Funding Circle forges partnership with H&R Block
Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform Funding Circle has entered a strategic partnership with H&R Block, a provider of bookkeeping, payroll, taxes and other accounting services. Through the partnership, Funding Circle loans will become the preferred solution for H&R Block Small Business customers seeking financing to grow. Other strategic partners integrated onto the platform recently include Intuit, Tri-Net, LendingTree, Credit Karma, Creditera and the National Small Business Association.
It’s only September, so the majority of people and businesses aren’t thinking too much about taxes. However, we're nearing the end of Q3 and the new year and tax reporting is just around the corner. With this in mind, marketplace lending firm, Funding Circle, is preparing for the surge in tax related activity next year as they have announced a partnership with H&R Block.

Funding Circle's partnership with this accounting firm, that specializes in personal and SME tax returns, is similar to others we’ve seen between marketplace lenders and SME service providers. Similar deals include Kabbage’s partnership with Sage Payment Solutions in Australia. For marketplace lenders, working together and offering referral revenues to firms that support SMEs provides them with access to an existing group of business customers as potential Leads Leads Leads or lead generation are an essential component of marketing and powerful tool by brokers. In its simplest form, leads can be defined as the outreach of customer interest or enquiry into products or services, most often associated with brokerages.These can be created for purposes such as list building, e-newsletter list acquisition, or for sales leads. Amongst marketers, such lists are one of their most important assets and instrumental to sales.There are a variety of methods for generating Leads or lead generation are an essential component of marketing and powerful tool by brokers. In its simplest form, leads can be defined as the outreach of customer interest or enquiry into products or services, most often associated with brokerages.These can be created for purposes such as list building, e-newsletter list acquisition, or for sales leads. Amongst marketers, such lists are one of their most important assets and instrumental to sales.There are a variety of methods for generating Read this Term for their lending platform.

In the current deal, Funding Circle will provide business loans of up to $500,000 to firms who already use H&R Block's accounting services, such as bookkeeping, payroll, and taxes. For Funding Circle, the deal adds H&R Block to a growing list of partners that service the SME market, including Intuit, Tri-Net, LendingTree, Credit Karma and Creditera. According to Funding Circle, growth in their strategic partners business has led to monthly originations from the unit increasing 313% since January 2015.

Commenting on the partnership, Jeremy Smith, Director of Block Small Business, stated: “The mission of our two organizations are very similar. We both provide services to small businesses that enable successful, sustainable growth. Given that we do the accounting for service businesses with less than $20MM in revenue, our clients have found it difficult to get loans from traditional banks. Well, Funding Circle specializes in lending to these types of businesses; so now our clients have a go-to source for capital to grow their businesses."