Press
Growth, strong performance and product diversification planned for 2019
Wilmington, DE February 1, 2019 – Marlette Funding, LLC, developer and operator of the consumer-lending online platform for Best Egg personal loans, today announced preliminary year-end results and key accomplishments for 2018. For the second consecutive year, the company achieved GAAP profit in the double-digit millions with an estimated profit increase of 79% year over year. Q4 2018 marks the 7th straight quarter that net income has been positive on a GAAP basis. Loan volume increased 27% year over year and Best Egg surpassed $7B in cumulative originations before the close of 2018.
“I am very pleased with the company’s differentiated 2018 performance that created significant value for all the key stakeholders across our franchise,” said Jeffrey Meiler, CEO and Founder of Marlette Funding. “We’ve been focused on creating a resilient personal loan services business where customers, loan investors, equity investors, our employees and the local community all share in the value created.”
2018 Accomplishments
The company continued to relentlessly focus and understand the customer which resulted in NPS score of 68, A+ rating with the BBB, a 9.5 out of 10 TrustScore from Trust Pilot and industry recognition including Consumer Choice Award from Best Company and Top Personal Loan Lender Q3 by LendEDU.
Other highlights of company performance included a flat customer acquisition cost year over year and nearly a 10 percent decrease in servicing costs. Notable drivers included advances in the technology platform which made deploying tests faster and easier and resulted in two new champion funnels, one specific to desktop and one specific to mobile. Additionally, Best Egg introduced new loan terms and the company deployed enhancements such as a revamped self-servicing site and a new customer relationship management (CRM) tool that speeds the time to resolve customer issues.
Best Egg loans delivered industry-leading risk-based returns to whole loan buyers and strong investor demand provided stable funding for the business. Best Egg loans has consistently delivered strong credit performance, carefully controlled growth and strong fundamentals driven by maintaining alignment of interests across the capital stack. Additionally, the company announced the largest securitizations in the company’s history, a total of $1.7 billion in balances securitized over 2018 and a number of tranches from 2016, 2017 and 2018 ABS transactions received rating upgrades from Kroll.
Finally, Marlette Funding was recognized for its commitment to a positive and creative employee culture and support for the local community. In 2018, its employee engagement score ranked in the top 10 percent of thousands of companies, using OfficeVibe, a leading employee engagement platform. The company and employees support local Delaware organizations including Junior Achievement of DE, Ronald McDonald House, Food Bank of Delaware and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This year it was recognized by the American Banker as one of the Top Fintech Places to Work and in the Delaware News Journal Top Workplaces.
2019 Outlook
The company expects to continue on a growth trajectory in 2019. In November 2018, Delaware Prosperity Partnership awarded Marlette Funding a $2.73M grant for the creation of 232 new jobs in Delaware before the end of 2022. Currently, there are over 30 open positions. A full list can be found here.
Among the operational plans for 2019, the company will deliver its 5th generation of credit models, convert to a new loan servicing platform, and add new lending products that will enable the company to offer higher lines and longer loan terms. New employee engagement initiatives and facility expansion to handle growth are two of the top objectives for long-term success.
“Entering 2019, our robust and balanced performance sets the stage for continued growth and product expansion,” added Meiler. “As you would expect, we closely monitor all conditions that may impact the business but remain optimistic that we can continue to expand our business at pace and deliver an industry-leading value propositions to all key stakeholders.”
Tune in to Lend Academy’s Lending and Fintech Podcast to hear Peter Renton and Jeffrey Meiler discuss more details regarding the 2018 recap and 2019 outlook.
About Marlette Funding and Best Egg
Marlette Funding, through the consumer-lending brand Best Egg, is a financial technology provider on a mission to find better ways to make money accessible to allow people to enjoy life. The team mixes decades of banking experience with deep customer knowledge and smart technology to deliver digital products, services and experiences in a more relevant way. Today, Marlette provides a frictionless online personal loan platform for Best Egg loans originated by Cross River Bank. Qualified applicants can view loan offers within seconds and with no impact to their credit score, and receive funds in as little as one business day. Since March 2014, the online loan platform has delivered over $7B of prime loans with high quality credit performance. For more information, visit www.marlettefunding.com or www.bestegg.com.