Sep
O Loanio, Loanio, Wherefore art thou Loanio?
Loanio has continued to claim be almost available since I started blogging on P2P lending. Loanio in fact has been promising its imminent release since before I started blogging P2P lending — back in November of 2008.
For about the past year (maybe more), Loanio has been requesting you to sign up for their email announcements to stay informed of their launch. It is likely that Lending Clubs SEC troubles have impacted Loanio and caused a delay, but why do they keep announcing they will be launching soon? Launch and then announce if you don’t know when you are launching.
Loanio has announced their own launch via email and announced the pending launch via proxy using Rate Ladder. The email that Loanio sent out on September 3rd (three and one half weeks ago) said:
As Labor Day weekend comes to an end, we are proud to finally announce Loanio’s launch. In just a couple of weeks (yes, we mean it this time!), we will be done with the final touches and ready to roll out!
CEO and Founder Michael Solomon and everyone involved with Loanio would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters who have been patiently awaiting our arrival.
Just In Case You Forgot:
Loanio.com is a new peer lending website that facilitates the borrowing and lending of money between individuals through an auction-style platform.
“A couple” of weeks I count as two — not four. And I loved the “Just in case you forgot…” section since Loanio has been sidelined for long enough for the financial markets to completely meltdown, Lending Club to be nearly closed by the SEC, and more…
Loanio has announced via (Rate Ladder), that the launch was going to be “today or tomorrow” already three days ago. So they don’t even seem to be able to meet very short-term obligations — assuming Rate Ladder’s information was correct.
Today though tops all past failures — you can’t even see Loanio’s home page. Just arriving to the homepage requires a user ID and password. See the graphic below. Is Loanio over before it ever even open its doors?
loanio unavailable and requiring a password
Currently every page on the site requires a user ID and password. Without it, you see:
This page requires authentication.
I hope Loanio does open, but it already does not have much credibility in my eyes. I wish them well, but I am not backing them by sending them my money — if they ever actually do open to the public.
In case you skipped or slept through literature in high school, the title of the post is based on a quote from Shakespeare.
I am with you on Loanio. I want them to succeed, but it is hard to pull for someone who can’t get their act together. Launch already!
I think they moved their site to the production servers – that’s why you get the login screen. I’m guessing they really are just days away from launch now.
They gave me a look inside the site a couple weeks ago. I posted a few screenshots here.
I think that they should have been able to move code without causing the site to completely lock people out. Twenty Four hours later it is still behaving the same way. They should be able to manage the change better. For example, I have a web hosting account that was hacked. Using a little change to the .htaccess file I was able to redirect everyone (except my IP address) to a single page until the issue was resolved.
I saw those screen shots and it looks nice. However, I can’t get excited about it. A launch should generate some excitement, but this one took so long it has generated apathy and lack of trust.
I registered with Loanio today. It appears they are up and running. Not many lenders on there. I am kind of scared to actually post a loan request. Any thoughts from anyone? I need to borrow money right away!!!!
Go for the loan request. The risk to you that the company is poorly managed or goes out of business is nearly zero because you will already have your money. The risk is to the lenders who need someone to service, collect on, and distribute money from the loan for the next three years. Let me know how your experience goes.
Another P2P site is 40billion.com, which launched in August, and it focuses on entrepreneurs and helping them to raise money for their small businesses through friends and family, rather than through traditional financial institutions. It is the first friends-and-family funding network for entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs connect with their social networks – friends, family, friends of family, colleagues, and others – to raise capital by requesting loans and contributions, and entrepreneurs can share their fundraising pages on MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn too.
Editor Note: Deleted the links to 40billion.com because the comment seemed spammy. However, it is at least of probably interest to readers so I’ll let it slide through. You can type the website into your address bar if you are inclined.
They did launch… and now closed… short lived, oh well… sticking with Lending Club
I am still waiting for Lending Club to open up for lending in my state, but overall I am still happy with that service.
I think Loanio will make it, they have an innovative offering. Pioneering is a tough business. I like them enough that I’d buy them. There are other p-2-p loan options. One new source is ZimpleMoney.com ZimpleMoney’s web product enables people or organizations to make and manage direct p-2-p loans. ZimpleMoney is focused on “naturally” occurring networks like family, friends, churches, schools, organizations, non-profits, charities and foundations. ZimpleMoney sends bills, receives payments, post to loan ledgers, sends late notices, sends alerts as to the status of billing and collection process and provides tax records. We also provide a digital document management tool to upload files. You’ll have to negotiate the investment or loan off the ZimpleMoney network, but when there is an agreement ZimpleMoney manages and administers from then on. Take a look at our site at http://www.ZimpleMoney.com Zimpley, Steve Rabago, ZEO ZimpleMoney