SocietyOne sets new record with triple milestones in 2017
SocietyOne, Australia’s pioneering and leading consumer marketplace lender, has set new records for lending with growth in 2017 already surpassing the level of volumes for the whole of 2016. Total lending since the company started operating five years ago has now topped $350 million as the current loan book also reached $200 million for the first time in SocietyOne’s history. These were new records for a consumer finance marketplace lender in Australia with SocietyOne having originated more than twice the loans than that of the company’s nearest competitor. SocietyOne has now enjoyed seven successive quarters of strong growth as it scales up. New lending to borrowers in […]
How consumers can help clean up the alternative lending market
An influx of alternative lenders and a seemingly unbreakable cycle of bad debt for borrowers have given the short-term loan sector a bad reputation. However, consumers have a role to play in helping clean up the industry. The first step – understanding how lenders should be acting. ASIC requires lenders to conduct ‘reasonable inquiries about a consumer’s financial situation.’ This means inquiries must be made about the consumer’s actual situation and, while alternative lenders are known to be more lenient when it comes to bad credit scores and being on Centrelink, they must still gather enough information about circumstances likely to affect a consumer’s ability to repay their loan. Daniel […]
Ignore bitcoin at your peril, naysayers warned
It’s taken three weeks for bitcoin to erase the losses it suffered when JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon dismissed the digital currency as a fraud.
Australia Post signs on its first businesses with its Digital ID
Online job marketplace Airtasker, credit union CUA, foreign exchange company Travelex, and Queensland Police are among the first adopters of Australia Post’s new digital identity service as it seeks to corner the local market in proving credentials when the online and physical worlds collide. The Digital ID has been under development since early 2016 and will allow people to rapidly verify their identity via their smartphone using stored biometric data and other information. The technology will allow individuals to apply for passports or mortgage by mobile and Australia Post’s executive general manager of trusted e-commerce services Andrew Walduck said it was now entering commercial use and would become a growth […]
Bitcoin cash is essentially printing money
The creation of a second bitcoin asset this week did almost nothing to dilute the price of the original unit, with the value of the new asset instead rocketing skyward, generating almost $US7.5 billion ($9.5 billion) out of thin air. This week, a group of bitcoin activists and developers created a second version of bitcoin, within a few hours, the value of the new unit – bitcoin cash – leapt to over $US600. The original bitcoin price however, remained fairly steady, still trading at about $US2700 a coin, despite an almost 1:1 duplication of itself. “Everyone who has bitcoin now has bitcoin cash and because the market reckons this is […]
Are digital wallets finally set to take off?
The rise of newfangled digital payments took another step last week, when the Manly Ferry began accepting tap-and-go credit card payments for fares. You might ask: So what? True, it may not sound like much. But this development has got experts in the world of digital payments excited. In an Australian-first, you’ll no longer need a NSW government-issued Opal card when paying for a ferry ride – just a credit card, smart phone or “wearable” device such as a smart watch. The payments gurus see this trial as a milestone that will hasten the decline of cash. More interestingly, it’s also tipped to move us closer to a world where […]
FinTech Interviews: Uno Home Loans
In the second of Matthew Parker’s series interviewing FinTech CEOs, he sat down with Vincent Turner, the CEO of Uno Home Loans. Matthew Parker: There have been a few new Mortgage brokering businesses launch over the past 2 years, why is this happening now? What has created the right circumstance for this to occur? Vincent Turner: Good question… One of the drivers is that it’s one of the last transactions left to do digitally. People are now more comfortable applying for financial products online such as credit cards and loans, not just researching and comparing. As people become more comfortable transacting online with their holidays or flights or clothes, they […]
SocietyOne breaks through $300 million of lending
SocietyOne, Australia’s pioneering and leading marketplace lender, has broken through $300 million of total originations since it started operating five years ago with 2017 on track to set further lending records. SocietyOne advanced over $100 million of new lending during the first half of 2017, underlining its position as the clear leader in the Australian consumer marketplace lending sector. Combined lending of $45 million in the first quarter of 2017 and $57 million in the second quarter resulted in year-on-year growth of almost 70% for the six months ending 30 June 2017. That compares to $61 million of new lending advanced in the first half of 2016. SocietyOne’s loan book […]
