Before I get into the history of LendStats.com, let me explain my own history with P2P lending. Back in early 2007 while scouring bankrate.com for the latest CD rates I saw a Prosper ad advertising 8-12% returns. My initial reaction was that it must be to good to be true but I looked into it anyway and decided to give it a try. I started modestly in May 2007 and waited about a year to see what my returns would be and they were not good. While contemplating whether to lend again I reviewed the loans I had already made and realized that I made some very foolish loans. During this time I also discovered 2 great websites offering Prosper statistics: ericscc.com and the now defunct lendingstats.com. With the experience I had gained and the resources from these sites, I was convinced that I could turn a good profit with P2P lending. In May ’08 I started investing heavily and by Oct ’08 I had made 630 loans.
In Oct ’08 Prosper shutdown in order to register with the SEC. Everyone had to stop lending, but at the same time LendingClub had fully reopened so I switched to LendingClub and continued lending. Through the first year my returns were good with LendingClub, but at the same time my returns with Prosper were looking worse and worse and it became clear that my returns may actually turn negative. While reflecting on why my returns were not good with Prosper, I realized one of the biggest negative factors was that I had relied too much on the ROI’s calculated at lendingstats and ericscc. The ROI’s in these sites were much higher than the actual ROI’s, especially for younger loan sets (this really contributed to speculation with Prosper i.e. many lender’s bid on loans solely because another lender with a high ROI bid on it). Also at this time, LendingClub also started advertising very high estimates of ROI. All of these high ROI estimates didn’t seem right, so I finally decided to take the matter into my own hands and calculate ROI’s that seemed accurate to me. In Oct ’09 I started analyzing LendingClub’s data. Looking at their data taught me very valuable lending lessons that I thought everyone should know, so I created a freebie website to share what I learned. That website is still there http://lcstats.99k.org if you want to take a look. It took a while, but eventually I figured out how to open the massive prosper data files and did an analysis of Prosper’s loans. I created a site for that too (that site is also still there www.prosperstats.99k.org). I also created a third site that united those two sites www.lendstats.99k.org. Finally in March of 2010 I had enough of the freebie stuff and thought that its time to get a real domain and I bought www.lendstats.com.
In it’s short existence LendStats.com has already evolved a lot and is continuing to evolve as I learn more about programming. I’ve recently moved all calculations over to the server, added customizable loan filters and now have all data updating automatically everyday. These are all things that I thought would have been impossible for me to do a year ago, but I did it! (with a little help though 
) The future of P2P lending is looking brighter and brighter. Prosper’s returns since relaunch in July 2009 have been outstanding and LendingClub’s returns have been good all along and continue to improve. Now LendingClub is even talking about making a profit next year already. The future looks great. As the future of P2P lending looks better and better you can expect LendStats.com to only get better and better also. So keep your eyes peeled because this is only the beginning!
kenL (aka lendstats_com) 2/16/11
Are those stats site creditable? who runs those site? and how those stats being collected?
Yes, these stats are credible. I run this site and the raw data is collected directly from Prosper and LendingClub. The data gets put into my databases daily and my programms do the calculations and create the statistics. All return calculations are based on the following basic equation
Returns=Principal*Interest Rate
It is amazing how you are able to build this type of website. I just posted a loan on prosper this past week, and was looking through some listings and came across your name, and stumbled upon the link to lendstats.com. Its amazing to see the increase in return post SEC action.
Good Job!
Yeah, the improvements that Prosper has made are almost mind boggling. The average investor return on loans made since ’09 is about 9.5% according to my calculations. Before ’09 the average returns were about minus %5. I still can’t believe returns have improved that much, but they have.
Ken,
This website is really amazing – I can tell that you’ve put a lot of work into doing this, and the results really show for themselves! I see that you’re adding some new features now, including showing existing listings that match criteria.
I think the coolest part of this site is some of the graphs that you broke down showing ROI based on loan purpose, credit score and inquiries. I have experience using tools in PHP that create charts on demand, and was wondering if you were interested in having some outside contribution with the site in that area.
I think you’ll have access to my email as I comment here. Shoot me an email and we can talk. Keep up the great work!
Matt
Thanks for the compliments. Yes, I have put a lot into it. I’ve been working on this site for 1.5 years now and I’m always trying to improve it. The primary motivation for my site is to give myself the tools and information I need to get good returns and I think others should find it just as useful as I do. Since I’ve started my site my combined returns (LC and Prosper) have been well over 15% (when adding investing bonuses I’m getting close to 20%). Before I started my site my returns were around 1%, so I guess my site is proving to be pretty useful. I only wish I created my site earlier. If I had, I know I’d have many thousands of more $$$ in my accounts today. Oh well, better late than never.
I’ve already started creating on-demand charts using Easy Chart Builder, a wordpress plugin. And it’s pretty easy to use. You can see those charts in the Chart link. But the charts you’re referring to were imported from excel, I could update them and make them real-time if I want. Thanks for the offer, if I need some help in that area I’ll be sure to let you know.
Keep up the great work! I believe (and hope) that transparency like the kind here on this website leads to increase P2P activity.
Personally, I can’t wait till Prosper or Lending Club reach the $1 billion in originations mark. That’ll be some good press!
Great site! What stinks is that I live in Massachusetts… 2 miles away from RI. It tortures me that I can’t participate in either prosper or lending club..
ughhhh
Alchemist, that was one of my original intentions with LendStats. To give lenders the information needed to accurately gauge their returns and thereby contribute to the long-term success of p2p-lending.
David, that is unfortuneate. The only advice I can give you is to let your congressmen know that you want to invest in p2p lending.