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The Lending Club Thank-You bonus ended yesterday. I deposited an initial $5,000 and created two low-risk portfolios on Friday. After considering how I believe the bonus is calculated, it should turn out pretty well for me. Its a little unclear exactly how the bonus is calculated, so I emailed them and asked if I would still qualify if some of the loans didn’t get fully funded or approved. Their response included this:

All funds lent (between 12/14/07 and 2/3/08) count, even if the loans are not issued. If you get some of your 5,000 back, but you have lent $5000 in your portfolio, you will qualify.

Some of the loans included in my initial portfolios were not fully funded. I had $275 become available on Saturday, and another $300 become available on Sunday. I quickly re-submitted portfolios to use up those funds again. So my total amount lent before the deadline was $5575 (5000 + 275 + 300) which should generate a 5% bonus of $278.75.

I have cash balance of $400 and $350 in partially funded loans  that will get added to my cash balance tomorrow..  I’m estimating that another $450 won’t get fully funded either - ending up in a total amount lent of $3800. At that rate, the thank you bonus will end up being 7.33% of the actual funds lent, so I’m very happy with that.   That’s more than it would have made if I left it in a savings account for almost two years.   Plus, I’m hoping that it will continue to earn a 10% return as the loans are repaid.

I’m planning on withdrawing the $1200 that went unfunded, and the $278.75 bonus back to my bank account. When I deposited the initial $5k, I was a little unsure if I wanted to tie it up that much money for 3 years, so I’ll be excited to get some of it back and into a savings account for a future down payment on a house.