I first corresponded with Bryce Mason about two years ago; he reached out to me soon after he developed his credit model for investing in Lending Club. He was one of the first people to do a rigorous statistical analysis of completed Lending Club loans. He produced an interesting chart on default rates that I shared in early 2012. Bryce has also written a couple of guest posts on Lend Academy this year.
He is the founder of the P2P Picks credit modeling site which he describes as “the power of a hedge fund for your p2p portfolio”. In this third session of the Lend Academy Podcast I talked with Bryce about his site, his credit models, where is taking his business and much more.
In this podcast you will learn:
- Bryce’s background and how it has enabled him to develop sophisticated investing models.
- Why he loved p2p lending when he first heard about it in the very early days of Prosper.
- Why he feels more confident about p2p lending than his other investments.
- How his approach is different from simple filtering of loans.
- What he thinks of external macroeconomic data sources.
- Why he believes that P2P Picks is helpful for all individual investors.
- How the algorithm adjusts for changes in underwriting policies.
- How often he updates his credit model and what changes with each new iteration.
- How much of an improvement the P2P Picks credit model gives above the average.
- The number of subscribers that are using P2P Picks to invest.
- Details of the new P2P Picks API and the honor system he has created.
- What Bryce is doing for his institutional clients.
- What is coming down the road with P2P Picks in 2014.
- When the Prosper model is going to be available.
- What P2P Picks has in common with a major rating agency liked Moody’s.
Bryce’s site is P2P-Picks.com and you can sign up there for free today to take advantage of the picks generated by his credit models.
You can subscribe to the Lend Academy Podcast via iTunes or Stitcher. There is an audio player directly below or you can download the MP3 file here.