Marketplace lender DirectMoney appears to have booked an impairment charge in its 2015/16 accounts that represents more than five per cent of its receivables, a ratio that would raise serious questions about the company's credit processes.However, the company points out that the figures are not straightforward and when seen in context tell a much more positive story.DirectMoney wrote A$11.2 million of unsecured personal loans in the 12 months to June and grew its loan book from $4.6 million to $7.6 million over the year.In February it sold a $5 million portfolio of loans to Macquarie Bank. It still manages those loans. It also manages about $1 million of loans that it sold into the DirectMoney Personal Loan Fund.Taking those loans into account, it had $12.8 million of loans under management at the end of June.The company charged $87,803 for doubtful debts and $146,898 for bad debts.It also wrote off $179,609 for losses on the sale of loan assets, after selling non-performing loans to a debt buyer at less than face value.The total impairment charge of $414,310 represents 5.4 per cent of loans on the balance sheet or 3.2 per cent of total loans under management.DirectMoney had some problems with its credit assessment, identity verification and fraud detection processes early in its life, which the company's chief executive Peter Beaumont says have since been sorted out.Such was the extent of the problem that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission made the company release a supplementary prospectus for its listing on the Australian Securities Exchange last year, detailing the issues.Beaumont said: "Significant adjustments to the company's credit team and credit processes made during the first half of 2015 have materially improved the credit performance of loans written subsequently."He pointed out that of the $11.2 million of loans written in the year to June only about $40,000 has been provided for.Beaumont also pointed out that because a proportion of the company's personal loans are paid out within 12 months, the calculation of impairments as a proportion of receivables is distorted in a way that makes the ratio appear larger than if all loans written in the period were still on the books.The business, which has only been lending since 2014, will need more time to give a clearer picture of its credit quality.DirectMoney made a loss of $7.9 million on revenue of $1.2 million in the year to June. Allowing for significant one-off items, including ASX listing costs of $2.7 million, the operating loss was $3.8 million.