Targeting payday lenders, Branch adds pay on-demand features for hourly workers

Branch, the scheduling and pay management app for hourly workers, has added a new pay-on-demand service called Pay, which is now available to anyone who downloads the Branch app. It’s an attempt to provide a fee-based alternative to payday lending, where borrowers charge exorbitant rates to lenders on short term loans or cash advances. Borrowers […]

View More Targeting payday lenders, Branch adds pay on-demand features for hourly workers

Affirm’s latest partnership brings its alternative financing to Walmart’s U.S. stores and website

Financial technology company Affirm, which offers consumers an alternative to cash and credit when paying for large purchases, has scored a notable new partner: Walmart. The companies announced this morning that Affirm’s financing options would be made available in over 4,000 Walmart Supercenters across the U.S., and will roll out to Walmart.com in the weeks […]

View More Affirm’s latest partnership brings its alternative financing to Walmart’s U.S. stores and website

Lending startup Portal Finance nabs $200 million for small business loans in Latin America

Latin American small businesses just got a big boost with a new commitment for a $200 million lending joint venture between the Bogota-based startup Portal Finance and Latin America’s largest financial services institution, BTG Pactual. For Portal Finance, the deal with BTG caps a meteoric rise, which has seen the company raise $1.5 million at […]

View More Lending startup Portal Finance nabs $200 million for small business loans in Latin America

Payday startups are increasing access to wages, but is “make any day payday” the right choice?

Kristen Berman Contributor Kristen Berman is a co-founder of Duke’s Common Cents Lab with Professor Dan Ariely. Common Cents is generously supported by MetLife Foundation. Kristen was on the founding team of Google’s behavioral economics team, and was previously the founder of Irrational Labs, a behavioral economics nonprofit focused on health and happiness. More posts […]

View More Payday startups are increasing access to wages, but is “make any day payday” the right choice?

Cash-strapped Wonga has stopped accepting new loans

UK payday loans firm Wonga, whose investors include high profile European VC firms Accel and Balderton, appears to be teetering on the brink of collapse as it’s stopped taking new loans. A spokeswoman for the company confirmed to TechCrunch it is not accepting new loan applications. She sent us the below statement which has been […]

View More Cash-strapped Wonga has stopped accepting new loans

The dramatic rise and fall of online P2P lending in China

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on TechNode, an editorial partner of TechCrunch based in China. When Emily Zhang was interning with a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending firm in the Summer of 2016, her main task was to carry out research on other P2P lending firms. She found the rates of return tempting and some underlying […]

View More The dramatic rise and fall of online P2P lending in China

Indian lending platform Capital Float raises $22M Series C extension from Amazon

Capital Float, the fintech startup that says it is India’s largest online lender, announced today that it has raised $22 million in new funding from Amazon. At the end of last year, reports surfaced that Amazon was considering an investment in Capital Float as an extension of its $45 million Series C, which was announced […]

View More Indian lending platform Capital Float raises $22M Series C extension from Amazon

Tesla uses auto leases to raise $546 million in asset backed securities

 Tesla is using its car leases as collateral for a big $546 million loan as it turns to debt markets to raise additional cash to combat the blistering burn rate of its auto and energy business, according to multiple reports.
The bonds are pegged to leases of its Model S and X cars, and it marks the first time that Elon’s electric albatross has turned to asset backed securities for new… Read More

View More Tesla uses auto leases to raise $546 million in asset backed securities

MoneyLion raises $42M to grow its personal finance platform for the middle class

 MoneyLion, the part lending, part savings and part wealth management app targeted at the financial middle class has raised $42M in Series B funding.This brings total equity funding to $67M since being founded in 2013.
The startup provides an all-in-one platform for anything finance related. A user connects their bank accounts and credit cards and then gets personalized advice based on their… Read More

View More MoneyLion raises $42M to grow its personal finance platform for the middle class

INSIKT raises $50 million to lend to low-income communities

 Loans can be the hardest to get for the people who need them the most. An estimated 45 million Americans don’t have a credit score and others have trouble bringing up their scores, even if they are in a better financial position than in years past. While most lenders would consider low-income families with bad credit scores to be too risky, a startup called INSIKT believes that it… Read More

View More INSIKT raises $50 million to lend to low-income communities