How to solve payday lending? Stop the problem before it starts.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- 14 Million people used a payday loan last year.  Of those, 16 percent started the cycle from an emergency expense such as a car repair or medical expense, according to the PEW Chartable Trust Research this year.

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LendUp.com, a socially responsible alternative to payday lending, is stopping the problem before it starts – by providing responsible credit to those that need it the most before they take that dangerous first step into a payday lending industry riddled with debt traps.  

LendUp was built as a technology platform that could easily partner with other companies or reach people directly. By adapting the latest Silicon Valley infrastructure designed by the greatest search engines and social media technology companies, LendUp has customized the most advanced analytic and API techniques. As a result, it can move at the speed of the market, as well as it's customers - for whom 24 hours makes all the difference.

Two exciting partnerships highlight this capability. 

Medical emergencies are the most commonly sited unexpected expense that prompt people to turn to payday. This makes LendUp's partnership with Corduro, an innovative medical payment platform, exciting. As first reported in Venture Beat, this partnership gives patients an opportunity to finance co-pays and other medical expenses that have historically sent them to predatory lenders or caused them to default on a payment.

Similarly, car repairs are the second most common unexpected emergency causing people turn to payday.  As a result, LendUp is working with fellow Y-Combinator graduate YourMechanic to give users the chance to finance the work their having done.  YourMechanic matches local mechanics with the people who need them, and the mechanics come to you:  your home, your office, or the parking lot where your car broke down.  LendUp matches this convenience; customers can apply from any computer or smart phone and have a decision in minutes.

With these and other partnerships, LendUp is on track to change what short-term, small dollar loans mean to customers, making sure an unexpected expense isn't the first step in a dangerous direction.

LendUp is a socially responsible lender that offers a safe alternative to consumers that banks and credit unions decline. The LendUp Ladder changes the dynamics of the small dollar loan: rather than being a dangerous first step into a cycle of debt, it becomes an opportunity to learn good financial behavior and to build credit through education, gamification and a transparent fee structure.  LendUp is located in downtown San Francisco and backed by prominent Silicon Valley investors such as Y-Combinator, Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz, Thomvest Ventures, Bronze Investments, among others.

Media Contact: ozgur uzuner, Lendup, 4156760174, [email protected]

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SOURCE Lendup