[seibelj]

As someone who built the most popular iOS / Android app for Lending Club investors [0], I can tell you that since the CEO resigned

- New users have fallen by 50% per month, although of course users to my app are a fraction of total new users, but you can extrapolate

- Total net, users are withdrawing about as much money as users are putting in

- The amount of loans purchased has dropped significantly

So without a doubt, retail investors know what's going on and fear for the safety of their investments.

[0] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lendingclub-order/id10461141...

[rgovind]

If I may ask, how well is the app doing? You have good revenues?

[rdlecler1]

Off topic question: would an app developer trading on this information be engaged in insider trading?

[morgante]

Yes, ever since this news came out I have been gradually winding down my Lending Club investments.

[maxerickson]

Do you think your users know you are doing analytics on their transactions?

[a_t48]

Can you name a major successful mobile application that you think _doesn't_ use analytics?

[maxerickson]

I dunno, wouldn't the better question be if I am at all comfortable using a third party app for financial transactions? Because I'm not. But I'm not super concerned about me, I'm curious how the thinking goes when someone decides to collect information about the loans that other people are taking out.

Maybe they are pretty sure that users understand it, the app could have a strong disclosure for all I know.

[seibelj]

There is a rich ecosystem of LC apps and services because of LC's open API. The only thing the API's allow you to do is invest in loans and transfer money in and out of your account. I would be quite shocked if any service (such as lending robot) is able to operate without recording any transactions occurring. I hope users wouldn't be offended by the (very general) information revealed above, but I suppose some could.

[jessaustin]

Presumably LC itself is recording the transactions? It's obvious that apps would want to do so as well, but that certainly isn't a necessity. An app could remember a transaction long enough to ensure that it had posted, and then forget about it forever.

[pbreit]

Can you suggest any reasonable concerns with what the app author has disclosed?

[maxerickson]

Primarily what I allude to in my initial comment, it indicates that they are in possession of specific user information. As I also point out above, I have no idea how informed the users would be about that.

I guess that might not meet all definitions of reasonable concerns.

[reitanqild]

Now that I think of it I would almost find it scary if they didn't.

All fine with me as long as they are aggregated statistics for a reasonable sized population of users.