NEW YORK, Feb. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- CommonBond, a premier student lending company, today announced a strategic partnership with Nelnet (NYSE: NNI), one of the nation's leading education planning and financing companies. Nelnet has made an equity investment in CommonBond and has agreed to finance at least $150 million of CommonBond's annual loan volume. This marks the first time a public financial services company has invested in a student loan marketplace company.
To date, CommonBond has funded loans on its platform through a series of funding vehicles, including alumni funds and warehouse lines. Today, the company announced a brand new source of funding capacity: a forward flow program. Interested capital providers can now buy loans directly on the CommonBond platform. Nelnet's funding commitment makes it the program's inaugural participant.
"We believe that having a diversity of funding sources and funder profiles makes the most sense for building a strong and sustainable financial marketplace," said David Klein, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of CommonBond. "The partnership with Nelnet is meaningful - together, we're able to boost funding capacity to meet borrower demand as well as provide trusted capabilities to serve our borrowers even further."
CommonBond has funded over $100 million in loans across more than 1,000 borrowers and has yet to experience a default among its borrowers.
"We are excited to support CommonBond's growth and to add another channel to serve students and families," said Jeff Noordhoek, Chief Executive Officer of Nelnet. "We believe our relationship with CommonBond will be a strong partnership because of our shared commitment to giving back and delivering financial services that are simple and trusted."
CommonBond also announced that it has expanded its loan refinancing options to graduates of over 700 programs nationwide. This represents a sevenfold increase of programs on CommonBond's platform, from about 100 to over 700 graduate degree programs nationwide.
"We expect 2015 to be another year of strong growth for CommonBond, as we expand our products to a growing number of customers," Mr. Klein continued. "Millennials in particular have gone underserved by traditional finance companies in student loans and other asset classes, and we're on a mission to change that."
CommonBond uses technology and best-in-class customer service to provide borrowers with low-cost student loan refinancing options. The company is now open to several additional graduate degree programs including: dentistry, nursing, optometry, finance, real estate, accounting, pharmacology, healthcare administration, veterinary, and public policy. Additionally, CommonBond is growing its network of eligible schools for refinancing MBA, law, medical and engineering programs. And the company continues to provide new loans for current and prospective MBA students. To view a complete list of eligible programs, click here.
CommonBond saves its borrowers approximately $10,000 over the life of the loan. In less than two years, CommonBond expects to surpass $1 billion in loans funded. That represents a borrower group that will save close to $100 million, over the life of their loans – an amount that otherwise would have gone to student loan interest.
Nelnet joins a strong roster of current CommonBond investors, which includes Tribeca Venture Partners and The Social + Capital Partnership, as well as industry veterans Vikram Pandit, Tom Glocer, and Tom Kalaris.
ABOUT COMMONBOND
CommonBond is a leading values-driven financial services company dedicated to delivering a better student loan experience through savings, service, and social good. Since its national launch in 2013, CommonBond has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to fund and refinance student loans, saving its borrowers on average $10,000 over the life of the loan. CommonBond is also the first company to bring the "1-for-1" model of social good to education and finance: For every degree fully funded on the company's platform, CommonBond funds the education of a student in need abroad for a full year, through a partnership with Pencils of Promise. For more information, visit http://www.commonbond.co
ABOUT NELNET
Headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, Nelnet (NYSE: NNI) provides innovative educational services in loan servicing, payment processing, education planning, and asset management. These products and services help students and families plan, prepare, and pay for their education while making the administrative and financial processes more efficient for schools and financial organizations. For more information, visit http://www.nelnet.com
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SOURCE CommonBond