Harmoney clears $1.5bn in loan volume

20 December 2019

Harmoney, New Zealand’s largest online platform lender, is ending the year on a strong note with a record month of loan business pushing its total volume past $1.5 billion.

The company completed a combined $50m in lending across New Zealand and Australia in November, the biggest month in Harmoney’s five-year history. It comes on the back of Harmoney’s recent successful $22.9 million series C capital raise and $20m corporate debt facility, providing Harmoney with $42.9m in new working capital.

Harmoney CEO David Stevens (pictured) says, “It took the company four years to reach the $1 billion mark and we’ve managed the last half a billion in 12 months. That’s a very encouraging sign that we’re providing a service that is continuing to be helpful to an increasing number of consumers.”

Mr Stevens says 2019 has been a watershed year for the company, with several strategic goals met, setting Harmoney up for strong growth in 2020.

“We’re exactly where we need to be in terms of growth both in New Zealand and Australia. Next year will be about building on that and ensuring we are continuing to meet the needs of our strong, loyal customer base, as well as the business.

“November is traditionally one of Harmoney’s busiest months of the year. Our data suggests it’s related to spring. The weather turns good and people start thinking about things like home improvements, weddings, and holidays, and how to pay for them.”

Harmoney has also recently made a series of wide-ranging interest rate cuts that will leave more money in the pockets of its borrowers.

Harmoney has cut interest rates across the majority of its credit grades, in some cases up to 5.71 percentage points or 23%.

The company says on-going improvements in its ability to accurately assess the creditworthiness of individual borrowers has enabled it to cut interest rates and at the same time increase loan limits.

Harmoney’s lowest interest rate of 6.99% p.a. remains the same but rates across its range of credit grades have been reduced, in some cases significantly. For example, loans previously given an interest rate of 24.7% would now be eligible for a rate of 18.99%.

Along with the rate cuts, borrowing limits across almost all Harmoney’s credit grades are increasing by $5,000. The largest loan amount remains at $70,000.

Mr Stevens says the change offers potential borrowers significant benefits, particularly when combined with the lending platform’s recent launch of a borrower quotation option.

“The ground-breaking development helps borrowers get an accurate Harmoney interest rate without a credit enquiry showing on their credit file. This means they are free to shop-around for the loan that best suits their personal circumstances without it impacting on their credit score.

“These initiatives really empower consumers to find personal loans with the best rates at amounts they can afford. We have five years of borrower behaviour data from which we can now draw, that allows us to more accurately predict any borrower’s creditworthiness. Simply put, that allows us to offer many potential borrowers a better quote on their loan – with a lower interest rate and potentially a higher loan amount than they may have received before.

“Harmoney was an early disruptor of interest rates and traditional lending models. We believe that’s been a significant factor in helping drive down interest rates on consumer credit products.

“We’re proud that through ongoing innovation on the platform we can keep developing and offering personal loans that give borrowers more choice, more flexibility and more affordability.”

For queries please contact:

Investors

David Stevens
CEO & Managing Director
investors@harmoney.co.nz

Media

Courtney Howe
+61 404 310 364
courtney@domestiqueconsulting.com.au

About Harmoney

Harmoney is an online direct personal lender that operates across Australia and New Zealand providing customers with unsecured personal loans that are easy to access, competitively priced (using risk-adjusted interest rates) and accessed 100% online.

Harmoney’s purpose is to help people achieve their goals through financial products that are fair, friendly, and simple to use.

Harmoney’s proprietary digital lending platform, Stellare™, facilitates its personalised loan product with applications processed and loans typically funded within 24 hours of acceptance by the customer. Stellare™ applies a customer’s individual circumstance to its data-driven, machine learning credit scorecard to deliver automated credit decisioning and accurate risk-based pricing.

Business fundamentals

• Harmoney provides unsecured personal loans of up to $70,000 for three, five or seven year periods to customers across New Zealand and Australia
• Its direct-to-consumer and automated loan approval system is underpinned by Harmoney’s scalable Stellare™ proprietary technology platform
• A significant percentage of Harmoney’s originations are “3R” (repeat) customers, with losses on repeat loans approximately 40% lower than first time loans
• Harmoney is comprised of a team of 69 full-time employees across Australia and New Zealand, over half of whom comprise engineering, data science and product professionals
• Harmoney is funded by a number of sources including two “Big-4” bank warehouse programs across Australia and New Zealand and a facility from M∓G Investments