| By Jim Bruene on July 8, 2008 6:00 PM | Comments (3) |
I had a great conversation today with the founders of FirstAgain, a startup online lender from the same folks that brought us PeopleFirst Finance ten years ago.
People First invented "blank check" auto lending, earning it one of the first OBR Best of the Web winners (1998 article reprinted here). The company was purchased by Capital One in 2001.
FirstAgain made its first loan in late 2006 and officially launched its unsecured AnythingLoan in July 2007. But the company is just gearing up to start lending in higher volumes after a $30 million venture investment from Arsenal Capital Partners in January. Merrill Lynch provides the warehouse line.
Founders Gary Miller and Dave Zeller outlined their vision of simplifying online lending for customers that pose minimal repayment risk, the FICO 740+ crowd. Having watched them create a new segment in auto lending a decade ago, I expect they will succeed. The company has already originated more than $100 million in unsecured loans.
What's Innovative?
We've added FirstAgain to our watch list and will report back on its innovations in more detail. But here are two small things that demonstrate its creative approach:
1. The little green tree icon on the homepage (see above) highlights the company policy to plant one tree for every loan originated. While that isn't exactly an earth-shattering benefit, it helps differentiate the company from fly-by-night website operators who'd never think about giving something back to the world.
2. This is the best featurette I've seen in a while: "real" online signatures. Users "sign" their loan docs by moving their mouse to draw their signature online. The company also offers a typing option, so users type their name on the keyboard and it's rendered on-screen with a standard script font.
I imagine FirstAgain is not the first to do this, but I've never seen it before. While this new doodad isn't quite enough to warrant another Best of the Web, it's still pretty cool, at least if you are an Internet banking geek.
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Great review! Have you followed up with FirstAgain within the past 2 months considering the credit market has dried up or frozen? How is FirstAgain affected by all the financial bailouts?
Thanks,
Thien
I can not say enough good things about this company. They do far more innovative things than mentioned in this article. You do need excellent credit to apply, but are treated wonderfully every step of the process.As American Express has decided to throw away decades of prestige and treat their customers like trash, First Again is now, IMO,my reward for all the years I've worked to earn respect from my financial nstitutions!
First Again cannot dispense any new loans for a while now according to their website. There is no information on the web as to what happened to the company. Its unfortunate, as this was the best loan I had ever gotten, it doesnt appear on my credit report as a debt!