Online lending is the darling of venture capitalists — witness Lenda, the startup specializing in home loans that announced a $1.5 million raise yesterday — and the space as a whole is white hot.

“Consumer finance is the last big industry to move online,” Doug Lebda, founder and CEO of LendingTree, told Bank Innovation. “We’re at the very beginning of it.”

Lebda should know — he was there at the actual beginning, founding LendingTree in 1996 and launching it online in 1998.

The stars are aligned for personal loans to be originated on the internet, Lebda said. Consumer comfort and technological advances have combined to deliver excellent user experiences at a time when borrowers are ready to take advantage of them. The continued improvement of the economy also has consumers in the best position in more than ten years in terms of household debt. In short, consumers are looking to borrow again. The most common reason for borrowing, according to LendingTree data, is debt consolidation.

Another factor making for good times in online lending is the favor shown by regulators to the industry. In April, 2012 the JOBS Act was passed, which eased restrictions on crowdfunding, and just last week, the FDIC finalized the Qualified Residential Mortgage rule, which provides clarity and consistency and should serve to allow lenders to loosen underwriting standards and serve more consumers.

Of the QRM rule, Lebda said, “These defined rules are beneficial for both lenders and borrowers, and we’re optimistic about what lies ahead for the housing and lending industries.”

LendingTree is not a loan underwriter itself, but is a marketplace or matchmaker for loans. Lebda compared it to Expedia.com for travel, and said the personal loans business feels “like the travel industry felt in 2001” — poised for large-scale expansion. LendingTree sees certain information about the borrower, credit info and address, but the lender itself closes the loan and manages the relationship with the borrower. The company has 200 employees; its average loan size is $10,000 with a three-year term.

This summer, LendingTree launched MyLendingTree, a portal that gives borrowers free access to their credit score, as well as financial education about reducing debt and improving credit ratings. Lebda also co-founded Tykoon, a personal finance site for children and parents. In the next 60 days, Lebda said, Tykoon will leverage ApplePay to being transactional capability to Tykoon accounts.

Consumers are looking to borrow and there are lenders looking to give it to them, even if they aren’t banks, he said. “There are people out there with money that want to put it into loans,” Lebda said.