Abstract
We examine the influence of soft factors on the probability of successful funding and on the default probability in peer-to-peer lending for two leading European platforms. Soft factors such as orthography, the share of non-mandatory information items provided and the mentioning of certain social keywords are derived from the loan applications. We find that soft factors do have a significant ...
Abstract
We examine the influence of soft factors on the probability of successful funding and on the default probability in peer-to-peer lending for two leading European platforms. Soft factors such as orthography, the share of non-mandatory information items provided and the mentioning of certain social keywords are derived from the loan applications. We find that soft factors do have a significant influence on the funding probability on the less restrictive of both platforms, which even accepts applications without credit scores. This platform shows a better risk-return profile. Moreover, soft factors do not clearly determine the default probability peer-to-peer lending.