Remember Marcus, the online lending service Goldman Sachs was launching?
Well, it’s officially opened… kind of. Applications are accepted so long as you are a client who has received a code by mail offer by the bank, has input the code, and slipped through the golden gates to apply.
As we’ve discussed previously with this service, Goldman is approaching lending the—well the Goldman way, which quite honestly has historically worked aside from a few tetchy ups and downs. Remember, it’s quite an old bank; Marcus is actually named after founder Marcus Goldman, who first opened its doors in 1869, and that brand awareness adds some perceived security to its potential borrowers.
The mail offers began shipping out October 13, but according to a spokesperson for Goldman Sachs, the bank will probably invite a couple million people to apply for a loan through Marcus over the next week or so.
As yet, there is no way to get a code if you have not been given one by Goldman Sachs via mail. This is to give Marcus the opportunity to test itself out, according to a spokesperson for the bank, before flinging the doors wide open to additional applicants.
Marcus is aiming right at prime borrowers, those with revolving credit card debt, a good credit score, and a reasonable expectation that those borrowers will be able to make their payments—aka the exact same people services like Lending Club and Prosper (more Prosper at the current moment) are marketing to.
Unlike those services, Goldman is holding these loans on its own—something that provides a bit more security for borrowers than other online lenders.
Marcus is also allowing borrowers to set their own loan amount and the amount of their scheduled monthly payment; it will make money solely on interest from these loans and not from any fees—because there also aren’t any fees.
The lending service will offer its borrowers loans ranging from $3,500 to $30,000; those of you who are curious about more of the details surrounding Marcus—which is probably a fair chunk of us—can listen to the bank’s head of digital finance, Harit Talwar, discuss it on the bank’s podcast here or on iTunes.
To learn more about online lending join us in Tel Aviv for Bank Innovation Israel this November 1-3. Register here.