SoFi Blog

SoFi has been out on the road these past few weeks, visiting universities around the country and spending time with student loan borrowers.  We wanted to learn more about these soon-to-be graduates and their challenges with education debt, so that we can better serve them with our products.

One thing we discovered is that they wanted to learn a lot more about us, too.  Here were some of the most frequently asked questions – and answers – from our spring tour.

When was the last time you revisited your student loan repayment strategy?  If you’re like most borrowers, it’s probably been awhile.  That monthly payment may be an irksome reminder of the debt you’re chipping away at, but otherwise you try to avoid thinking about your loans on a regular basis.  Because – let’s face it – thinking about student loans is kind of a bummer.

The problem with this “out of sight, out of mind” mentality is that it can end up costing you more interest than is necessary over the long run – which is bad for your bottom line.  Luckily, there are a few interest-saving strategies that can make a big difference without requiring a lot of time or effort.  We shared three of our favorite strategies over on the Student Loan Hero blog this week – check out the full post here!

When we started SoFi back in 2011, my co-founders and I felt we were on to something special.  We knew there was a problem with financial services, and we wanted to fix it.  Two-plus years and 5,000 members later, our original vision is coming to fruition.  The $80 million round we closed in April will help solidify our position as something much more than a student loan business.  We are on a path to deliver a better model for consumer finance.

[Update (as of 9/27): Removed outdated savings calculation information.]

Discovery Capital Management, Peter Thiel, Wicklow Capital Fuel Expansion Beyond Student Loan Refinancing; Wije Wijegoonaratna Joins Board, Peter Thiel and Duncan Niederauer Added as Advisors

San Francisco, CA – Social Finance, LLC (SoFi.com), a leader in peer-to-peer lending, today announces $80 million in Series C funding, led by Discovery Capital Management, with Peter Thiel, Wicklow Capital and existing investors participating.  SoFi will use these funds to expand the footprint of its existing student loan refinancing and extend its product suite for borrowers and investors.

With this funding, Discovery’s S.P. ”Wije” Wijegoonaratna is joining the company’s board and Peter Thiel and Duncan Niederauer, CEO of NYSE, join as company advisors.

“SoFi is creating a better financial marketplace,” said Mike Cagney, CEO of SoFi. “By bypassing the banks and directly connecting highly qualified borrowers and investors, we’ve been able to reduce their costs, improve returns and provide a much better experience than traditional financial services. The Discovery led financing allows us to aggressively build out our marketplace and significantly expand our products and services to members.”

Since its launch in 2011, SoFi has funded $450 million in loans to over 5,000 members. SoFi provides unemployment protection, career strategies and an entrepreneur program.  The entrepreneur program has helped dozens of borrowers start their companies with debt deferment, mentorship and capital. With the new financing, SoFi will expand its loan offerings to include mortgages and personal loans, and bolster the options in which individuals can invest.

“A generation of Americans has deferred their dreams, because they have to service more than a trillion dollars of student loan debt instead. Until college administrators realize how much their tuition hikes hurt students, we need to find innovative ways to make debt more manageable,” said Peter Thiel. “SoFi helps borrowers get out from under the crushing burden of debt and begin pursuing their own goals immediately, instead of waiting for a time that never comes.”

“We’re breaking out of the traditional nameless, faceless financial industry model,” continued Cagney. “Our model is based on the tenets of being local, transparent and interactive. By creating a lending ecosystem based on affinity, we’re empowering people to invest in each other’s success.”

About SoFi 

SoFi is a leading peer-to-peer lender focused on transforming financial services. SoFi’s affinity-based marketplace connects high-quality alumni borrowers and investors directly, benefitting them both by bypassing the banks.  Since its launch in 2011, SoFi has funded over $450 million in loans and has more than 5,000 members. To learn more about SoFi, visit sofi.com.

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Want to know the secret to an effective job search?  Here it is: There is no secret – at least not one that works for everybody.

Are there best practices?  Absolutely, and you probably already know most of them.  Are there wrong ways to go about it?  Yes, and they’re pretty obvious, too.  But if anyone tells you that the secret to getting a job is “doing X to your resume” or “doing Y with your LinkedIn account,” they’re missing a critical point – which is that every candidate is different and therefore needs to take a different approach.