[CreditGuy]

The biggest lender in the space by far is On Deck. They would be in the best position to capitalize on any opportunities, like acquiring CAN right now, but why would they? CAN is in trouble and they would be buying a distressed book and all the headaches that come with that, not to mention CAN's data, credit IP, etc. is all unattractive since their book blew up on their watch. Given the state of the industry, it would be silly for them to acquire a company in trouble when the overall industry shows real signs of uncertainty not just in terms of credit performance, but economic environment, political environment, and regulatory environment. The remaining actual A paper lenders like Rapid or BFS are too far behind to be of any real value in terms of volume and/or technology.

There might be value in consolidating downmarket for the stacking shops and HR lenders, but If you can't even figure out how to move upmarket and/or fund more than just stacks you probably don't have the managerial acumen to handle a merger.

This industry is really young. It needs to mature and the product offerings need to become more homogeneous before mergers start making sense.

[Natan]

The biggest lender in the space by far is On Deck. They would be in the best position to capitalize on any opportunities, like acquiring CAN right now, but why would they? CAN is in trouble and they would be buying a distressed book and all the headaches that come with that, not to mention CAN's data, credit IP, etc. is all unattractive since their book blew up on their watch. Given the state of the industry, it would be silly for them to acquire a company in trouble when the overall industry shows real signs of uncertainty not just in terms of credit performance, but economic environment, political environment, and regulatory environment. The remaining actual A paper lenders like Rapid or BFS are too far behind to be of any real value in terms of volume and/or technology.

There might be value in consolidating downmarket for the stacking shops and HR lenders, but If you can't even figure out how to move upmarket and/or fund more than just stacks you probably don't have the managerial acumen to handle a merger.

This industry is really young. It needs to mature and the product offerings need to become more homogeneous before mergers start making sense.

Definitely, industry is very young, be patient for mergers and BKs.

As interest rates rise, and capital is less available, HR funders will feel squeeze and it will travel up-market and drive mergers to cut costs and improve ROI.

Time will tell.

[mcaguru]

why would High Risk feel squeezed by higher IR ? ?

[Kevin Henry-Seacoast]

why would High Risk feel squeezed by higher IR ? ?

maybe because most high risk lender's lines with their senior lenders are tied to LIBOR or Prime on a floating basis. If the floor goes up, the high risk lender most raise rates to keep up with margin. Not everyone has the luxury of low cost of funds.

Another note: If senior lenders keep having unpleasant experiences lending to high risk lenders, they will continue to reel back in capital from the industry which will cause prices on those lines to increase because of demand. In efforts to limit losses or retreat from the alternative lender market, it could have adverse effects on other types of alternative lending: factoring, equipment finance, purchase order finance, etc.... Some of the lender providing lines to the MCA/Cash Advance industry are also lending to other types of alternative lenders.