Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is Whitmore Solutions?

Whitmore Solutions is a social lending network that lets borrower members borrow money through personal loans, and lenders fund these loans by investing in Notes. Each Note corresponds to a portion of a borrower loan.

How can Whitmore Solutions offer better rates?

Banks incur significant costs by collecting deposits from the public on one hand and extending loans or issuing credit cards on the other hand. Whitmore Solutions eliminates most of these costs by creating a network where borrower members can obtain loans funded directly by lender members. Compare our rates or learn more about our rates and fees.

Who is servicing the loans?

Whitmore Solutions is servicing the loans, electronically transferring funds and channelling them from lenders to borrowers and vice versa. Whitmore Solutions is working with collections agencies to manage defaults. In order to ensure continuity in the case Whitmore Solutions stops servicing the loans for any reason, we have entered into a backup servicing and successor agreement with Portfolio Financial Servicing Corporation for PFSC to take over loan servicing.

Do you report borrowers' accounts to the credit bureaus?

Yes, we report all of our account experiences to our credit bureau partners, including both positive and negative payment histories.

What happens if Whitmore Solutions goes out of business?

In order to ensure continuity in the case Whitmore Solutions stops servicing the loans for any reason, we have entered into a backup servicing and successor agreement with Portfolio Financial Servicing Corporation for PFSC to take over loan servicing.

Account Basics

What is involved in the registration process?

There are two types of registration on the site. The basic membership registration process takes less than a minute to complete, and it starts by clicking the [Get A Loan] link at the top of each page. After registering as a basic member, you will be able to register as either a borrower.

I haven't received the email to complete the registration process. Can you help?

First, click on the link to have another email sent to you. If this does not work, you will need to open your email program and examine your settings. In some email domains, the email not only goes directly to the junk folder, but it could even be immediately deleted from your junk folder, depending on how you have set up your preferences. To remedy this, access your email program options or preferences and enter shorcangroup.com as a safe sender. If you are still experiencing issues, please contact us at support@shorcangroup.com.

How do I close my account? Will you delete all of my information?

It is possible to cancel your account, provided:

• you are not a borrower currently repaying a loan
• you are not a lender with an active portfolio

There are certain reporting and information retention requirements with which we must comply. Therefore, we cannot delete your account information outright. Your account will become inactive and not accessible to anyone other than Whitmore Solutions authorized personnel. Moreover, once your account is deactivated, you will not receive any further communications from Whitmore Solutions.

To cancel your account, please contact Member Support.

Investing

Who is eligible to be a lender through Whitmore Solutions?

Both individuals and organizations can be lenders. If you are an individual and want to lend through Whitmore Solutions, you must be at least 18 years old and have a valid Social Security number and successfully pass our identity verification mechanisms. In addition, individuals must comply with the State and Financial Suitability conditions before investing in Notes on the Whitmore Solutions site. Family trusts, companies or other organizations will need to contact us for verification purposes before becoming a lender. Whitmore Solutions Corporation is also a lender.

Borrowing

How do I borrow money?

To request a loan, click on the "Borrow" tab, or any of the "Get a Loan" links or "Start Borrowing" buttons on the site. If you are not already a member, we will guide you through the quick process of creating an account before taking you to the borrower registration page.

The borrower registration process includes several steps, during which we collect information to verify your identity and assess your creditworthiness. You will then be asked to complete a simple loan request. Once you pass the initial screening, we will show you several loans for which you qualify. After you select the loan option you prefer, we will list the loan. You will be asked to authenticate your bank account, which must occur before you can receive your loan funds. Your loan will be listed on our site for two weeks (or until you get fully funded, whichever happens first) during which time interested lenders will contribute portions of the amount you requested. We will let you know your loan has been funded, and you will be able to receive partial funding or relist your loan if you don't receive full funding. Learn more about borrowing.

What is a FICO score?

A FICO score is a numeric rating which can range between 300 and 850. It is calculated by the three credit agencies using predefined criteria to evaluate and rate a person's past credit history. Consumers with higher scores typically represent a lower risk of defaulting on their loans. They may be considered by lenders to be more desirable customers than those with lower credit scores. For more information regarding FICO scores, or to get access to your own FICO score, please visit www.myfico.com.

What if I have a fraud alert with the credit bureau?

Unfortunately, Whitmore Solutions cannot verify users with a fraud alert on their account at this time. What you may be able to do is to contact TransUnion's Fraud Department at 888-909-8872 and have them temporarily remove the alert. In the meantime, we will also keep you on our list to contact if we make updates to our policy. You can also contact us when your fraud alert expires.

How long will it take for my loan request to be approved and funded?

Our credit scoring technology allows Whitmore Solutions to instantly approve your loan for listing, and present you with several loan options. After you make your selection, your loan request will be posted on the Whitmore Solutions site and will remain listed for two weeks or until you receive full funding, whichever happens first.

If the loan is fully funded or if you accept partial funding, we will deposit the funded loan amount, less our fees, into your bank account normally within one business day, provided that the loan review process described below is completed.

At any time during the two-week process Whitmore Solutions may ask you for additional information to further verify your identity, income or employment. If we receive no response within 3 business days, or if information is not validated, your loan listing will be cancelled.

What if my loan isn't fully funded when my listing ends? Can I relist my loan to try again?

If your loan isn't fully funded when your listing ends, you have two choices if you still wish to pursue funding. You can accept the partial funding amount that you have received toward the total you requested (if it exceeds $10,000). You may also relist your loan request for another 2 weeks.

To accept the partial loan amount, go to your Account Summary and click on the "Take partial amount" button to initiate the process. You must approve the revised Truth in Lending Disclosure containing your new loan terms (the loan amount and monthly payment amounts will be different, but the interest rate will remain the same). You will have four days to take the partial loan amount before the funds are returned to lenders.

It is also possible to relist your loan, if you prefer. To initiate this process, please contact Member Support. The loan amount and interest rate cannot be changed, but you will be able to modify your loan title and description to make your loan more attractive to lenders (recommended).

For further information or assistance with your account, please contact Member Support.

What if I am late in making a payment?

Borrowers have a 15-day grace period to make payments. If you have not paid by that time, we will charge a late fee. Depending on the lateness of your payment, we will report late borrowers to credit bureaus and work with collection agencies to recover the lenders' money. .

If you are having a problem making your payments, we suggest that you contact us. There may be something we can do to help prevent this from becoming a more serious problem.

I received a loan and saw my credit data, which I believe may have errors in it. How can I get these errors corrected?

Whitmore Solutions has no way to access your credit file or make any modifications to it on your behalf. We use TransUnion as our credit bureau partner, so you will need to contact TransUnion directly to have your file updated or corrected. You can reach TransUnion as follows:

TransUnion LLC
Consumer Disclosures
2 Baldwin Place
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, PA 19022
800-888-4213
www.transunion.com

Privacy

Do you share my personal information with other parties?

Whitmore Solutions will never sell, rent or otherwise distribute your information to other parties for marketing purposes. We only share whatever information about you is necessary to complete the transactions you request, such as listing a loan, making payments or transferring funds. Any information we do share and to whom is explicitly defined in our Privacy Policy.

Security

How is my personal and financial information protected?

Whitmore Solutions takes strong steps to safeguard your personal and personally identifiable information through physical, electronic and operational practices that meet or exceed industry standards established for financial institutions. All data is considered highly confidential. Data can only be read or written through defined service access points, the use of which is password-protected. The physical security of the data is achieved through a combination of network firewalls (there is no direct communication allowed between the database server and the Internet) and servers with hardened operating systems, all housed in a secure facility. Further, we also equip our servers with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology to ensure that when you connect to our web site you are actually on our site. SSL also ensures that all data entered into the web site is encrypted. We also use a 128-bit secure browser for logins and transactions.

We store all sensitive financial data such as Social Security numbers and bank accounts in a highly secure environment hosted by our partner, BankServ, a PCI-compliant payment solution provider. The PCI data security standard was developed by credit card companies to impose the strictest security standards. You will find detailed information about additional methods we employ to protect your personal information and financial data in the security section of our Privacy Policy.

How does identity verification work?

When you register as a borrower or lender on our site, we work with credit bureaus to validate the information you provide. That is, we first make sure you are in fact a real person with real credentials (i.e., a valid Social Security number). Next, for the safety of our community, we also need to make sure you are the person you claim to be. This step involves cross-checking the information you provide, to ensure that your home address matches your Social Security number and date of birth, for example. We also ask you several questions that only you should know how to answer. Finally, we check your information against several databases to ensure you are going to be a safe transaction partner on our site. These steps will not take you too long to complete, and they are essential to providing a safe place for you to do business.

What do you do about identity theft?

We have a vigorous policy and will not hesitate to prosecute offenders. Whitmore Solutions utilizes state of the art authentication technology to verify identities. However, if a lender suspects that one of their loans belongs to a person who has committed ID theft, we will work with law enforcement authorities to track down and prosecute anyone who has committed identity theft. We will reimburse lenders for the unpaid principal balance of loans where the borrower has committed identity theft.