SwiftLoan

Figma mock-up
https://www.figma.com/file/a5e5XHgyziSWQa0KOBfITY/SwiftLoan-Official?type=design&mode=design&t=SFMmlLKWglqCD2t7-0

At SwiftLoan, our mission is to simplify peer-to-peer lending and allow users to both have a new way to invest with small amounts of capital and quickly receive small loans as needed. We seek to remove the bureaucracy found in similar services through innovative processes such as “repayment amount” based loans and market requests on either side of the loan. The customer, their security, wellbeing, and seamless use of this service is always our number one priority.

The app will be completely free to use asides from a small “broker’s fee” taken from each side of every loan. The details of this will be worked out later, but it will likely be a percentage of the loan amount (ex. 2%).

“Repayment amount” based loans allow lenders to specify an amount to be returned for the loan to be complete, as opposed to an interest rate. This amount is to be paid within a given time period, and if it goes unpaid by then, an interest rate may be applied. This is useful for lenders, as interest rate percentages are less useful for small loans (ex. a $300 loan with a 15% interest rate would only amount to $45 in return for a year), and it is useful for borrowers as it simplifies the conditions. 

Lenders may be protected by both the loan conditions and in-app functionalities. Whenever a lender sends out a market request for a borrower to take on their loan, they can specify conditions like the users in-app credit score and information the borrower can choose to add to their account such as the users Credit Bureau credit score and proof of income. Borrowers’ Credit Bureau credit score and income will not be displayed to any other users unless they allow that user to view this information before taking on a loan. If a repayment amount is not paid within the specified time period and a borrower appears to not have the intentions or ability to pay off a loan, they may be banned from the app and we will try to report this to Credit Bureaus.

Both lenders and borrowers can submit market requests for loans, which will work a lot like a market order on a stock brokerage. Users will be able to specify the conditions they’re looking for in the loan, submit the request, then assess candidates to take on the other side of the loan. 

An important quality of the app is the competitive nature between lenders and between borrowers, as this will help to ensure that the conditions are fair. For example, if Lender A sends out a market request that they’d like to lend out $10,000 and would like a repayment of $10,200 within 1 month, but they apply a 100% interest rate if this is unpaid, Lender B could send out a market request with these same conditions but with a fairer interest rate, such as 30%, and more prospective borrowers would want to take on this loan.

Users will have loans suggested to them algorithmically based on their past loans, search results, and profile.

Borrowers will have an in-app credit score that will be determined categorically (ie. poor, average, good, great) based on conditions such as amount of loans taken on within a given time period and punctuality in repayments.

Users will be able to submit loan requests to friends and family who also have a SwiftLoan account via email or text message.

Users who are currently involved in a loan with each other will be able to message the other user in a direct message format.

It is crucial for any early-stage employees at SwiftLoan to have both a strong understanding of and desire to fulfill our mission statement. Employees must be business-minded and ready to generate new ideas and solutions to help further this app's progress towards production.  Given the nature of the app, they are expected to hold the user’s privacy and security paramount and work towards a seamless user experience.