Talk:LendEDU

Requested updates to LendEDU company page

Hello! I noticed that our LendEDU company page here hasn't been updated in several years. Between 2020-2021, the company underwent a major internal restructuring and change in leadership, overhauled its practices, and has done a lot of excellent work. We'd sincerely appreciate this entry being updated to reflect factual information from the last 5 years. Below, I've shared our recommendations for updated copy. Please let me know if anything requires additional information or sources! Thanks in advance for your support, from one editor to another. :)

LendEDU

Founded	2014
CTO	Danny Dover
Headquarters	Charlotte, NC, U.S.A
Website	lendedu.com

LendEDU is a financial education company that reviews a wide array of financial products, including private student loans, student loan refinance, home equity loans, mortgages, personal loans, and auto loans. The LendEDU site also features educational resources such as calculators, visualizations and illustrations of complex financial concepts, original survey data, expert-vetted guides, and informational articles to encourage financial literacy. As of 2025, LendEDU has helped over 16 million consumers make informed financial decisions.

In 2018, LendEDU encountered controversy when it was revealed to be the undisclosed owner of "Student Loan Report", and its CEO was accused of "deceiving news organizations with a fake source".

In 2020, LendEDU settled FTC allegations and overhauled its transparency practices. Following leadership changes and internal reforms, the company was found to be in full compliance and exceeding industry standards for consumer disclosure.

History[edit]

Nate Matherson and Matt Lenhard, University of Delaware students, attended the Iowa Startup Accelerator in summer 2014 with the idea for an online tutor-booking platform they called ShopTutors. The original idea was dismissed, and LendEDU, an online marketplace for student loans and student loan financing, became their focus; as someone with nearly $50,000 in student loan debt, Matherson was looking to refinance his student loans and realized the potential business idea that would eventually become LendEDU. Through the program, LendEDU earned $50,000 in funding from Built by Iowa. Additionally, LendEDU received a $5,000 grant from the University of Delaware's VentureOn program which focuses on the development of small businesses.

In 2015, the company raised a total of $120,000 in funding from the Horn Program Venture Development Center and Y Combinator.

In 2020, LendEDU came under new ownership, restructured operations, moved headquarters to Charlotte, NC, and revised content creation and disclosure practices.

Since launch, LendEDU has helped over 16 million consumers compare financial products. Backed by more than a decade of research and editorial development, its expert-vetted content includes proprietary ratings, surveys, and rankings to guide borrowers in selecting the best lenders across categories like student loans, mortgages, personal loans, and home equity.

Platform[edit]

The LendEDU platform provides information about student loans, personal loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, and more.

LendEDU's site also features interactive features like calculators and quizzes to help consumers "compare repayment options, payoff strategies, refinancing savings, tax deductions, and more."

Charitable works & Initiatives[edit]

LendEDU's philanthropic efforts has included work with One Tree Planted, a reforestation program that plants trees around the world in collaboration with partnering companies; the LendEDU Scholarship, which offered $1,000 scholarships to two students at the high school or college level two times per year; and donations to local charities in New Jersey like The Hoboken Shelter, Advance the Cure for MS, and the Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

In 2025, LendEDU again offered the $1,000 LendEDU Scholarship to one student at the high school or college level.

In September 2019, LendEDU was a co-sponsor for the Pride Center of New Jersey's first annual gala that celebrated the Pride Center's 25th anniversary of service to New Jersey's LGBTQ community. Other sponsors of the event included Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, WellCare, and KP Edgestone Realty.

In the News[edit]

LendEDU's data and research have been featured in press reports.

In June 2019, LendEDU released a study that evaluated how seriously student loan debt weighs on consumers that are filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

LendEDU's "top 50 college financial literacy program" rankings are based on a multitude of factors, including the number of workshops and resources available, access to one-on-one financial consultation, and incentivizing programs available.

In August 2020, LendEDU published its fifth annual "Student Loan Debt by School by State" report that revealed the average student loan debt per borrower figure in the United States had increased to $29,076 in 2019 compared to $28,565 in 2018.

In September 2020, LendEDU released a survey of 1,000 U.S. homeowners that found 55% of those who became homeowners amid the pandemic already regret the decision, mostly due to financial reasons.

In March 2025, a LendEDU personal finance survey of 1,000 U.S. adults found 53% living paycheck to paycheck and 40% unable to cover a sudden $1,000 expense. [Link: https://lendedu.com/blog/2025-personal-finance-survey/]

In June 2025, LendEDU’s survey of 1,000 private student loan borrowers reported that 71% would recommend private student loans to potential borrowers in the same position. [Link: https://lendedu.com/blog/private-student-loan-survey-2025/]

In July 2025, LendEDU’s survey of 600 Americans revealed that 39% had faced IRS fees, penalties, interest, or collections over unpaid taxes. [Link: https://lendedu.com/blog/2025-tax-challenges-irs-survey/]

Drew Cloud Controversy[edit]

Around 2016, a Web site called "The Student Loan Report" started conducting surveys and issuing reports. A 2018 report, quoted by outlets including Fox News, CNBC, and Inside Higher Ed, stated one in five had invested student loan money in digital currency. According to a subsequent investigation by the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Web site's ostensible founder, "Drew Cloud", despite having "corresponded at length with many journalists" to provide stories, turned out to be fictitious. The Chronicle accused LendEDU of "deceiving news organizations with a fake source" by using the pen name "Drew Cloud." The Chronicle also criticized that, despite LendEDU's ownership of the Student Loan Report, no association between the two had been disclosed. The Atlantic criticized that "The opaque process of managing student debt can be confusing, and LendEDU's strategy seized upon that confusion to encourage people to consider courses of action, including refinancing, that would make the company money."

The Boston Globe reported that "Pollfish, the company that performed the survey for Matherson, said it arrived at its results independently, and that the findings were accurate."

According to NPR, the Student Loan Report website received over 8,000 visitors in April 2018.

In March 2020, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it reached a settlement with operators of LendEDU over allegations of misleading ratings and reviews.

Following the controversy and subsequent FTC settlement, LendEDU underwent significant internal changes. The individuals named in the FTC complaint, including co-founders Nate Matherson and Matt Lenhard, were no longer with the company as of 2020. Leadership and operations were restructured to strengthen compliance and editorial transparency.

^{See also[edit]}

• ^NerdWallet
• ^{Money (financial website)}
• ^Bankrate

References[edit]

• ^
• Jump up to:
• ^{a b} Speiser, Matthew (16 December 2014). "Don't call it a pivot: UD undergrads ax SHopTutors, launch Lendedu". Technical.ly Delaware. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
• ^ "Drew Cloud Is a Well-Known Expert on Student Loans. One Problem: He's Not Real". The Chronicle of Higher Education. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
• ^ Shieber, Jonathan (9 February 2016). "LendEDU Is Making Student Loan Refinancing Easier". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
• ^
• Jump up to:
• ^{a b} Lindsay Podraza (February 25, 2016). "UD startup guys are hard at work at California's prestigious Y Combinator". Technical.ly Delaware. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
• ^ Sarah Binder (May 12, 2015). "After returning to Delaware, LendEDU focused on attracting users". The Gazette. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
• ^ Michael Muckian (November 7, 2014). "Student Loan Startup Seeks Out CU Alliances". Credit Union Times. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
• ^ Constine, Josh (22 March 2016). "All 60 startups that launched at Y Combinator Winter 2016 Demo Day 1". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
• ^ Ryan Pendell (February 17, 2016). "How LendEDU made it into Y Combinator on their second try". Silicon Prairie News. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
• ^ Savage, Terry. "Student loan refinancing is picking up steam". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
• ^ Rathmanner, Dave (2019-10-04). "Find a Specific Student Loan Calculator for Your Needs". LendEDU. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
• ^ "LendEDU Announces Partnership With One Tree Planted". PRWeb. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
• ^ "About - LendEDU". LendEDU. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
• ^ "LendEDU Scholarship Fall 2018 – Deadline October 19th, 2018 - LendEDU". LendEDU. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
• ^ "LendEDU Scholarship - Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships - Grand Valley State University". www.gvsu.edu. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
• ^ "LendEDU Scholarship | LendEDU | CollegeXpress". www.collegexpress.com. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
• ^ "LendEDU | Educated Financial Decisions".
• ^ "Lend EDU Makes Donation to Advance the Cure for MS". 13 May 2019.
• ^ "LGBTQ Community Gathers for 25th Anniversary Gala". New Brunswick, NJ Patch. 2019-09-19. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
• ^ Munk, Cheryl Winokur (2018-03-05). "Test Your Smarts on…Student Debt". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
• ^ Singletary, Michelle (2017-03-03). "The alarming consequences of co-signing your child's student loans". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
• ^ Dickler, Jessica (2017-07-18). "Loans get even more expensive, tightening the chokehold on students". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
• ^ "American Students Know Almost Nothing About Their College Loans". Bloomberg.com. 2016-02-02. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
• ^ Glazer, Emily; Hoffman, Liz; Stevens, Laura (2018-03-05). "Next Up for Amazon: Checking Accounts". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
• ^ "'Trap door under the market' could slash S&P by two-thirds, warns fund manager".
• ^ "States where Americans have highest levels of student loan debt". Fox Business. 30 April 2019.
• ^ "Even After Bankruptcy, Student Debt Still Remains for Many". 11 June 2019.
• ^ "An astounding number of bankruptcies are being driven by student loan debt". Business Insider.
• ^ "Report: Student Loan Debt Thwarts Do-Over for Many Bankruptcy Filers". 11 June 2019.
• ^ "Top 50 College Financial Literacy Programs of 2019". 10 July 2019.
• ^ https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2020-08-19/utah-new-mexico-among-states-with-lowest-average-student-loan-debt-report-shows. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
• ^ "Why buying real estate may be a bad deal for you amid the pandemic". Business Insider.
• ^ "Drew Cloud Is a Well-Known Expert on Student Loans. One Problem: He's Not Real". The Chronicle of Higher Education. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
• ^ "No, Students Probably Aren't Blowing Their Student Loans on Bitcoin". The Chronicle of Higher Education. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
• ^ Siegel, Rachel (2018). "Widely quoted student loans expert exposed as fictitious creation of a for-profit company". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
• ^ Harris, Adam (2018). "The Undoing of an Online Student-Loan 'Expert'". The Atlantic. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
• ^ "College students are using student loans to invest in bitcoin. Yes, really - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
• ^ "'Student Loan Report' Admits Its Founder And Editor Is Fake". NPR.org. 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
• ^ "FTC Settles With Financial Company Over Fake Rankings Of Financial Products And Reviews - Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment - United States". www.mondaq.com. Retrieved 2020-03-11.

Maureenlendedu (talk) 18:37, 15 July 2025 (UTC)