Is there any way to shorten the number of clicks required to complete an order? I count a minimum of 4: add to order, view order, continue, place order. And that's for just one note in an order.
This is making it difficult to compete with the institutional computers. What am I missing?
Thanks,
Doesn't it only take one to reserve the spot, though?
If you have decent technical experience, it is simple enough to write a script that emulates a browser session to filter notes and auto-invest. The python scripting language is a good choice.
I don't want to use a subscription service, and scripting a browser won't work since the filter options don't screen for some of the things for which I manually select. For example, I don't lend to certain occupations, employers, etc.
BTW: I've been investing w LC since 2011 and with Prosper since 2007 (no defaults at all under the old model, ROI around 8%). But the recent influx of computer trading is screwing my access to the notes I want. My self-computed ROI (XIRR) is 12%, total notes funded about 2900, defaults total 23.
Requiring lenders to verify their order with an extra click is a good idea, as pointed out by Fred. But there's another reason - 1-Click ordering is patented by Amazon. A design that allows a lender to view a listing and then invest with a single click might infringe on the patent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Click
The filtering of notes can be easily accomplished by having a script download the current available listing,
https://www.lendingclub.com/browse/browseNotesRawDataV6.action. With this listing, the script can slice/dice however you please (eg, DTI > x% and < x%, employer != X, etc). After you have a list of notes that meets your criteria, using a programmatic browser session (eg, python mechanize or splinter), you simply call the appropriate LC AJAX calls. I'm not advocating a novice programmer write their own automation tool due to the fact that if you are not careful, you can completely hose up your portfolio. Thus, I won't go into exact programming details because I don't want to be held accountable for someone else's programming flaws. However, there are some publicly available examples on github.
Personally, I wrote my own note selection mechanism because I wanted complete control over the filtering criteria (I'm a bit of a control freak). For the past 6 months, my note selection and order submission has been completely automated. Prior to the automation, I had to periodically login to check my available cash and then tediously find the notes and submit by hand. So far, I'm happy with the results (XIRR is 13.5%).