Natural gas fueling stations coming to Monroe transit authority

Monroe County will be host to one of the first of 29 compressed natural gas fueling stations in the state.The effort will be part of a joint venture between the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Trillium CNG and Cam Tran.The Monroe County Transit Authority will be the beneficiary of this program, with a natural gas fueling station going into construction in 2019. It should take less than a year to complete.It is a part of a statewide program to supply liquid [...]

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Aqua Pa. announces it will spend $292 mil on statewide improvements

BRYN MAWR (AP) — Aqua Pennsylvania (Aqua) today announced the company will make $292 million in infrastructure improvements in the state throughout 2017, after completing $234 million of similar projects in 2016. Multiple projects will take place in several areas across the state to improve customers’ water and wastewater service. Aqua has detailed its planned spending by operating division.$221 million will be spent in its Southeastern Pennsylvania operating [...]

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Bose Knows You Listen to Spice Girls, and It’s Allegedly Selling That Info

We’ve covered class-action lawsuits involving vibrators and televisions spying on users, and now another company is accused of illegally collecting user information.

A class-action lawsuit filed in Illinois against Bose claims the audio company’s headphones have been collecting user information without permission.

The lawsuit says that plaintiff Kyle Zak registered his new headphones to the Bose Connect app, which allows you to wirelessly control the settings on paired devices and share music with other users.

The suit claims that Bose then began collecting specific information about Zak’s usage habits and shared the information with third parties without his consent. The lawsuit lists the collected data as names of audio files and music titles.

Who Cares if Someone Knows What Music I Like?

The lawsuit says that an individual’s audio selections “provide an incredible amount of insight into his or her personality, behavior, political views, and personal identity” and that collecting such information without someone’s consent violates their privacy.

The suit cites these examples: If a person is listening to the “Ashamed, Confused, And In the Closet” podcast, it could indicate that they are “a homosexual in need of a support system.” It’s “very likely” that someone listening to The Body’s HIV/AIDS podcast is living with the illness. And someone who listens to Muslim prayer services through Bose’s headphones or speakers is probably Muslim.

The examples show there’s so much more personal info at stake than just what songs people like.

The lawsuit accuses Bose of violating the Federal Wiretap Act, which prohibits the interception of communication; the state of Illinois’ eavesdropping statute, which protects individuals from third parties intercepting private electronic communication; and multiple other laws.

Headphones listed in the lawsuit included the QuietComfort 35, SoundSport Wireless, Sound Sport Pulse Wireless, QuietControl 30, SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II and SoundLink Color II.

The lawsuit doesn’t specify how much Zak is seeking, but it says that the “amount in controversy exceeds $5,000,000.” The suit also demands that Bose halt all data collection.

This lawsuit is still in its early stages, but we’ll update you about any developments.

Your Turn: Do you own any of the Bose headphones listed in the class-action lawsuit?

Kelly Smith is a junior writer and engagement specialist at The Penny Hoarder. Catch her on Twitter at @keywordkelly.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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The Pros and Cons of Using Income Share Agreements for Personal Loans

You may have heard this term floating around: income share agreement.

Most likely — if you’ve heard of it — you’ve heard of income share agreements as an alternative way to pay for college.

More likely? You haven’t heard of them at all. And there’s a lot to learn.

Income share agreements have gained popularity in recent years as a way to avoid massive student loan debt.

Students can make an agreement with funders to cover the cost of their education. In exchange, students agree to pay a fixed percentage of their income after graduation for a number of years.

In this form, borrowers and lenders are basically gambling on the success of the borrower’s education.

But it’s not just for student loans: Income share agreements for personal loans are making their way into the market.

Align is a company that offers income share agreements for anything from consolidating debt to paying a medical bill to planning your wedding and describes them like this:

“An Income Share Agreement (ISA) allows you to receive money in exchange for a percentage of your future income, for a set period of time.

“It’s similar to a personal loan, but your payments, since they are pegged to your income, are more flexible and can go all the way to zero if you become unemployed.”

How Income Share Agreements Work

Unlike a loan, your ISA payments to a lender aren’t based on repaying a principal (the original amount borrowed). Instead, you pay the agreed percentage of your income for the agreed number of years — and the lender earns their money back (plus some) or not.

For students signing up for an ISA to pay for school, the agreement can be risky or beneficial for both the borrower and lender.

If the borrower gets a high-paying job after graduation, they’ll pay a lot back. It could cost more than traditional student loans. In the student’s favor, though, if they remain unemployed or earn very little, they’ll pay less back — maybe even less than the amount of the loan.

Income share agreements for personal loans are significantly less risky on both sides.

The scale and terms of these agreements make them less dramatic than those that pay for college. The max you can borrow through Align, for example, is $12,500. The most you can pay is 10% of your income (usually less) and the longest term is five years.

The other major difference is you have to be employed full-time to qualify for an ISA with Align. You’re not gambling on unknown future earnings. You’re working with what you have now — and leaving room for surprises in the future.

And of course, you can use the money you borrow for anything, not just school.

How Much Do Income Share Agreements Cost?

Unlike a traditional loan, you’re not paying interest. The amount of money a lender makes off your income share agreement is based on how your income fluctuates over time.

A Purdue University program launched last year for students caps payments at 2.5 times the initial loan amount. Even if you make a hefty salary, you’d stop paying once you hit that mark.

For its personal loans, Align says the percentage you’ll pledge “will vary based on factors like the amount of money you need, the length of your contract, your income level and your creditworthiness.”

Align’s loans don’t come with a cap, but borrowers can buy out their contract for a fixed lump sum any time. It’s a safeguard to keep you from drastically overpaying if your income significantly increases. The buyout starts less than the loan amount and is reduced each month as you keep making payments.

For example, say you borrow $5,000 from Align to buy a new (used) car.

If you work full-time for a $40,000 salary, and you pledge 5% of your income for three years, you’d pay $6,000 — $167 a month.

But maybe after two years (you’ve paid $4,000), you get a new job with a $60,000 salary.

You could keep your ISA, pay $250 a month and fork over a total of $7,000 — $2,000 more than your original loan!

Or you could buy it outright for the lump sum and pay less.

Benefits of Income Share Agreements

Depending on your credit history, qualifying for an income share agreement might be easier than qualifying for a traditional loan. It could also be cheaper long term and/or more affordable in the short term.

Whether you borrow to pay for tuition or want to take out a personal loan for something else, your future income determines whether an ISA is right for you.

If you’re employed full-time at a local newspaper, for example, an ISA could be more attractive than a traditional loan.

The instability of the industry could mean frequent job (and salary) shifts for you in the near future — and maybe even an unexpected layoff. Your payments would fluctuate with your changing salary, so they’d be easier to keep up with than traditional loan payments.

If you’re an engineer and have decent credit, you’ll probably get a better deal with a traditional loan. The high demand and high salaries in your field mean you probably won’t have to worry about affording monthly loan payments.

Either option is subject to a ton of variables, so run some scenarios for your own situation before making any decisions.

One benefit of income share agreements you won’t get from traditional lenders is their investment in your success.

Referring to ISAs that pay for college, Investopedia explains, “Because lenders have a vested interest in the student’s future, ISAs will offer mentoring and advising services throughout and after school.”

Align makes a similar commitment to personal loan customers who become unemployed. “We have a financial stake in your success, so we have a variety of services to help you get back on your feet, including resume review and career search assistance.”

Traditional lenders don’t give a hoot what happens to your job, so this investment is a welcome relief!

Drawbacks of Income Share Agreements

“The skeptics of income sharing often compare the concept to indentured servitude,” Investopedia says of students betting on future income.

That’s an extreme criticism, but the worry is valid: You run the risk of forfeiting a lot of unnecessary money if your income increases quickly.

But some safeguards are in place to make it far less binding than being an indentured servant.

Purdue’s 250% repayment cap isn’t amazing, but at least it exists to protect graduates. Align’s option to buy out a contract for a lump sum means if your income increases, you can end your agreement and keep your shiny new salary for yourself.

Income share agreements are a relatively new practice in the U.S., so skeptics are keeping an eye on their development.

In the meantime, we’re happy to see a new option for borrowers.

As finance writer James Surowiecki wrote in “The New Yorker” in 2013, when lender Upstart had just started making income share agreements for small business startups:

“The old way of borrowing was predicated on a world in which the job market was stable and everyone had a steady income. That world of work is changing. The way we finance it needs to change, too.”

Your Turn: Would you apply for an income share agreement instead of a traditional loan?

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links. Adding these links helps us keep the lights on in The Penny Hoarder HQ, which makes it a lot easier to play shuffleboard after a long day of deal-seeking!

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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Weatherly fighting state move to ground electricity sales revenue

HAZLETON (TNS) — Weatherly officials like to use proceeds from the borough's electric company to help fund their government.So they are opposed to a move in the Pennsylvania Legislature to limit how funds from municipally operated electric systems — like the one the borough has — can be used.Monday night, council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution in which the borough expresses its opposition to recently proposed legislation "on the basis that it [...]

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Some Thoughts on Impractical Urges on the Path to Financial and Professional Success

Recently, Ayana Mathis published a wonderful article entitled On Impractical Urges. The focus of the article was squarely on the “cult of success” in America and whether or not a person’s background can alter their path to realizing their ambitions, even to the point that a person’s background can prevent them from even recognizing that it’s possible for them to have big ambitions.

“We have a cult of success in America. We believe that if we just work hard enough, we will achieve. It is certainly better to hold these beliefs than a fatalist vision of the world in which fortunes are determined entirely by factors outside of oneself (social position, nepotism, economic status, etc.). Nonetheless, there is something naive about our way of looking at things, and cruel too, in the way children can be cruel because they are too young to have anything but an absolutist vision of the world. It isn’t always true that failure has direct correlation to insufficient grit or ambition. […] The humbling, and unsettling, reality is that all obstacles are not surmountable. And in any case, is the sole objective of our lives the surmounting of obstacles so that we can come in first, like dogs in a race? This seems an impoverished vision of our human experience, more tragic and empty than any failure could ever be.”

Ayana was lucky. She was able to get past some challenges thanks to what seems like a wonderfully supportive family and a few key mentors. I, also, was quite lucky; I was able to get past some challenges thanks to a supportive family and a few key mentors.

In both of our cases, though, the path to our eventual destiny wasn’t very clear as we were growing up or even in our young adulthood. Many of the things that we eventually wound up aiming for were, at their start, impractical urges.

I look back at the 12-year-old me, carrying around a loose leaf notebook in which I found myself constantly adding to a horror novel, one that started off as a paragraph and wound up growing to incorporate all of my nightmares. The simple idea of this was an impractical urge. The adults in my life worked at one factory or another (when they weren’t laid off) or worked at a soul-numbing job in law enforcement – that is, if they worked at all. The other children played sports and, even at the age of 12, snuck off behind the school to drink and smoke. The idea that I would do anything with my life other than get a job for an hourly wage as soon as possible seemed utterly impractical.

“It’s like this: A door opens, perhaps just a fraction of an inch. There’s no telling if the door will open at all, or for whom, but if it does, you push push push until it is wide enough for you to squeeze through.”

I look back at the 18-year-old me, wandering alone across a college campus, completely baffled by the turn of events that led me there. A pair of scholarships fell out of the sky onto my lap, hoisting me out of my hometown and into a college environment, something that seemed beyond impractical just a year before.

What were my grand ambitions? I still didn’t have any. I majored in a field that seemed safe, one that seemed like it might lead to a job that made sense within the context of how I grew up. All other paths seemed impractical.

I paid for the first few years with scholarships, then the last couple out of pocket, without even really considering other routes. Why? It seemed like the practical path. All other paths seemed impractical.

After that, I mostly just focused on my main career. I didn’t really have any side gigs for a while, even though I had some ideas. They seemed impractical. I still wrote sometimes, but it seemed really impractical. I thought about getting in better financial shape, but spending money while I had it seemed like the practical thing to do.

I had impractical urges. I had impractical dreams. But I did what seemed to be the practical thing.

“Now we have arrived at the heart of the matter: the legitimization of desires. In order to write the novel, I’d had to first acknowledge that I wanted to write it, that I could and would write it. Why had it taken nearly forty years for me to understand that I had the right to my ambitions?”

It took most of a decade and a long stream of thoughtful mentors for me to realize that I actually controlled my life, that I didn’t have to follow the path of anyone else, in my finances, in my career, in my personal choices, in anything.

Being frugal seemed wholly impractical for someone in their twenties trying to launch a career. Being more responsible with my spending seemed wholly impractical for someone who was trying to seem “successful” to his friends and family. Investing a lot of money on side gigs, especially things like writing, seemed wholly impractical for someone trying to build a strong career in a completely different field.

Yet those urges kept pushing toward the surface.

The practical thing to do would have been to just follow the same path that others were on, to spend almost all of the money I earned, to buy the most expensive house I could afford, to buy or lease a constant run of shiny new cars, to throw myself deep into my career until I was either completely miserable or forced to change direction or (if I was really lucky) stumbled into something that clicked with me, to walk a financial tightrope, to have very little savings for the future, to look like I was successful to everyone taking a passing glance at my life even if I wasn’t. The practical thing was to go home dead tired every day and spend a few hours watching television or reading an endless flood of websites.

That’s what seemed practical, anyway. It’s what everyone else did.

The impractical thing was to buy a less expensive, smaller house. The impractical thing was to stop buying unnecessary stuff and to work to cut off my urges to buy such things. The impractical thing was to stop worrying about what other people thought of me and worry instead about what I thought of me. The impractical thing was to drive older cars (unless I absolutely had to). The impractical thing was to spend my evenings building a side business instead of watching television or going out.

That’s what seemed impractical, anyway. I knew almost no one who did those things.

Yet, over time, things shifted. I found myself doing more of the things that once seemed impractical, simply because they started to feel like the right thing to do. The list of homes we were looking at gradually fell in price until we wound up buying a house that cost half as much as the houses we were initially looking at, even though at first this seemed like were intentionally choosing to look at dumps. I stopped buying the latest gadgets and the sharpest clothes and I gave up on trying to “keep up” with coworkers, even though this felt really impractical for my career at first. I bought a used car off of Craigslist, which caused every “this is impractical” sense that I had to start tingling. I started spending evenings doing things like trying to improve myself or trying to start a side business or getting involved in the community, which seemed really odd when people were talking about last night’s shows around the water cooler.

Those changes seemed really impractical and even nonsensical at first, something that I really struggled to make sense of. Why was I suddenly starting to feel like these impractical things were the right thing to do?

I actually think I can pinpoint it down to one real shift in my thinking. I began to put a lot more importance on the long term rather than the short term, especially in terms of what made practical sense in terms of how to use my money and time and energy.

For the first three decades of my life, most of the things I did were done with a perspective that barely stretched past the next few weeks. If you take that perspective, most of what I did at that time made practical sense.

If you really don’t place much value on what happens to you beyond the next few weeks, why wouldn’t you spend everything you bring in? That’s honestly the sensible response in that situation. There’s no point in having money just sitting around if everything beyond the next month doesn’t matter at all.

If you really don’t think beyond the short term, the best way to appear successful in the minds of others is to buy status symbols – nice clothes, nice gadgets, nice cars. They are very effective at creating a short term impression of success. What creates a good long-term impression? Character. However, if you’re simply ignoring the long term, then it’s the short term things that seem practical.

If you really aren’t considering your long term life, then getting the biggest mortgage you possibly can for the biggest house that a bank will let you have is the smart choice. After all, you get to live in a gorgeous house – for now. The fact that enormous bills are going to roll in for the next thirty years or more – mortgage, insurance, property taxes, probably a homeowners association bill, huge utility bills – doesn’t really matter too much if you’re barely looking beyond the next month or two. What’s the best long-term solution? Buying a smaller home that you can easily afford. However, if the long term doesn’t matter much to you, the giant home seems like the more sensible option.

I can go on and on like this. Almost every significant use of time and money and energy during the first few decades of my life was tied to looking at things in the short term above all else. Things that maximized the short term seemed practical. Things that maximized the long term seemed impractical. When I felt the urge to do things that would take care of the long term – things like saving for retirement or writing or working on a side gig – they seemed like massively impractical urges and it took a lot of cajoling and reflecting to make them happen.

My idea of practical urges and impractical urges were entirely based around a short term perspective, one that was built into my head all throughout my childhood. As I was growing up, almost every adult example that I had in my life revolved around that kind of short term perspective. Everyone lived paycheck to paycheck. Everyone drove the nicest vehicles they could possibly afford, even if the payments were incredibly painful. Everyone invested tons of money in various visual status symbols, often oriented around hunting gear. People took their jobs seriously only if they saw a direct line to a promotion that could happen pretty quickly; otherwise, they slacked off. College’s only purpose was to get a better starter job and you really didn’t worry much there beyond the party coming up the next weekend. Anything long term was basically viewed to be completely impractical. No one saved for retirement. Almost no one had a real emergency fund.

Later on, though, starting sometime around the end of my third decade of life, that whole perspective began to shift for me. I began to look at everything in terms of how it would affect my life far into the future.

How could I build a long-term career that I really wanted to be doing twenty years from now? I could push through a miserable job if I never thought about the future, but the idea of being in an unhappy position for a long time seemed even worse. Thus, I started investing real time into side gigs that seemed enjoyable and some of them clicked. One of them – this very site you’re reading – wound up becoming my primary job. I’m genuinely happy (most days) to get out of bed and work on the latest challenges and I enjoy thinking about things far down the road. I stopped thinking about getting through today’s work and started thinking about meaningful work over the next ten or twenty years.

How could I build long-term relationships in the community? Flash might build short-term relationships, but long-term ones were built over time with strong character, so I began to value character over keeping up with the Joneses.

How could I raise my children to adulthood and not just take care of them for the next few weeks? I can easily get through the day with shouting and demands to get what I want in the short term, but to build my children into strong long-term people requires completely different approaches. I began to value building my children into strong adults over simply getting through the momentary parenting struggles.

As that change in values occurred, so did my sense of what urges seemed practical and which ones did not. It began to seem practical to spend less than I earned. It began to seem practical to build long-term relationships with people based on lots of real interactions and conversation rather than impressing them with a bit of flash. It began to seem practical to invest the time and energy to teach my children how to deal with their impulses rather than to push through a difficult moment. It began to seem practical to save for retirement. It began to seem practical to spend my evenings working on a side gig that I loved rather than watching the latest episode of The West Wing (not that there’s anything wrong with The West Wing).

In other words, as I recalibrated my values, my sense of which urges made sense and which urges did not began to change significantly.

Why did that radical shift occur? There were a number of changes that seem clear in retrospect.

First, I had a few really thoughtful mentors. These men and women came from very different backgrounds, different religious traditions, different nationalities, and had different expertise than I did, but all of them took the time to sit down with me and talk about the future and impart some ideas that served as food for thought for me. Their advice nudged me toward thinking about things in a different fashion and gradually led to a shift in perspective. Some of that value shift resulted from meaningful conversation from people I respected who took the time to talk to me and listen to me and share their wisdom.

I had children, which is itself a very long term commitment. It did not take me long to realize that short-term solutions rarely work well with children. Their interpretation of events is far different than mine; they interpret my short-term solutions to challenges as the most efficient ways to get what they want from life, for example. If you want your children to mature, you have to think long term with them or else the same challenges keep coming up again and again and again. The easiest short term solution is almost always a disaster in the long term when parenting and you’re almost forced to see it. When you begin to see it in one area of life and then start reflecting on other areas, that same pattern comes up again and again.

I started having long discussions about the future with my wife and, to a lesser extent, my closest friends, spurred on by those mentors and the birth of our children. Ideas that were once vague dreams began to be discussed in terms of what could be done to make them actually work. Things that didn’t help those dreams to occur were roundly criticized and taken apart. I began to really see how the short term actions I was taking were actually working against the long term goals that I was developing – raising independent and resourceful children, having a meaningful career, having strong lasting relationships with people that I could rely on over the long haul, and so on.

Before long, my short-term urges began to seem like the impractical ones, while the ones with a long-term focus began to seem practical. I honestly began to judge things not in terms of how the choice made today better, but how it would make my life (and the lives of those around me) better down the road. This is true for money decisions, career decisions, interactions with others, how I spend my time, and on and on and on.

The truth of the matter is that we all operate based on urges, and some of those urges feel more practical than others. That sense of what’s practical is based upon our values, and we can only really change those values with a lot of reflection and consideration. It is nearly impossible to find success when the instincts and urges that would lead you to success feel naturally impractical. You can go against the grain sometimes and force it for a while, but there will eventually be backlash.

So, what’s the take home advice in all of this? I’ll point to two things.

First, in whatever area you want success in your life, spend time regularly thinking about what you need to be doing today to make that happen down the road and about the things you’re doing that are working against that succes. Think about this, consciously. Talk about it with the people around you. Evaluate all of the things you find yourself doing, consciously or unconsciously, and ask yourself whether or not those things are really guiding you to where you think you want to go. If you find that you have this big goal in mind but your urges are pushing you elsewhere, then there is a disconnect somewhere, one that you’re going to have to resolve before you start really moving toward your goal. For example, if you think you’re committed to early retirement but find yourself constantly spending money on needless stuff, there’s a disconnect between your considered goals and your instincts and urges. You’re going to have to correct the things that are pushing those urges, and that takes a lot of time and a lot of reflection. There is no magic switch.

Second, at the end of each day, spend some time before bed thinking about the day that passed and whether you did things in accordance with what you want out of life. What did you do that was really in line with your big dreams? What did you do that didn’t help it at all? What can you do tomorrow to nudge yourself in a better direction? This type of constant, regular reflection and assurance that you’re actually working instinctively toward your goals is the single most valuable tool you have for getting your urges in alignment with your big picture. It’s not easy. It’s going to take a while. But it works. It shuts down truly impractical urges, elevates sensible urges that may seem impractical, and demotes those urges that seem practical in the moment but really aren’t. It’s a refinement of who you are, and it’s only through that kind of constant refinement that you can achieve the things you want to achieve.

Good luck.

The post Some Thoughts on Impractical Urges on the Path to Financial and Professional Success appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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IKEA, Amazon and 7 Other Companies With Out-of-This-World Earth Day Deals

In 1970, a senator from the great state of Wisconsin decided that politicians and the media needed to pay more attention to the toll industrialization was taking on the environment.

That man was Gaylord Nelson, and he founded Earth Day.

Now, we celebrate the holiday every April 22 by planting trees, cleaning up local parks — and getting deals and freebies from other tree huggers.

We found nine deals to help you make the most of Earth Day 2017 this Saturday!

Earth Day 2017 Freebies

1. IKEA is hosting a “Sustainable Living Your Way” event April 22 from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a bevy of promotions and discounts.

Stores will give away free two-packs of RYET 400-lumen LED light bulbs to the first 500 IKEA Family members in the door. All IKEA Family members will get free coffee, including specialty drinks.

2. EVOS will give away free organic milkshakes April 22 to celebrate its commitment to organic family farmers and sustainability.

3. Cult of Mac wants to put an extra $10 in your pocket this Earth Day. Now through April 22, trade in any Apple product, and it’ll give you an extra $10 on top of your normal buyback price when you use the coupon code “earthday.”

This is probably your cue to get rid of that iPod Nano hiding in the back of your junk drawer.

Earth Day Deals

4. Rockler Woodworking and Hardware stores are real tree huggers! April is also National Woodworking Month, and this national retailer is celebrating with giveaways, weekly make-and-take events and a spring clearance sale through April 22.

Rockler is also partnering with the Hardwood Forestry Fund to support forest restoration. It will match private donations of up to $15,000 throughout April.  

5. Amazon is offering 20% off its Warehouse Deals merchandise through April 22. Warehouse Deals are bargains on returned, warehouse-damaged, used and refurbished products.

6. Target is honoring Mother Earth with a nationwide car seat trade-in. Bring your old car seat to any Target through April 30, and get a coupon good for 20% off a new car seat good through May 31.

7. Whole Foods will host a one-day sale on organic produce April 22. Customers will receive $5 off any organic produce purchase of $25 or more.

Many stores are hosting their own Earth Day events, including free yoga, recycling drives and educational activities for kids, so check your local store to see what’s happening.

8. Natural Grocers is promoting earth-friendly food producers with a three-day event April 21-23. When customers visit the store, they can take advantage of deals on products from featured vendors and pick up a free reusable bag.

9. Earth Origins market will offer 25-cent savings for each reusable bag you use when shopping April 22. Paper and plastic bags do not qualify for this discount.

Your Turn: Do you know of any other Earth Day deals or freebies? Let us know!

Jen Smith is an editorial intern at The Penny Hoarder and the blogger behind @SavingwithSpunk.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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Amazon is Hiring Work-From-Home Customer Service Associates in 24 States

In its quest for world domination (just kidding — although maybe not), Amazon is hiring once again.

The company is currently looking for remote customer service associates to work part-time flex positions (meaning you’ll flex your schedule to meet the needs of Amazon shoppers).

Before we dive in, though, you should know that Amazon is only considering applicants from these 24 states: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

(And if you’re wondering why Amazon always has such specific state requirements, it has something to do with work space regulations and employment tax laws.)

What’s Involved With This Amazon Customer Service Job?

As a customer service associate at Amazon, you’ll connect with customers via chat, phone or email in an effort to provide world-class customer service. (Arguably the best on Earth, or so they say!)

This job pays $10 per hour during training, but then jumps to $12 per hour at the beginning of the next payroll period. Training lasts for four weeks and you must be available to work at least 25 hours per week during that time.

After training, the average employee in this position works 20-29 hours per week, with the potential for more hours during peak times.

Scheduling is determined through shift bids, which take into account each employee’s experience, performance and business needs. Schedules include morning, afternoon and evening shifts, along with weekend days, but will change frequently.

During peak seasons, you may be required to work up to 40 hours per week and on holidays.

If you’re a student, the company says it will do its best to work with your school schedule.

Requirements for This Work-From-Home Job

You’ll need to meet the following qualifications:

• Must have a high school diploma or equivalent
• Must be fluent English language, both written and verbal
• Must be able to multitask and navigate the internet, including email and messaging tools
• Must be able to fill out I-9 work authorization paperwork in person

Bonus points if you have:

• 1+ years of experience in a service environment
• A typing speed of 45 words per minute
• Effective communication skills, good judgment, and the ability to anticipate customer needs and solve problems under pressure

There are also some basic computer requirements, but you can learn about those here. Once you’re hired for the position, Amazon will send you a headset to use on the job.

Part-Time Associate Benefits

Even part-time associates get some pretty sweet benefits at Amazon, including a medical, dental and vision plan (after 90 days), accrued vacation time and a 401(k) plan with a company match.

If a flexible, part-time schedule from the comfort of your own home sounds like a good fit for you, go here to check out the full job listing and apply.

And if you want to see more awesome work-from-home opportunities like this one, make sure to like The Penny Hoarder Jobs Facebook page.

Your Turn: Are you patient enough to work in customer service?

Grace Schweizer is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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6 Everyday Items You Can Get Paid to Recycle

Why toss things in the trash when you could repurpose or recycle them?

April 22 is Earth Day, and one great way to celebrate is by recycling items you might usually throw away.

In addition to diverting items out of the waste stream and keeping them out of landfills, you could also make extra money or help out worthy causes.

From scrap metal to ink cartridges, bullets to construction materials, you can recycle a huge variety of items in exchange for cash or goodwill.

Ready to see how recycling can pay off for you?

Find a Collection Point

Though some recycling centers are closing, you can still find places to recycle a wide variety of items for cash.

To find a recycling center near you, head over to Earth911.com and plug in the item you’re looking to recycle as well as your location. The site lists collection locations for everything from antifreeze to ammunition.

Of course, you won’t get paid to recycle everything, but it’s important to properly dispose of potentially hazardous items.

Prepare Items for Recycling

Check with your local collection point to see whether you have to prepare your recyclables for the collection center in any specific way.

Some centers require you to remove bottle caps, rinse and bag bottles in certain increments, or sort and tie together cardboard. Check the rules before you go to save time later on.

Be sure to properly bag items that may make a bit of a mess. Even if you thoroughly rinse all your bottles and cans, there might be a bit of water and other residue on them; transport them in bins or bags to protect the interior of your car.

If you’re donating a cell phone or other electronic item, be sure to clear your personal information from it, including contact lists, voice mails, text messages, photos, passwords, downloads and anything else you wouldn’t want random strangers to access.

Back up your information on your new phone, your computer or a cloud-based service, then restore your phone to factory settings before recycling it.

What to Recycle for Cash

Depending where you live, you can get paid to recycle certain items.

Here are some common options and how to recycle them.

1. Scrap Metal

Scrap metal is one of the more profitable materials to recycle. For this reason, scrap metal theft is not uncommon and even community recycling dumpsters have been raided in search of the metal.

Many local recycling programs fund their programs through scrap metal collection, so be sure to check your local rules or laws about collection.

Copper, steel and aluminum are just a few of the scrap metals you can recycle for money. Google your local area and “scrap yard” to find a local scrap yard that may take whatever metals you have.

Once you’ve rounded up your metal, find out if it’s ferrous or non-ferrous by seeing if a magnet sticks to it.

If it does, the metal is ferrous and likely a common metal like steel or iron. These items typically aren’t worth that much, but it’s still important to recycle them.

If the magnet does not stick, you likely have copper, aluminum, brass, bronze or stainless steel on your hands. These metals are more valuable.

You can make money recycling a variety of these metals. Be sure to contact your local scrap yard to see what it accepts and learn its procedures for drop off.

2. Bottles and Cans

One Penny Hoarder writer made $1,500 cashing in soda cans he collected at work. You, too, can make money by rounding up bottles and cans, whether from work, friends and family, at events or just your own home.

California offers 5 cents for most plastic and glass bottles and aluminum cans smaller than 24 ounces, with 10 cents for 24-ounce or larger containers. It’s technically a bottle deposit, but many people don’t bother to collect their refunds, so it’s easy money for bottle and can collectors.

Michigan has a 10-cents-per-bottle recycling rate, which has prompted people to illegally smuggle in empty bottles purchased out of state to cash in — this was even the plot of one “Seinfeld” episode.

Many states have a deposit or pay for recycling cans and bottles, so be sure to check your local area for rates.

3. Car Batteries

Advance Auto Parts offers a $10 store gift card to customers who bring in their unwanted used car batteries (light-duty truck batteries are also accepted).

If the company doesn’t have an outlet near you, call your local auto parts stores to see whether it offers a similar deal.

Some scrap metal yards test and sell used batteries they collect, though this price can vary widely.

4. Ink Cartridges

A number of office supply stores, including Staples and Office Depot, accept used ink cartridges for recycling. Staples offers $2 back per cartridge, with a maximum of 20 returns per month, though you do have to spend $30 on ink there over the previous 180 days.

Office Depot offers 200 points for up to 10 cartridges a month, but you must also make a $10 qualifying purchase during that month. Most in-store and online purchases count, but certain exclusions (such as gift cards and postage) apply.

There is no limit on the number of cartridges you recycle, but you will only receive points on the first 10 per month. You can use your points toward a number of different perks and discounts.

5. Electronics

Eco-Cell is one of many companies offering cash for old cell phones and other electronics. The company accepts working or broken phones, tablets, rechargeable batteries, circuit boards and a variety of other electronics.

Even if an item is broken or was submerged in water and is now unusable, Eco-Cell will accept it. The company wants to divert these electronics from landfills and properly dispose of the toxic components and metals in each item.

While it doesn’t list its prices, Eco-Cell does offer a revenue share on the items, and its FAQ recommends calling in for a quote.

Many cell phone providers, including Verizon and AT&T, have trade-in programs where you can receive a voucher, gift card or other reward for turning in your old phone. Amazon Trade-in could also help you earn gift cards.

A number of charities also accept cell phones, whether to re-purpose the phones or use the funds from their recycling to benefit others. HopeLine has donated 180,000 phones to domestic violence victims and survivors. Cell Phones for Soldiers will refurbish and sell your old phone to active-duty military members and veterans.

If a phone is too old or broken, Cell Phones for Soldiers sells it to recyclers who strip it for parts and dispose of its metals responsibly. The proceeds from the sales go to purchase international calling cards for troops and “provide emergency financial assistance to veterans.”

And of course, you could always sell your old phone yourself.

6. Quirky Recyclables

When you think of recycling, you probably think of bottles and cans. But you can recycle weird items ranging from wine corks to food packaging, too.

Look around and see what you may be able to cash in on!

Your Turn: Do you recycle items in exchange for cash or other benefits?

Disclosure: You wouldn’t believe how much coffee The Penny Hoarder team goes through. This post contains affiliate links so we can keep the grinds stocked!

Kristen Pope is a freelance writer and editor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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Property winners and losers on the London Marathon route

Hannah Nemeth

LMPM.jpg

House prices on the route of the London Marathon, which takes place on Sunday, have gone up by just 2.01% on average since last year, reflecting the lack of growth in prime areas of the capital.

House prices on the route of the London Marathon, which takes place on Sunday, have gone up by just 2.01% on average since last year, reflecting the lack of growth in prime areas of the capital.

The study by eMoov, using data from listings on property portals Zoopla and Rightmove, puts the average price of a property along the London Marathon route at £695,225.

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OPENING BELL: Banks rise as earnings boost stocks

Company earnings remain in focus Thursday morning. American Express rose 3.9 percent. It had a solid first quarter as its credit card members spent more and kept bigger balances on their cards.

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Is Pinterest the Enemy of Your Finances?

Earlier this year, my husband and I ordered a wooden shed for our yard. This decision took more than a year to make, mostly because we were hesitant to spend the money.

A convergence of events led us to pull the trigger. We had to take a few trees down for starters, so we lost some privacy (but gained a perfect spot for the shed). My husband also decided to set up his weight bench in our garage, which meant we needed more room for yard equipment and the like.

I thought buying a shed would be so simple at first. I would search for “sheds” on Google, shop around for the best deal, then settle on the nicest shed within our budget. Hopefully, a spring sale would help me save some money, or I could negotiate for a lower price somehow.

Unfortunately, shed shopping isn’t the walk in the park I thought it would be. Not only do you have to choose a size and style, but there are dozens of additional choices to make. Do you want a work bench? A loft? Which side should the door go on? What size windows? Do you want vents to the outdoors? Decorative gables? Built-in shelving? Architectural shingles?

After searching the web for a while, I somehow ended up on Pinterest — the glossy, photo-heavy social media site. And it was all downhill from there.

Shopping for ‘She-Sheds’ on Pinterest

While shopping for sheds online was boring at first, Pinterest has a way of bringing ideas to life. In place of the dull wood rectangles I’d been viewing on the websites of Home Depot and Lowes, Pinterest introduced me to intricately designed sheds with flower boxes, decorative dormers, and cutesy interiors. Suddenly I pictured myself on my shed’s front porch, slowly tilting back and forth in a rocking chair sipping iced tea.

Ultimately, Pinterest unveiled the idea of “She-sheds” – beautifully decorated garden sheds turned into relaxation stations for women. “I don’t need a shed,” I thought. “I need a backyard escape!” From there, I found myself sketching a full-fledged mini-house complete with a front porch, sitting area, and built-in bar. I was going to have so much fun!

Of course, it didn’t take long for reality to sink in. When I told my husband I wanted our shed to have a porch and an indoor bar, his face showed both shock and horror. Despite all my fancy ideas, our shed budget hadn’t changed.

Alas, I found myself back on the home improvement websites where I could shop for what we needed and nothing more. And eventually, we settled on a traditional 10′ by 16′ shed without any special features other than a few windows. And, you know what? I was fine with that, really. Because a regular ol’ shed was all we needed in the first place.

And, as my husband wisely reminded me, “We’re going to put our lawnmower in it.”

The Pinterest Effect on Your Finances

This is why looking to Pinterest for inspiration can be problematic. Whether it’s garden sheds, home remodeling ideas, or recipes, vivid Pinterest photos transform simple concepts into something more elaborate – and a lot more expensive.

Heck, try searching Pinterest for something as simple as “birthday cake ideas.” The recipes you’ll find require many more steps and ingredients than the average box cakes we enjoyed growing up. If you followed some of the birthday cake tips on Pinterest, you’d wind up buying a cartload of ingredients, pans, and supplies. And if your baking skills are anything like mine, you’d probably end up with a misshapen “Pinterest Fail” that looks nothing like the professional-quality photo anyway.

Scouring Pinterest for ideas is fun to be sure, but it can also set you back and cost you more money in the long run. Here are a few ways Pinterest can work against your financial goals:

Pinterest doesn’t let you shop for ideas based on what you can afford. Scouting for ideas on Pinterest is the ultimate way to “keep up with the Joneses.” But instead of trying to keep up with just your neighbors and friends, you get to compare yourself to anyone in the world with a Pinterest account, without even considering context or price.

Someone who posts elaborate “She-shed” ideas may borrow supplies or design for a living, for example. With Pinterest, all you see is pictures, designs, and ideas – you don’t see all the work that went into them. And you sure as heck don’t see what they really cost.

Pinterest can make you feel inferior. If you feel like you’re less than stellar at cooking or home decorating, Pinterest can make things worse. Many of the ideas on Pinterest are unrealistic for those of us who don’t cook, bake, or design for a living.

If you struggle to bake the perfect box cake, it’s doubtful you’ll nail a multi-colored unicorn cake with glitter frosting and an edible rainbow topper. You can try, but you’ll probably come up short – cue the disappointment.

Pinterest can make you desire stuff you never knew you wanted. My shed adventure is the perfect example of how browsing Pinterest can plant crazy ideas in your head. Before I searched Pinterest, I never knew sheds could offer expansive front porches, indoor seating areas, or their own craft area. If I hadn’t learned about these upgrades, I wouldn’t have wanted them in the first place – or missed them when we settled on a standard shed.

Don’t Let Pinterest Guide Your Spending Decisions

There’s nothing wrong with scouring the internet for awesome design ideas and inspiration, but it’s important to avoid letting those ideas guide your spending.

Now that I look back, I realize my backyard would look silly with a “She-shed” complete with a front porch, potted plants, and rocking chairs. Not only that, but it would have cost way more than I wanted to spend.

Just because something looks good on the internet doesn’t mean it’s realistic or attainable. The next time you search Pinterest for an idea, remember to take whatever you see with a grain of salt. At the end of the day, it’s up to each of us to decide what’s real, what isn’t, and what we can afford.

Holly Johnson is an award-winning personal finance writer and the author of Zero Down Your Debt. Johnson shares her obsession with frugality, budgeting, and travel at ClubThrifty.com.

Related Stories:

• 60 Simple Rules of Personal Finance
• A Field Guide to Facebook Yard Sale Groups
• Eight Money Moves that Are Always a Good Idea
• Status Symbols and Spending Less

Do you ever shop for ideas on Pinterest? How do you avoid overspending?

The post Is Pinterest the Enemy of Your Finances? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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6 Class-Action Settlements That Could Pay You (One Could Score You $285)

Nearly half of Moneywise users make money on the side

Helen Knapman

money-stack.jpg

Nearly half of Moneywise.co.uk users (43%) make money on the side of their main job or pension income, our latest poll result reveals.

Nearly half of Moneywise.co.uk users (43%) make money on the side of their main job or pension income, our latest poll result reveals.

However, one in 10 (12%) of those who voted are missing out on this extra cash, as they say they didn’t realise they could make money on the side.

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Lending Club Reviews For Investors And Borrowers

After I got my first taste of P2P investing I realized I had to do a Lending Club review. Lending Club has been sweeping the investment world and the borrowing universe at the same time. And why not? It's an amazing service!

Who wouldn’t be interested in a financial institution that enables investors to earn more than the going rate on their money while borrowers pay less? To help you get a better picture I put together this Lending Club review for investors and borrowers.

I'll start off this Lending Club review by explaining what it is and how it works for investors and borrowers. Later, I'll walk you though an example of how you can invest in Lending Club by investing some of my own hard-earned dollars whether that be how to invest 20000 in Lending Club or more.

Additionally, I'll cover what you might expect to earn from Lending Club as well as fees for both borrowers and investors. It's important to understand how Lending Club defaults work, so I'll cover that as well. Let's begin!

What is It? and Is Lending Club Legit?

Lending Club is an online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform that takes the banker out of banking. Investors lend money directly to borrowers through the website, enabling both to benefit from the rate of interest established for each loan.

And just as important, the entire transaction happens online, eliminating the need for sometimes embarrassing face-to-face meetings common with bank loans. It’s a win-win as both the investor and the borrower benefit from the Lending Club process. Read more information here on getting a loan!

As of December 31st, 2015, Lending Club has facilitated loans totaling well in excess of $15 billion. This includes more than $2.5 billion issued in just the last quarter.

Lending club is legit for both investors and borrowers. This Lending Club review, unlike some others, will review the service from both sides of the deal. Make sure to read about my experience below before you invest or borrow with Lending Club. Check out other great ways to invest by reading our Motif Investing Review as well.

Investing Through Lending Club Review

With interest rates on safe, fixed income investments sitting generally at below 1%, Lending Club offers a real opportunity to get dramatically higher returns. In fact, you can get average returns of between 5.06% and 8.74% (do I have your attention now?).

Those are attractive rates, but just so we’re clear, there are more risks with Lending Club investments than there are with bank certificates of deposit. Plus, there are certain requirements you have to meet as an investor. Remember, the higher the potential reward, the higher the risk.

Investor Requirements

Notes are not available in all states. As of this initial writing, they are not available to residents of Kansas, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon and the District of Columbia.

Depending on which state you live in, there are income requirements to invest in Lending Club. In most states it’s a minimum of $70,000 per year, though it may be higher in some states. Generally, the income requirement does not apply if you have a minimum net worth of $250,000. The platform also requires you invest no more than 10% of your net worth in Lending Club notes.

The minimum opening account with Lending Club is $25, which is also the minimum requirement to invest in any single note.

Lending Club IRA

You can also hold Lending Club investments as part of an individual retirement account (IRA). You can do this through a Lending Club self-directed IRA. Lending Club will pay the annual IRA fee if you open the account with a minimum of $5,000 and keep that balance level for a minimum of 12 months.

After the first year, they will continue to pay the fee as long as you maintain a minimum invested balance of $10,000 in Lending Club notes.

Lending Club IRAs come in two flavors, Traditional IRA or Roth IRA. As you know, I'm a big fan of the Roth IRA. This is just one more way you can invest in your future. But, I wouldn't keep all of your retirement money there. Roth IRAs aren't for everyone, so be sure to speak with a financial adviser before you sign up for this specific type of investment. Learn more about Roth IRA contribution limits here.

Choosing Notes to Invest In

There are two ways to invest with Lending Club. Manual investing is where you browse available loans and choose which ones you’ll invest in one at a time. But you can also use automated investing in which you set investment criteria, and notes are selected automatically based on that criteria.

While you can invest in individual loans, it’s generally best to buy them in fractions (which are referred to as notes). You can purchase notes in increments of $25. At the very least, you can purchase a fractional interest in 200 loans with a total investment of $5,000. This will enable you to minimize the risk involved in investing in any single loan.

Collecting Investment Returns

It’s important to understand the notes you're investing in are not like certificates of deposit. Each note represents a loan which will be repaid to you over the term of the loan. These payments will include both interest and principal.

That means at the end of the loan term, the loan will be completely extinguished (including 100% of your original principal invested). For this reason, you will need to reinvest payments received on a continuous basis as you receive payments.

Lending Club Loan Types and Loan Grading

Loan terms are either 36 months or 60 months, and are fixed-rate. More than 80% of the Lending Club loans are taken to refinance existing loans and credit card balances. Borrowers are evaluated – and loans are priced – based on credit and credit scores, debt-to-income ratios (DTI), the length of your credit history, and your recent credit activity.

Each loan is assigned a loan grade, ranging from “A” (the highest) to “G” (the lowest). The higher the grade, the lower the rate. For example, when initially checked, a A-grade loans had an average rate of 7.51% while G-grade loans had an average rate of 25.13%.

Within each letter grade, Lending Club also assigns a numerical rank of between 1 and 5 (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5). These numeric sub-grades adjust for other factors, such as loan size and loan term. For example, a loan amount of $5,000 would be seen as low risk, and actually result in an improvement in the sub-grade. By contrast, the maximum loan of $35,000 is a higher risk, and could turn a B1 grade into a B4 or B5 grade, resulting in a slightly higher interest rate.

Buying and Selling Notes Before they Mature

Lending Club offers their Note Trading Platform through Folio Investing where you can sell the remaining portion of a note under certain circumstances. This is a marketplace where investors can buy and sell Lending Club notes to one another.

In order to participate in this marketplace, you must also open a Folio Investing trading account through Lending Club. There are no fees if you buy notes on the trading platform, but there is a 1% fee charged if you sell a note.

Risks

It’s important to realize investments held through Lending Club are not bank assets, and as such they are not insured by the FDIC. Individual loans can go into default, and if they do, you will lose that portion of your investment.

In addition, a missed payment by a borrower means you will not get the payment on that loan in that particular month. Lending Club does use “best practices” to collect payments from delinquent borrowers, but some will default nonetheless.

When a payment is past due, you as an investor will pay a collection fee of 18% if the loan is at least 16 days past due but no litigation is involved. If litigation is required, you will be required to pay 30% of an attorney’s hourly fees, plus attorney costs.

If collection efforts fail, and it is apparent the borrower cannot repay the loan, the loan will be charged off once it is 150 days past due. When that happens, the remaining principal balance of the note will be deducted from the investor's account balance. Any funds subsequently recovered on the defaulted loans will be returned to the investors on a pro-rata basis.  This is a known risk if you invest in Lending Club, and you rarely see it come up in any complaints that people have about the site.

Minimizing Investment Risks

Just as is the case when you’re investing in a portfolio of stocks and bonds, there are ways you can invest in Lending Club that will reduce your overall risk. The most obvious strategy, of course, is to spread your investment over many different loans – hundreds if you’re in a position to do so.

You can minimize your risk by setting certain loan requirements. For example, you may decide to set a credit score that is some number higher than what is required by Lending Club (currently 660). You can also emphasize loans in which borrowers are refinancing existing debt, rather than taking on new debt. Employment stability is also a factor. A person who has been employed in their field for a number of years is likely to be more employable than one who is just starting out.

A low DTI is also a positive factor. For example, you can make sure the borrowers whose loans you invest in have a DTI of less than, say, 30%. This means their fixed monthly expenses, including their housing expense, the new loan payment, and any other fixed payments do not exceed 30% of their total gross monthly income.

Investor Fees

There are fees charged to investors with Lending Club. However, the fees are collected only when you receive a payment from a borrower. For example, there is a 1% service fee collected on each payment received.

Investing through Lending Club can provide you with excellent high income diversification in a fixed income portfolio. Just by investing a portion of your fixed income allocation in Lending Club notes can increase the overall yield on your fixed income investments.

Open an Investment Account with Lending Club

Review of Lending Club for Borrowers

Not only can you invest with Lending Club, you can borrow with Lending Club as well! Truly, whatever your needs are, you can get a fantastic deal through Lending Club.

You can typically get lower interest rates on loans through Lending Club than you can at a bank. You can also apply for a loan without ever leaving your home. Everything is done online through the website, virtually eliminating the need for an uncomfortable face-to-face meeting at the bank offices. And if your loan is approved, your funds will arrive within a few days.

How the Lending Club Loan Process Works

This is a simple multi-step process that looks something like this:

• Complete an application on LendingClub.com.
• Your application is evaluated and your credit score is pulled (this is a “soft inquiry” that will not have a negative impact on your credit score).
• As described in the preceding section, you are assigned a risk grade of somewhere between A1 (highest grade, lowest rate) and G5 (lowest grade, highest rate). Once again, this grade is based on a combination of your credit score and credit history, employment, income, and your debt-to-income ratio (DTI).
• Your loan is given an interest rate based on your risk grade.
• You are presented with a variety of loan offers.
• Investors will review your criteria and loan grade and decide if they want to invest in it.
• Once all parties agree to the transaction, the loan goes through and your funds are available within a few short days.
• If

If you’re concerned about privacy during the application process, you don’t need to be. Lending Club investors will never know your identity so you'll be able to borrow on a completely anonymous basis. The site also promises it will never sell, rent, or distribute your information to third party websites for marketing purposes.

Profile of Lending Club Borrowers

The Lending Club screens borrowers and businesses with their credit screening process.  That being said the decision to fund the loans is made by individual investors.

You will be required to have a minimum of a 600 credit score to even be considered.  You will not find this information posted anywhere on LendingClub.com because they do not openly share their lending criteria.  You can be assured that if you have a decent credit score, a credit history of several years and a debt to income ratio that is reasonable that you will get approved for a loan.

Per the most recent data available the average borrower with Lending Club had:

• Credit Sore – 699
• Income – $74,414
• Credit History – 16.2 Years
• Non-Mortgage Debt to Income Ratio – 17.9%

Remember that there are a lot of small business borrowers with Lending Club so if you don't meet these averages it should not dissuade you from applying.

What Kinds of Loans Does Lending Club Make?

Most P2P lending sites make either personal loans or business loans, but very few make both. Lending Club has both business and personal loans, and they also make specially designed medical loans too.

Here is a rundown of the types of loans that are offered through Lending Club.

Personal Loans

Lending Club's personal loans can be used for just about any purpose. This includes credit card refinancing, debt consolidation, home improvement, major purchases, home buying, car financing, green loans, loans for business purposes, vacations, and moving and relocation. You can even take a personal loan to have a swimming pool installed in your backyard.

Credit card refinancing is perhaps most interesting of the personal loan offerings. When you consolidate several credit card balances into a single personal loan, it usually results in an increase your credit score. This is because the payoff of the credit card balances results in both a lower credit utilization ratio, and a smaller number of debts with open account balances. Both outcomes have a positive impact on how the credit bureaus calculate your credit scores.

Most other P2P lending sites cap their personal loan amounts at $35,000; Lending Club recently increased their limit to $40,000. What's more, all personal loans made through Lending Club require no collateral. That even includes personal loans used to purchase automobiles.

All loans made through the platform are installment loans, that are fixed rate with fixed payments, and fully paid by the end of the loan term. Those terms can be two years, three years, or five years.

Business Loans

Many P2P lenders offer business loans, but what they really are is personal loans that can be used for business purposes. Lending Club has an actual business loan program. In fact, it's not just business loans, but also business lines of credit.

Business loans are fixed rate, fixed monthly payment loans with terms of between one year and five years. The business line of credit works similar to a credit card or a home equity line of credit, and that you are granted a line of credit which you can access as needed. Interest is charged only on the amount of the outstanding balance. And as you pay down the balance, you free up the line for future borrowing purposes.

These loans and lines are available in amounts up to $300,000. Lending Club does not ask for business plans or projections, or for appraisals and title insurance. If you have ever taken a business loan from a bank, you know that those requirements are virtually industry standards.

What's more, for loans and lines taken for less than $100,000, no collateral is required. For higher loan amounts, collateral is usually provided by a general lien on the business, as well as personal guarantees from the owners of the business.

The purpose of loans and lines are almost unlimited. You can use them for debt consolidation, to refinance existing debt, purchase inventory, acquire equipment, set up a new business location, remodel your business, or pay for marketing expenses.

Medical Loans

This is a loan type whose time has truly come!

Given that health insurance deductibles and co-insurance provisions are increasing, Lending Club Personal Solutions gives you an option to finance uncovered medical expenses. And here’s something even more interesting: the loan can even be used for procedures such as hair restoration, weight loss surgery, fertility, and dental – procedures that are typically excluded under most health insurance plans.

Lending Club offers two types of loans for this purpose:

• Extended Plans – These are installment loans that are used to pay for medical procedures that are generally not covered by health insurance. This includes dental procedures, fertility treatment, hair restoration and weight loss surgery.Extended plans are installment loans that include fixed rate, fixed monthly payments, that will be paid in full by the end of the term. These loans are available in terms of 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, or 84 months. You can borrow from a minimum of $2,000 to a maximum of $50,000.
• True No-Interest Plans – This loan program offers 0% APR for terms of 6-, 12-, 18-, or 24-months, and for loan amounts ranging from as little as $499 up to $32,000. After the no-interest term expires, a variable rate of 22.98% APR applies on the remaining balance (this arrangement is similar to the one offered by CareCredit, but at a lower rate of interest after the initial 0% interest period). And if you can pay off the loan within the 0% interest term, you can get funds for medical procedures without having to add interest to the cost of an already expensive operation.

Lending Club works with thousands of healthcare providers who accept financing arrangements through the platform. It's always important to be sure that a provider is one of those participants before having any procedures..

Loan Terms and Pricing

You can borrow any amount up to $35,000, and while the loans are typically used for refinancing debt or debt consolidation, you can also borrow for other purposes, such as unsecured home improvement loans. Current terms are fixed-rate loans of either 36 months or 60 months.

Exactly how much you will pay in interest rates and fees depends upon the type of loan that you are looking for, as well as your loan grade..

Personal Loans. As noted above, your interest rate will be based on your credit grade, which can run between a high of A1 and a low of G5. A1 has a best rate of 5.99% APR. The highest interest rate currently possible is 35.96% for a G5 loan with a 36 month term.

Lending Club does not have an application fee, but it does have an origination fee, which is typical for P2P lenders. Lending Club's origination fee ranges between 1% and 5% of the loan amount. The fee is deducted from the loan proceeds, therefore it will only be charged if you actually take the loan.

Lending club does not charge a prepayment penalty on any of its loans.

Business Loans. These loans carry an entirely different pricing structure. Depending upon your credit grade and the financial strength of your business, interest rates on business loans range between 8.00% APR and 32.00% APR. For business lines of credit, available interest rates range between 6.25% and 21.60%, which is of course a variable rate, subject to change.

Business loans and lines of credit also require an origination fee. This ranges between 0.99% and 6.99% of the loan amount. And once again, there are no prepayment penalties on business loans and lines of credit.

Patient Solutions Loans. Since there are two types of loans available under Patient Solutions, there are also two types of pricing.

For Extended Plans, which are fixed rate loans ranging in term from 24 to 84 months, the APR can range between 3.99% and 24.99%.

For True No-Interest loans – which are interest-free for the initial term of six, 12, 18, or 24 months – interest is charged only on the outstanding balance that remains at the end of that term. At that point, a rate of 22.98% APR is charged on the outstanding balance. It's important to understand that this APR is a variable rate that will depend on the applicable rate at the time that the 0% interest term ends. The APR can also change even after you begin making payments.

In order to keep interest rates as low as possible, Lending Club sets up your loan with automatic draft payments from your bank account. In the event you need to pay by check, they will charge a $15 check processing fee per check.

Best of all, there are no prepayment penalties should you decide to pay off your loan early.

The Lending Club Loan Application Process

You start the loan application process by checking your rate. This requires providing just general information, and should take no more than a few minutes. This step will have no impact on your credit score.

If you meet the loan criteria, you will be presented with multiple loan offers. You can then select the offer that best meet your needs.

You then submit your application, and your loan is then listed for review by investors. This is the process where investors decide to fund your loan. Your personal identity is protected during this process. Your name and other personally identifying information does not appear on your listing.

Once your loan is fully funded by investors, the verification process will take place (see below), the loan will undergo a final review, and then loan documents will be prepared.

The loan application process typically takes about seven days, however that will depend upon the amount of documentation required and how quickly you can submit it. Funding will take a few more days, but that will largely depend upon how quickly your bank accepts electronic funds.

Verification process. Lending Club will require documentation in order to verify your income and employment. Income documentation may require pay stubs, bank statements, W-2s, pension awards, 1099s for investment income, or income tax returns. In order to verify employment, Lending Club may contact your employer.

As is the case with most lenders, P2P or traditional, they will typically require copies of documents for identification purposes in order to comply with federal law.

All documentation can be provided by uploading it to the Lending Club platform.

Multiple Lending Club Loans. Lending Club will allow you to have two active personal loans at the same time. You will have to have made 12 months of on-time payments on your existing Lending Club loan, and you must meet current credit criteria for the second loan.

Loan Repayment methods. Lending Club sets up your payments to be automatically deducted from your bank account – you will receive a reminder a few days ahead of time by email. You can make your payments by paper check, but you'll be charged a processing fee of $7 for each such payment.

Open an Borrower Account or Business Borrower Account with Lending Club

How I'm Investing Using Lending Club

What I really want to do today is walk you through how I am investing with Lending Club. While we've already covered details on how to invest and borrow with Lending Club, I thought I'd show you a little bit of my personal experience with investing using the peer-to-peer lender.

I have been investing with Lending Club for a few years now. I don't have a whole lot invested, and you'll actually see that here in a minute because I really didn't understand it and I wanted test it out first. I wanted to test-drive it before 1) I put more money into it and 2) before I recommended people take a look at it.

Below, you'll see a screenshot of the website. I went ahead and logged in so you can see where I'm at right now. Right now, I have invested a total of $2,200, so not a big investment by any means.

My net annualized return is 10.83%, so right off the cuff you can see I'm already making more than the average investor at Lending Club is making – almost a full percentage point more. That's not because I am a uniquely great investor. I'm actually very passive in the way I choose my notes, which I'll show you here in a minute.

I currently have $525 sitting in cash in my Lending Club account that I need to invest, and that's exactly what I'm going to use today to show you how to invest.

I love Lending Club because they keep things simple. For the people who don't like to spend a lot of time doing research, they make it very, very simple in that you can choose option one, option two, or option three. Let's just assume you have a high tolerance for risk and you are looking at the 17% figure. You look at that number. You're drooling over it. You want it. That's how much you want to make.

By quickly clicking that option, they will show you where you are investing your notes (the agreements you have with people you're lending your money to). They're ranked similarly to that of a report card or a bond.

Initially, you'll notice by going the more aggressive direction you do not have any of the A- or B-type investors. These are your higher credit score people. They are less likely to default on their loan, so this is definitely more of a high-yield approach when it comes to peer-to-peer lending.

Of that $525 I have to invest, $100 is going into C notes, $200 is going to D notes, $150 going to E, and $75 going to F. Immediately, Lending Club breaks it down for you automatically. And I can't tell you how much I love that! That's actually my strategy. I don't select the third option. I typically select option one, but immediately they break down the notes for you.

They also show you your average interest rate on that is 17.9% (in this example), but because some of those folks are going to default on their loans, they are estimating you'll lose 4.42% based on default.

Then there is Lending Club's charge of 0.52%, so your projected return after it's all said and done is going to be approximately 12.25%. And that's approximately. Maybe all of those people do pay you back where you're all good and you actually make more, but that should just give you an idea.

Lending Club Notes

Let's just go to the next step real quick. Here is another area where you can start seeing what some of these loans are used for. For example, you might see listed: credit cards, debt consolidation loans, small business loans, and more. You can actually see what these notes are.

Note: You should know I'm going through this process in real time, so I can make sure to show you my thought process along the way and you get a real Lending Club review as I move from screen to screen.

The amount left is how much more that person needs to borrow to take care of the debt. If you want to take it one step further you now can see more about the individual, their gross income per month, if they're a homeowner or not, their length of employment, their current employer, where they are located, their debt-to-income, and their credit score range. It just gives you a lot more details about the borrower.

Even more, if you want you can ask them questions if you're not confident or just need some reassurance. Here's an example of an asked question:

“What type of business are you starting?”

They said:

“We are purchasing an existing flight school and looking for help with a short-term loan to assist with the down payment.”

Lending Club actually gives you some direct questions to ask. They did change that a little bit over the past few years (I think because of a privacy act), but they give you a lot of the good basic questions to ask.

One thing I didn't mention is that of the $525 I have to invest, typically only $25 of that is going toward each individual note, so that's where the diversification comes into play where you're not putting all your eggs in one basket.

I am going to try option one. I'm much more comfortable with that option. My projected rate of return is going to be lower, but as you can see I'm actually doing better than what was predicted. I think I might have done some high-risk investing in the beginning, but typically I have stuck with option one. You can see I have a lot more of the B borrowers and none on the F and G side. I'm not much on the high yield. I like to be a little bit more conservative with this aspect. Immediately they break it down and it looks like I'm doing some overlap of my last entry so let's see if we can get that straightened out.

Note: Lending Club's minimum investment is only $25. That's it.

The other thing too is you could actually choose the term of the note. Lending Club initially just started out with a 36-month, three-year note. They now offer a 60-month note so that's actually a little bit more of a return on that one, but you are locked into your own money. You can also sell these notes too, so if you are not wanting to hold it for the maturity you can find a buyer – just like selling stock on the open market.

Choosing Note Options

All right, let's see if I can finally get this figured out. I just want to invest. I should've started with the option one to begin with. Let's start over. Sorry about that.

Let's go with option one. I can actually go in there and select notes by themselves. I can add more money to one note, take some money away from another note, etc. You have that ability! You also have the ability to build your own portfolios from scratch, so if you want to go through all of the different available notes, you can do that as well. I personally don't have interest in that so I don't. So, with $525 I'm going to invest into 21 different notes and my average rate of return will be approximately 9.58%. A quick look at the notes and we are going to place the order.

You can then give your portfolio a name. I haven't done a very good job of managing this so I'm just going to assign it to “portfolio 10” and we can go from there. I will soon get a confirmation.

One notable thing is that I've just invested $525 into 21 individual notes. Most likely, not all of those notes will get the entire funding. In some cases you won't get the investment you initially were after. In that case, you would get a refund. From there, you can go out and find some new notes. It most likely will happen, just so you know.

That is it as far as how to invest with Lending Club. It's so simple! As far as who I would recommend this to – this is not a savings account replacement. This is not a certificate of deposit replacement. Even though you can get a three-year or five-year note you might think of that as a three-year or five-year CD.

There is definitely more risk involved with investing this way so do not make this an apples-to-apples comparison.

How Lending Club Fits in My Overall Portfolio

How do I view Lending Club in my overall investment portfolio? Well, we already have our emergency fund and we have our savings account – this is just something to complement what I'm doing in my stocks. Like I said, I only have a small investment now, but after doing my initial Lending Club review we are planning on shifting some more money there.

We were building a house, had some other improvements we were doing, were having a third child, so we wanted to have more in cash then we probably should, but we just felt more comfortable doing that. Now that we have some of those things out of the way I am definitely a lot more comfortable moving some more cash into Lending Club and start making some more interest.

I should also say I have never had any notes default on Lending Club up to this point. I've been doing it for just over two years, and I believe and have not had a default yet. I'm not saying I won't, but I haven't had one yet. If I do I will definitely report it.

If you have any more questions let me know. You'll find an affiliate link, so if you do click and open an account I do earn a bit of money for you doing that. You can also go to LendingClub.com directly. I won't get the commission and that's fine by me as well.

If you have more questions on my Lending Club review or if you have any experiences, please share. I'd love to hear more about it as this becomes more of a mainstream investing approach for a lot of people.

What Makes Lending Club Different

Having become the most successful of the P2P sites, Lending Club has some features that set it apart from the other lenders.

The CEO of Lending Club, Scott Sanborn, has told us that LC is constantly using the data in its system to evaluate investor and borrower behavior.  They use this data to improve the loan marketplace and make it better for both borrowers and lenders.  Two good examples:

• Lending club has a standard minimum rate of 5.99% for regular loans.  In 2014 they created a special loan for people who have ridiculously awesome credit profiles.  This loan has a rate of 4.99%.
• In the third quarter of 2015, Lending Club added joint loan applications to making it easier for couples to get approved for loans.  This was a smart move because married couples tend to be better at paying off debt than individuals.

This dedication to technology and data allows them to continue to improve and will add flexibility over time.

Lending Club Alternatives

There are other P2P lending platforms popping up all over the web. But Lending Club has become the gold standard for the entire industry. Whether you are an investor looking for an above average rate of return, or a borrower looking for more affordable loan programs, you'll find what you’re looking for at Lending Club.

This company has continued to grow and prosper over the years. We can expect even better things from Lending Club going forward. And it’s probably not an exaggeration to say that Lending Club just might be the banking platform of the future.

While you can always invest using a more traditional investment platform or borrow money through a bank or credit card, there are only a few other options in the peer-to-peer lending world. The most prominent competitor to Lending Club is Prosper.

These two are the heavyweights in the peer-to-peer lending marketplace – so much so that we put together an in-depth Prosper vs. Lending Club comparison. You can learn more about all the features on Prosper with our Prosper review.

Check out everything Lending Club has to offer, and see if you can’t get a better investment – or a better loan – than what your bank is offering you.

Hey, by the way, if you're looking for a way to invest your money for the short-term and you're not really sure if Lending Club is right for you, be sure to read my article: The 11 Best Short-Term Investments for Your Money. It's packed full of information on how you can invest your money with little risk to swallow.

Remember, only you can make the determination of what's right for you when it comes to peer-to-peer lending. I wouldn't recommend putting all your eggs in the Lending Club basket, but it's certainly an appropriate choice for well-established investors or borrowers needing some money.

The Bottom Line for Our Lending Club Review

Lending club is really geared for borrowers with good to great credit scores.  Their loans are a real boon to small business owners and others who have been affected by the banks tightening all their lending criteria.

The size of the company and the now several years of experience as a lending marketplace allow both borrowers and investors to know they are working with a solid entity.  While the approval process takes a little longer than with some of the other P2P lenders, this is because they are dedicated to allowing individuals pick the loans they want to invest in rather than keeping a large pool of money from investors.

Take a look at Lending Club today and see if it's right for you!

Please note: This article contains affiliate links that may result in providing me with a commission for you signing up for the services listed. Still, my opinions are my own and I wouldn't steer you wrong.

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