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Lending Club plans layoffs, discloses loans to former CEO and family members

latimes.com

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Re: Lending Club plans layoffs, discloses loans to former CEO and family members

#71

Post by abritinthebay »

p4wnc6 wrote: post #68
pyromine wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just logged in specifically to tell you that as a SLC resident without a car, I use lyft extensively. Similarly all my friends do as well, for the almost perfect example people use of preventing drunk driving. I'm already pretty strapped for cash, hence why I don't have a car but I utilize Uber & Lyft when I'm unable to get to my destination in a timely manner. I would not however get a taxi simply because I don't…

This just makes your comment lose all credibility to me, I'm afraid: > I would not however get a taxi simply because I don't know the number to call, I don't know when they'll arrive at my house, and simply the entire taxi experience is just horrible. You don't know the number? Really? If you have a mobile device from which to use Lyft, then getting the number is completely and entirely trivial. While there is some v…

> even though you tell them when to arrive, that's when they arrive

Having used taxis in multiple countries for most of my life until Uber/Lyft...

... HAH!

If this was the case then there wouldn't be so much of a problem. The number of cab companies that say they'll show up and don't (or show up late as hell) is massive.

Uber at least lets you know if it's running late (ie - an ETA). Taxi companies should have been on this way before they were.

Re: Lending Club plans layoffs, discloses loans to former CEO and family members

#72

Post by endgame »

DINKDINK wrote: post #66
amalcon wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the innovation there was in the cell phone[1]. You've been able to order a car by phone in major metros for longer than those have been around. In fact, Uber started off as an app for using those very services. Props to Uber for execution, but all the pieces were there. [1]-edit: some in the smartphone, but most in the old "makes calls" cell phones

>Props to Uber for execution, but all the pieces were there. Much innovation looks very easy from an ex-post perspective. Putting wheels on a suitcase etc.

I hate wheeled suitcases. If I have to drag it I've packed too much.

Re: Lending Club plans layoffs, discloses loans to former CEO and family members

#73

Post by salemh »

pyromine wrote: post #61
p4wnc6 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This complaint makes no sense to me. You just call the taxi company further in advance of when you need the ride. If you know it's always around a 30 minute wait, just call 45 minutes ahead of time and tell them the time you need picked up. Phoenix & SLC are also not cities in which people are likely to rely on on-demand ride sharing. Most people own their own car especially if they care about being able to determine…

I just logged in specifically to tell you that as a SLC resident without a car, I use lyft extensively. Similarly all my friends do as well, for the almost perfect example people use of preventing drunk driving. I'm already pretty strapped for cash, hence why I don't have a car but I utilize Uber & Lyft when I'm unable to get to my destination in a timely manner. I would not however get a taxi simply because I don't…

When I used to use Taxi's in SLC (I am still a resident), I had to call two companies at a time, then wait 20 minutes for one to show up. The taxi cab drivers aren't FT like larger cities (according to a long-time dispatcher of Yellow Cab), so have (or had, this was a few years back) had preference of fares or shifts, skirting regulation.

I now use Lyft (for pricing and the drivers), then Uber (if Lyft is unavailable).

Re: Lending Club plans layoffs, discloses loans to former CEO and family members

#74

Post by Zarel »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #8
rando18423 wrote: post #6

Wow, so the crown of the "fintech" movement is just as bad as the banks, and the two biggest Silicon Valley successes of the last decade, Uber and AirBnB, are really just cases of massively successful regulatory arbitrage. Nice innovation!

It seems a common way to "disrupt" a market is to find a loophole to call yourself something else so you can avoid all the laws everyone else is beholden to that were put in place for people's protection.

That sounds pretty legitimate if the laws don't actually protect people, and have been corrupted by wealthy interests, such as taxi medallion owners. Or if the laws are outdated.

Ubers are consistently safer than taxis, provide better customer service, don't intentionally take long routes to scam you, actually take credit card instead of pretending their credit card reader is broken, don't refuse to drive you because you have luggage or are going a short distance or are living in a bad part of town, etc etc.

It turns out that Uber's rating system is much better for people's protection than whatever laws and background checks taxis are subject to.

Re: Lending Club plans layoffs, discloses loans to former CEO and family members

#75

Post by Moshe_Silnorin »

rando18423 wrote: post #33
thehashrocket wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, but unless you're in a city like New York (possibly a handful of others) the wait is FOREVER. In Phoenix it was routine to have to wait half an hour or more. Same in SLC. It's awful. Uber and Lyft reduced the wait to a fraction of the time with better, quicker and cheaper service.

I don't disagree with you, but your statement is incomplete without acknowledging these were also illegal services.

Sure, but these are stupid laws.

Re: Lending Club plans layoffs, discloses loans to former CEO and family members

#76

Post by cstejerean »

pbarnes_1 wrote: post #35
jsemrau wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me still this equation holds true. Taxes are abundant and cheap in Singapore. Riding in someone's car makes me uncomfortable. (But that is just me, I suppose)

The success of Uber in a city is directly proportional to how much taxis suck in that city. So Singapore is one of a few cities where that's the case (NYC also -- Uber doesn't really work there. I was there for 8 days and requesting an Uber as a 10-15 minute wait. You can get into one of a million cabs that go by in that time. I gave up).

Except when it's 4 pm and you want to go to the airport from Manhattan, at which point none of the million cabs are interested in picking you up.

Re: Lending Club plans layoffs, discloses loans to former CEO and family members

#77

Post by jessaustin »

seibelj wrote: post #45
maxerickson wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno, wouldn't the better question be if I am at all comfortable using a third party app for financial transactions? Because I'm not. But I'm not super concerned about me, I'm curious how the thinking goes when someone decides to collect information about the loans that other people are taking out. Maybe they are pretty sure that users understand it, the app could have a strong disclosure for all I know.

There is a rich ecosystem of LC apps and services because of LC's open API. The only thing the API's allow you to do is invest in loans and transfer money in and out of your account. I would be quite shocked if any service (such as lending robot) is able to operate without recording any transactions occurring. I hope users wouldn't be offended by the (very general) information revealed above, but I suppose some could…

Presumably LC itself is recording the transactions? It's obvious that apps would want to do so as well, but that certainly isn't a necessity. An app could remember a transaction long enough to ensure that it had posted, and then forget about it forever.

Re: Lending Club plans layoffs, discloses loans to former CEO and family members

#78

Post by morgante »

seibelj wrote: post #2

As someone who built the most popular iOS / Android app for Lending Club investors [0], I can tell you that since the CEO resigned - New users have fallen by 50% per month, although of course users to my app are a fraction of total new users, but you can extrapolate - Total net, users are withdrawing about as much money as users are putting in - The amount of loans purchased has dropped significantly So without a dou…

Yes, ever since this news came out I have been gradually winding down my Lending Club investments.

Re: Lending Club plans layoffs, discloses loans to former CEO and family members

#79

Post by morgante »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #8
rando18423 wrote: post #6

Wow, so the crown of the "fintech" movement is just as bad as the banks, and the two biggest Silicon Valley successes of the last decade, Uber and AirBnB, are really just cases of massively successful regulatory arbitrage. Nice innovation!

It seems a common way to "disrupt" a market is to find a loophole to call yourself something else so you can avoid all the laws everyone else is beholden to that were put in place for people's protection.

If that were true, I would expect the experience of using Uber to be identical to using a taxi, or for AirBnBs to be identical to hotels.

They're different experiences and certainly innovating. Just because they had to overcome legislation to grow does not mean that regulatory subversion is their only benefit.

Re: Lending Club plans layoffs, discloses loans to former CEO and family members

#80

Post by geomark »

pbarnes_1 wrote: post #35
jsemrau wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me still this equation holds true. Taxes are abundant and cheap in Singapore. Riding in someone's car makes me uncomfortable. (But that is just me, I suppose)

The success of Uber in a city is directly proportional to how much taxis suck in that city. So Singapore is one of a few cities where that's the case (NYC also -- Uber doesn't really work there. I was there for 8 days and requesting an Uber as a 10-15 minute wait. You can get into one of a million cabs that go by in that time. I gave up).

Same in Bangkok. Taxis are plentiful and cheap. But like elsewhere if you flag one down they often refuse you if you want to go somewhere inconvenient for them. That's where a taxi hailing app like GrabTaxi is useful. It works like Uber except it's a taxi that picks you up. Uber exists here but hasn't got much traction (as far as I know).
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