Google employees may get low-interest personal loans as 'new perk'

Google is reportedly said to be working with a lending company to offer low-interest personal loans to its employees, which could make it the next big perk for those working for the search giant.

Google is among other companies that peer-to-peer lending marketplace Lending Club has been trying for putting cash holdings to work by offering the loans facilitated by the firm.

According to AllThingsD, Lending Club’s pitch is part of the company’s strategy to push beyond its initial focus on peer-to-peer loans by opening up its platform to large institutions such as banks and corporations as it eyes a potential 2014 IPO.

However, Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche said that the company is not currently working with Google on such an initiative, but he confirmed that his company is in talks with large companies about facilitating this type of human-resources benefit.

Laplanche explained that employees could use these loans to pay off high-interest credit card debt, large student loans or simply to consolidate debt into one loan, with payments being automatically deducted from paychecks.

The report said that the loans would also give corporations better returns on some of their holdings, while also serving as a recruiting and retention tool and could be a nice perk for part-time workers who may need the help the most.