looks strong. The stock market — despite a fairly steepWh correction a week ago — is still well ahead of where it was a year ago and is trending up. Unemployment is at historic lows, wages are rising given the tight labor market and consumer spending...

Alternative Finances
SoFi Says Bye-Bye To 5 Percent Of Its Staff
February 01, 2018

Social Finance — the online lender better known as SoFi — will be laying off dozens of workers in its mortgage division, despite the fact that the home loans department was one that the firm was holding up as a potential generator for future growth....

Alternative Finances
Aspiration CEO: Big Banks’ ‘Bad Decision’ Is My Gain
January 30, 2018

When Bank of America announced last week that it was terminating its free checking option for low-balance customers, a literal Tweet storm broke out. The new program, first launched in 2010, was a digital-only offer for customers with low-balance checking accounts. The rules were simple: Consumers had to (a)...

Alternative Finances
UK Federation Of Small Businesses Says AltFin Is Just Heating Up
January 25, 2018

Small businesses face a mountain of financial challenges in the U.K., from late payments from their large corporate clients to a lack of access to easy, affordable financing. In an attempt to address many of these concerns, regulators have stepped in with initiatives, such as...

Alternative Finances
Lenda: From Mortgage App To Mortgage In Five Days
January 23, 2018

Very few consumers review the mortgage application process as a high water mark in their lives. Finding that perfect home can be fun and exciting – but for the majority of consumers who need to apply for a mortgage loan in order to actually live...

Alternative Finances
Subprime Lending Power Player Victory Park Expands Overseas
January 16, 2018

Victory Park Capital — a Chicago-based investment firm — is a key player in the alternative financial services movement, providing debt capital for a string of familiar names in online lending. Avant, Elevate and LendUp, for example, are among the digital lenders that have worked...

Alternative Finances
Does Tribal Lending Have A Future?
January 16, 2018

Scott Tucker’s pre-sentencing “apology” will not likely be remembered as one of history’s greatest all-time allocutions of contrition. The Kansas businessman – facing a 2017 conviction for violating federal truth in lending and racketeering laws in connection with his online lending business – attempted to...