CommunityLend: A borrower and a lender be | International Banking Systems
I was fortunate enough to be interviewed by Lawrence at IBS, and the result was a case study on CommunityLend.
International Banking Systems Journal
CommunityLend: A borrower and a lender be (registration required)
Founded on the noblest principles of democracy, community, individual choice and responsibility, social lending may have the potential to do what Amazon has done to book selling. Lawrence Freeborn talks to Colin Henderson, chief technology officer and co-founder of the latest variant on the concept, CommunityLend.
440 Pounds for a subscription with no “buy one article” option?
So you were interviewed for a journal that would never be read?
Shaun
June 13, 2008 at 11:02 pm
@Shaun – lol. It’s like a metaphor for the CommunityLend customer engagement strategy. “Minimal information, with minimal results.” At what point does this become Canada’s very own Duke Nukem Forever?
Rob
June 14, 2008 at 2:56 am
@Shaun @Rob … let me know what you would like to know. I’d be happy to respond to you here or privately to answer your questions.
Colin
Colin
June 14, 2008 at 3:08 am
Colin:
There are thousands of people in Canada who are actively looking forward to the launch of your site. Further, I can not imagine a person who would disagree with the concept of ‘social lending’ once it was explained to them. The idea that you could be held up by the government is truly bewildering. Gas prices are artificially high, interest rates are artificially low, and here you are with a major tool that could help real people – right now … and nothing is happening… for YEARS, there is little information, and no apparent progress.
So if I had to phrase a simple question to you, it would be this: Why aren’t you asking citizens to lobby the government on your behalf? You guys have a business idea, you’ve been working with the regulators for months and months…. Maybe it’s time to be asking: What is wrong with the regulatory process that such an idea can not move forward?
You have venture funding, have you considered using a small part of it to raise public awareness, and teach people about the benefits their own government is currently denying them? “Government stalling financial tools in troubled economy” might make for a good headline in the Toronto Sun. A single persuasive article posted to Digg or Slashdot would no doubt clog the regulators mailboxes.
Despite the tone of my earlier message, I really do wish you nothing but success,
Rob.
Rob
June 14, 2008 at 3:41 am
@Rob … thanks for the thoughtful response.
You clearly feel our pain. Yes this feels like an interminable exercise, but we are passing milestones, and close to finalisation. One thing is clear in all this … social lending will be regulated in Canada, just as it is in the US, [although Prosper remains an outlier there at least for now]. The regulation is not trivial, and has personal consequences for non compliance.
What I can say is that we are going to open the site up to discussion quite soon, along the lines you mention. We did not do sooner because it clearly would have hurt, not helped our cause. Take a look at our peers in Montreal back in April for an example of that.
Your words of encouragement are like a fresh breeze in spring to me, and we will count on you and others once the timing is right and we can start to create momentum for the enhancement of future phases of social lending.
Colin
Colin
June 14, 2008 at 4:29 am
Well, I can say, from an individual perspective that doesn’t quite have the same interest in their success, that Communitylend does seem to be serious about getting necessary approvals and such.
I’m predicting that it’s very much of the “government sends you a bunch of stuff, you answer within a week, they get back to you a month later just to say that they’ve received your response” kind of run-around.
I think the company is there technically (ie: backend and frontend software), after all, it’s not a technically difficult idea, but we’ll see what they’ve been spending their spare development time on eventually.
Rob,
I guess that you’ve been following the whole Bell Wholesaler Throttling & Copyright Amendment dealio?
Colin, mind setting the text contrast in the comment field a bit higher? Light gray on a white background just doesn’t work too well.
Dan
June 14, 2008 at 5:20 pm
@Dan … The regulatory interaction is actually quite intense and regular, so less of the run around, and more like how can we make this work, kind of thing.
re comments contrast – it is unusually light. Will get that fixed.
Colin
June 14, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Hi Colin,
It seems like you guys have been “close to finalization” for eternity. I understand that specific dates may not be possible, but how about a quarter? Q3? Q4? Q1 2009? Q3 2011? If you were betting your own money on a launch quarter; which would it be?
Brandon
June 16, 2008 at 6:54 pm
@Brandon … it has been an eternity
Q3 2008 is a firm target for us, and that aligns reasonably with the application in front of the regulators. I am always leery about promising something thats dependent on someone else’s schedule, but we have enough substantive discussion evidence now to say that.
To you and all who read this, thank you for your patience, and staying with the conversation. It has taken longer than we had hoped.
Colin
June 17, 2008 at 1:16 am
I’m glad to hear that we’re nearing some kind of launch. I have been following the U.S. based social lending groups for some time and have been anxiously awaiting something similar on the Canadian side of the border. It seems like an innovative and informed way to both borrow and invest and I look forward to being a member of CommunityLend.
Thanks for your hard work in bringing this service to fruition.
Brandon
June 17, 2008 at 5:51 pm
@Brandon … thanks for stopping by, and making the comment. Your encouragement is appreciated.
Colin
June 17, 2008 at 7:32 pm
This seems to be a bit old of a thread, but what is the current status? i have watched this idea for a while in Canada, and the way the market now is, this might be a good time to give options to borrowers.
So whats up? Id love to dive in lending!
Zector
March 16, 2009 at 1:44 am
Current status is that we continue to work closer and closer with the regulators, and we will get there. The discussions are sensitive and cannot offer more detail right now.
Colin
March 16, 2009 at 2:49 am
I find it very silly that the government allow people to charge 20% per week, or 1040% annual by payday loan places, and they have a problem with a fair open new idea like this.
Somethings Canada is ahead on, but other things we are closed minded. Maybe someday Canada will really be as bleeding edge as people think it is.
I look forward to you guys getting this worked out. Thank you for your hard work.
Zector
March 21, 2009 at 4:58 pm