[Photo: Marcus Goldman / Haaretz.com]

Consumer lending is a big market, with about $1 trillion in consumer loans in the U.S. alone. Credit cards finance have most of that debt, while fintech firms are making inroads by offering online loans with cheaper rates.

And then there’s Goldman Sachs, with Marcus, its consumer lending arm. Since inception, Marcus bank has lent out about $1 billion in consumer loans. In 2017, Goldman expects that figure to double. And it’s doing so with consumer loans ranging from $3,500 to $30,000. That’s a relatively slow pace for Goldman, which deals each day in multi-billion financial transactions. But that’s okay with CEO Lloyd Blankfein’s expectations, who told Mad Money’s Jim Cramer that the firm wants to make sure it’s doing a good job. [And he might well have said, "You don’t have to be the first, just the best."]

Meanwhile, troubles appear to be sprouting at Goldman’s online competitors.

• Loans are going bad faster than expected – which shouldn’t be a surprise. Alarm bells are going off on Wall Street and among regulators over concerns that borrowers may be overburdened. [See Financialish story, “JPMorgan, Wells Fargo Are Selling Subprime Asset-Backed Securities - Should You Be A Buyer?”]  Goldman has the technology expertise to develop and apply algorithms for closely monitoring its borrowers.
• Borrowing costs have increased. That’s an issue that probably won’t impact Goldman, where depositors have been lining up for savings accounts at Marcus – which offers relatively high savings account rates.
• One competitor, Promise Financial, has even stopped making new loans and is instead licensing technology to banks.

And if you listen closely, you may even be able to hear Lloyd Blankfein humming the song lyrics from the 1946 Broadway musical, “Annie Get Your Gun” - “Anything you can do, I can do better.”