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photo credit: AmandaLouise

With banks constricting their lending opportunities for borrowers these past months, The New York Post’s video about the benefits of person-to-person lending is a short but incisive analysis of the credit program. The concept is simple: financial intermediaries are eliminated but the firm manages to match borrowers and lenders together minus the additional cost charged by banks in traditional lending schemes. The online transaction allows a borrower to seek lower interest rates, bypassing the services of a bank while in the comforts of their home.

However, the rates won’t keep getting lower. Lenders naturally have to base their interest rates with that of the central bank’s and other zero-risk investment opportunities’. After all, alternatives for newer lending practices such as P2P are always available and can be substituted at a more secured return from the government. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: justgrimes

There is a tendency for people to think when bad news about the economy strikes the worst thing they could do is attempt to start a small business. This could not be farther from the truth. There is no such thing as a bad time to start a business, provided you go about it the right way. Check the news again. When large corporations are failing and looking for bailouts, small businesses keep on ticking. A small business owner that keeps a tight rein on operations and serves the public with products or services valuable enough to be taken in exchange for money will survive a bumpy ride.

Start Looking for a Lender Right Away

Any “grey beard” entrepreneur that has made it through the economic swings that seem to part of a natural cycle will tell you not to invest every personal cent you have in your business when starting out. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: norrelb

With any investment or loan there needs to be an interest rate charged. Lending Club uses a formula that takes into account several factors, but it really begins with the assigning of a loan grade.

The first step in getting any peer to peer loan on Lending Club is borrowers must apply for a loan. Upon this request, Lending Club begins to evaluate the potential borrowers’ credit standing. This information is taken and used to assign the borrower a loan grade. These grades range from A to G with A being the highest and G the lowest. To further narrow down grades, each letter grade has sub classes. These are numbered from 1 to 5 with 1 as the highest. These loan grades will then be used in every part of the Lending Clubs formula for calculating interest rates.

The formula is made up of two distinct parts. They are the based rate and the adjustment for risk and volatility. The sum of these equals the interest rate charged. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: karpov the wrecked train

As the credit crunch continues, more and more business owners and entrepreneurs are turning to less traditional methods of business financing. Usually, the requirements for receiving these non-traditional business loans are not as strict as bank requirements, even during times of a booming economy. Now, as people who would normally qualify for bank loans are facing bank denials, the various non-traditional business financing sources are experiencing an influx of qualified applicants.

Peer-to-Peer Lending

Wikipedia describes peer-to-peer, or P2P lending, as a lending system that “…occurs directly between individuals (“peers”) without the intermediation/participation of a traditional financial institution.” According to a recent article, many peer-to-peer lending sites, say users are frequently listing “credit crunch” or “banks tightening their credit policy” as reasons for turning to social lending networks. Read the rest of this entry »