While banks are definitely starting to lend to more borrowers as of late, some of these banks are already targeting those with poor credit scores with long-term, high-interest loans. The fact that people with poor credit can actually obtain a loan can mean the world to them especially if they are in dire need of something and willing to take the lass than favorable terms in order to get it. On the other hand it, even if some are taking it as a sign of our economy getting better, it could result in another downturn if the nation amasses too much debt from unpaid loans.

On the flip side of the lending situation, the banks being more willing to lend money to borrowers with poor credit also means that it will be much easier for those with good credit scores to obtain loans and for higher amounts. This means that those that will be taking out loans and using the money to start businesses or other profitable ventures could help the economy overall by bringing more money into the country. Easier access to loans also means that more people will be buying houses which will certainly help to boost the real estate market, one that often has a lot of bearing on the rest of different economic sectors.

So while it is hard to tell at this point whether or not the fact that the banks are lending again is a sign that the economy is improving directly, it could be a sign that things will get better. The important thing is that those that do take out loans make sure to pay them back and be sure about their ability to pay them back from the beginning. Hopefully people will be taking out loans for the right reasons that will benefit our economy as a whole and not just them personally. So check with your bank today, getting a loan might be easier than you think.

This article (Consumer Lending on the Rise) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

Here is the press release:

CINCINNATI – (May 15, 2012) – SoMoLend LLC, an alternative borrowing software-as-a-service lending platform focused on the social, mobile and local aspects of the loan market, has closed a $1.17 million seed-stage investment round. SoMo offers new solutions for small businesses to obtain the money they need to launch and sustain their operations.

CincyTech led the round, which also included Queen City Angels, the North Coast Angel Fund, Blue Chip Partners, Shaker LaunchHouse, Eldar Investment LLC, Clarion Direct Investment LLC, Clifford Holekamp, Elizabeth Crowell, Bruce Terry, Bob Baron, Cheryl & Carlin Stamm and numerous other individual investors.

The investment will be used to complete an alpha application of the software, create market underwriting standards and develop a broader capitalization plan. But even with its software still in development, the company’s innovative business model is winning accolades around the country. SoMo was named a “Best of Show” demonstration at FinovateSpring in San Francisco last week. The two-day conference featured 63 demonstrations of various financial technologies, but only seven overall were chosen as Best of Show.

CEO Candace Klein founded SoMoLend in 2011 when she saw that small businesses needed more lending resources beyond traditional banks. SoMo’s technology connects credit-worthy businesses with corporations and institutions looking to invest locally and with a purpose.

The social aspect (“So”) of the business allows investors and borrowers to connect before and during the loan process. Because SoMoLend focuses only on commercial loans, the company can provide complete transparency to lenders.

The mobile aspect (“Mo”) of the business allows lenders and borrowers to connect via location, in a hyper-localized geographic scope.

The signing of the JOBS Act in April will allow SoMo to use its technology nationally once the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is satisfied that enough standards and best practices are in place to protect crowdfunding investors. By using SoMo’s platform, small businesses can secure loans from family, friends, customers and other individuals. Klein and her team spent months lobbying Congress to pass the crowdfunding legislation.

“The JOBS Act is essential for our micro-lending platform,” Klein said. “We’re trying to give lenders the ability to invest in people and companies that they’re passionate about while giving traditionally overlooked borrowers the same opportunities for loans as venture-backed companies.”

The SEC will spend the next seven months deciding how to regulate crowdfunding and micro-lending. Klein will co-chair a group made up of crowdfunding’s leading experts, known as the Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates (CFIRA), who will help outline these regulations.

About SoMoLend

SoMoLend is a Web-based lending platform that uses patent-pending technology to connect small business borrowers with individual and organizational investors (lenders), executed within a hyper-localized geographic scope. SoMoLend’s user-friendly technology allows small business borrowers to obtain loans from friends, family, customers, community supporters and interested organizations as well as from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn connections. For more information, visit http://somolend.com/ or http://somolend.wordpress.com/.

About CincyTech

CincyTech is a public-private seed-stage venture firm that invests in startup businesses in high-tech industries in Southwest Ohio. With substantial support from Ohio Third Frontier and corporations, foundations, civic organizations and individuals in Cincinnati, it is stimulating the growth of venture-worthy companies in information technology, bioscience and advanced manufacturing.

This article ($1.17 Million Seed-Stage Investment Round A Success For SoMoLend) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

Here is the press release:

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — WikiLoan, Inc. (“WikiLoan”, or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that it has signed a comprehensive distribution agreement for the WikiPay platform with Prouty Company LLC (ProutyCo). We believe revenue could reach $25 million in the first year, and revenue in subsequent years should be in excess of $100 million per year.

The agreement covers several areas as outlined below:

•    ProutyCo will be including the WikiPay app in its Smalltell social commerce application that will be launching on multiple wireless carrier networks beginning in March, making the application instantly available to over 5 million existing subscribers in the U.S. (http://smalltell.com/)

•    ProutyCo is providing bill pay access to more than 15,000 Billers for WikiPay users via their mobile phone and PC, with a formal launch scheduled for March 1st.

•    ProutyCo and WikiPay have developed a program to allow cash loads and withdrawals through ProutyCo’s extensive network of retailers throughout the U.S. and Mexico, and will be expanding its network in additional countries in the coming months. Rollout of the program will commence the last week of February and will include the adoption of the WikiPay Mobile Wallet, Micro-Loan and Mobile Marketing programs by multiple ProutyCo Carrier Partners.

•    WikiPay has implemented a multi-tier commission payout program to serve ProutyCo’s massive network of over 100,000 retailers, carriers, service providers and strategic partners.

“We’ve worked hard with WikiPay over the past several months to craft a dynamic Mobile Wallet and Mobile Marketing program that has become highly marketable to Agents and Merchants within our Distribution Network. We thoroughly tested the WikiPay platform via the Web and on various mobile devices, and are very pleased with the results. WikiPay has developed a robust and feature-rich application, which we have discovered is highly adoptable by a wide variety of businesses, and by consumers in all levels of society. Now that demand for Mobile Wallet and related services has been stimulated within our network, we will begin leveraging our Strategic Partner and Service Provider Networks to grow the user-base both domestically and internationally,” stated Phil Prouty, President and CEO of ProutyCo.

“First off, it’s very rewarding to find the proverbial needle in the haystack. And, let me tell you, Phil Prouty is that needle, and I will tell you why,” said Marco Garibaldi, CEO of WikiLoan. And he continued, “Phil, right away, knew we had something different than the rest.. something special. While everyone was spending millions of Dollars, like all our would-be competitors, building the ‘Cloud,’ ‘The Mobile Wallet’ or ‘The currency for the Unbanked,’ they forgot to actually build an application that is Fast, Easy, Secure and Cheap; not just for the ‘Unbanked’ but for Everyone! And, that’s what we built and that’s what Phil saw, and decided to put it in the SIM cards of 5 Million people. I like people that can actually see through The Cloud, and get down to distribution. I couldn’t be happier, and I am certain that every WikiPay user will feel the same way.”

ABOUT THE WIKI GROUP, INC.

The Wiki Group, Inc. owns and operates two proprietary state-of-the-art technology platforms, WikiPay and WikiLoan.

WikiPay is a low-cost, cash-based mobile payment and marketing platform solution for Peer-to-Peer (P2P), Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Consumer-to-Business (C2B), and Business-to-Business (B2B) transactions. The key driver for WikiPay is its low transaction fees. WikiPay is FREE for payments between members. Additionally, WikiPay’s mobile marketing application, WikiBlast, enables merchants to reach their client base instantly with a variety of customizable SMS marketing programs. For more information, please visit: www.wikipay.com or the mobile website: m.wikipay.com.

WikiLoan is a low-cost peer-to-peer lending platform that works through the participation and collaboration of family and friends through social networks. The company’s website www.wikiloan.com provides repayment schedules and documentation for loans, along with proprietary administrative tools, which enable users to securely pull credit reports and automate the loan repayment process.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release may include “forward-looking statements” regarding The Wiki Group, Inc., and its subsidiaries, business and project plans. Such forward looking statements are within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are intended to be covered by the safe harbor created by such sections. Where The Wiki Group, Inc. expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is believed to have a reasonable basis. However, forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Wiki Group, Inc. does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

This article (WikiLoan And Prouty Company Sign Comprehensive Distribution Agreement) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

• Roundup of Social Lending News – May 12, 2012 – Every Saturday I bring you the latest news from the world of peer to peer lending. These are the best of the news articles and blog posts from around the web that I shared on Twitter this past week. This has been a busy week for me with the launch of my new P2P Lending Wealth System…
• The New P2P Lending Wealth System Launches – The all new P2P Lending Wealth System is now available. With over four and a half hours of video content I think it is safe to say that it is the most comprehensive training program for p2p investors ever created. Those of you who have been with me a while here will remember the first…
• May 2012 update – Happy May everyone! With spring here now and the selling season in full swing for many of our partners, our business continues to grow rapidly to meet the expanding needs of Canada’s sales finance market.  We wanted to share a few key announcements related to this growth. We hit two major milestones this past month…
• Wokai is Closing Down – Wokai, which funded microloans in China, is closing down. According to the announcement Wokai did not succeed in finding a new CEO. Read earlier articles on Wokai’s launch in 2008….
• May P2P Lending Update – Firstly, I realize I have not posted for a while. It’s not because I’ve given up on P2P lending. Quite the opposite. I’ve never had higher confidence!  I am working on a large side project that consumes much of my … Continue reading →…
• Roundup of Social Lending News – May 5, 2012 – Every Saturday I bring you the latest news from the world of peer to peer lending. These are the best of the news articles and blog posts from around the web that I shared on Twitter this past week. Probably the most important article of this week was the one on Daily Finance, the widely read site…

This article (This Week in Peer to Peer Lending: 5/13/2012) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

The $147.00 video series consists of four video multi-part modules. There are three videos that introduce the concepts of peer-to-peer lending, discuss what risks are involved and what you need to know about peer-to-peer lending before you start investing. There are two videos about investing with Lending Club and two videos about investing with Prosper. There are three more modules about measuring ROI and two more modules that contain insider tips.

Renton said in an email that, “I have taken the most useful parts of the 192 blog posts from the Social Lending Network as well as plenty of new information that I have never shared publicly before and squeezed it all into 3  hours of video.” In his the first video of the series, Renton said that the goal of the video series was to help investors beat the average rates of return that peer-to-peer lending investors are seeing.

I don’t know that the P2P Lending Wealth System video series will provide any new significant insights if you’ve been investing in loans on Lending Club or Prosper.com for a while, but if you’re a new peer-to-peer lending investor and are considering putting any significant amount of money into loans on Prosper.com or Lending Club, spending the $147.00 and taking three hours learning about peer-to-peer lending via this course is almost certainly worth your time.

The course is currently on sale for $97.00 ($50.00 off) through May 31st.

The course can be accessed at p2plendingwealthsystem.com.

This article (Invest Better with the P2P Lending Wealth System) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

Here is the press release:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – February 02, 2012 – Lending Club (http://www.lendingclub.com), the leading platform for investing in and obtaining personal loans, today announced that $500 million in loans have been originated via the platform since inception. Lending Club serves the needs of prime consumers who choose the lower interest rate loans available through Lending Club over more expensive credit cards.

The San Francisco-based company commenced operations in 2007 and has exceeded 100 percent growth in loan volume each year since. More than a quarter-billion dollars in loans were originated on the platform in 2011, more than doubling the previous four years combined. Lending Club now averages more than $1 million in loan originations per day, with an average loan size of $10,945. The majority of borrowers (66.7 percent) say they use Lending Club’s fixed-rate personal loan platform to pay off their high-interest credit cards.

Investments are also soaring: Lending Club now receives more than $30 million a month in new investments from a base of over 50,000 retail investors and a rapidly growing pool of institutional investors, with more than 50 investor accounts over $1 million and several accounts over $10 million. By focusing on loan originations to prime and super-prime quality borrowers and with less than 10 percent of submitted loan applications approved, Lending Club has established a four and a half-year track record in which its Prime Consumer Notes generated 18 consecutive quarters of positive returns* and average annual returns of 5.8 percent to 12.3 percent depending on loan grades.** The company’s wholly-owned subsidiary LC Advisors, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor, launched two funds in 2011 that rapidly grew to more than $80 million in assets under management.

Lending Club’s year-over-year revenue more than doubled with calendar 2011 revenue reaching $12.8 million. The Lending Club team has expanded rapidly, with more than 25 new employees hired in 2011 bringing the company total to 78. Key hires included Chief Risk Officer Chaomei Chen, formerly chief risk officer with JP Morgan Chase Card Services and LC Advisors President Brad Pattelli, formerly co-portfolio manager of the levered loan group at New York-based hedge fund Angelo Gordon.

“Lending Club is a radically simple, new idea that is delivering value. We put the consumer back in the driver’s seat and use technology to lower costs,” said Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche. “Our process whereby investors provide capital to invest in loans made to borrowers is the simplest, most transparent and most efficient form of lending. Lending Club takes banking back to its roots.”

About Lending Club

Lending Club utilizes technology and innovation to reduce the cost of traditional lending and offer borrowers better rates and investors better returns. Founded in 2006 and based in San Francisco, CA, Lending Club has been recognized for its results and innovation by the Harvard Business Review and Dow Jones, was named one of Forbes’ America’s Most Promising Companies in 2011 and recognized as a 2012 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. More information is available at: http://www.lendingclub.com.

Additional information about Lending Club is available in the prospectus for Lending Club’s notes, which can be obtained on Lending Club’s website at https://www.lendingclub.com/info/prospectus.action.

###

Information in this press release is not an offer to sell securities or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. Some of the statements in this above are ’forward-looking statements.’ The words ’anticipate,’ ’believe,’ ’estimate,’ ’expect,’ ’intend,’ ’may,’ ’plan,’ ’predict,’ ’project,’ ’will,’ ’would’ and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. The Company may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Currently only residents of the following states may invest in Lending Club notes: CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, KY (accredited investors), LA, ME, MN, MO, MS, MT, NH, NV, NY, RI, SC, SD, UT, VA, WA, WI, WV, or WY.

This article (Lending Club Announces More Than $500 Million In Loans Originated) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

The beauty of most of these platforms is they do not require any large investment, and a person is allowed to invest so little to begin that most people should be able to find a platform that sits within their financial comfort zone. There is also a lot of literature available to help you understand the markets before you go ahead and make the leap onto your chosen investment vehicle!

Whether you want to invest in penny stocks or utilise spread betting options, there is a lot on offer to you online, all you need to do is make sure that the company you intend to use is legit and regulated by the Financial Services Authority for its particular location. As long as that checks out, you will then need to look for the company that offers the most user friendly experience as it would be impossible to gain a profit on your investment if you do not understand exactly what you are looking at! Another thing that I look for is a company that has informative advisors who make it their mission to try and secure you a profit, and although they can only advise you, it’s good to be able to speak to a professional who has a thorough understanding of the markets as their insight can lead to you getting some very big profits!

I, the guest author, myself have gone with the spread betting option and I have found a company called Cantor Capital that I am very pleased with. Their service is second to none and the professional assistance that I have been receiving has helped me gain a sizeable profit on my initial investment. Although I sometimes make a loss, my profit margin over investment is still high, and this is due in part to the brilliant novice account that I have setup with Cantor, which helps limiting my losses. For example, when using my Cantor spread betting service I can put a stopper on the amount of money I am willing to risk in a particular market, and if the market does fall to that level, I am automatically pulled out of the market, limiting my losses to the amount I had already set!

This article (Spread Betting Options for U.K. Investors) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

Here is the press release:

26th March 2012: The P2P Finance Association, the trade body representing leading UK peer-to-peer (P2P) financial businesses, has today welcomed Government approval of the Association’s Rules and Operating Principles. These Principles, which Association members have to adhere to, set out key requirements to ensure transparent, fair, robust and orderly operation of their platforms to protect both savers and borrowers.

The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, when responding to the recent ‘non-bank lending taskforce’ report by Tim Breedon, backed the establishment of a P2P industry code as a means to raise awareness of P2P finance, but also safeguard usersi.

Giles Andrews, Chair of the P2P Finance Association said: ‘This is a hugely exciting sector, and one that has experienced significant growth over recent years. The P2P Finance Association has established strict operating principles to ensure a level of uniformity amongst members which in turn will reassure and protect our users. We are delighted that the Government has endorsed the development of our industry body and code of practice’.

ENDS

Notes To Editors:

The Peer-to-Peer Finance Association was set up in 2011 by the three largest peer-to-peer finance companies in the UK – Funding Circle, RateSetter and Zopa. The Association’s Code is as follows:

1. Senior management systems and controls;
2. Minimum capital requirements based on Operating Costs (with a minimum of £100,000);
3. Segregation of participants’ funds;
4. Clear rules governing use of the platform, consistent with these Operating Principles;
5. Marketing and customer communications that are clear, fair and not misleading;
6. Secure and reliable IT systems;
7. Fair complaints handling;
8. The orderly administration of contracts in the event a platform ceases to operate; and
9. Appropriate credit assessment and anti-fraud measures including CIFAS membership (see http://www.cifas.org.uk/cifas_members)

Full details of the P2P Finance Association, can be found at www.P2PFinanceAssociation.org.uk

This article (Government Approves P2P Finance Association’s Rules And Operating Principles) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

• Roundup of Social Lending News – May 5, 2012 – Every Saturday I bring you the latest news from the world of peer to peer lending. These are the best of the news articles and blog posts from around the web that I shared on Twitter this past week. Probably the most important article of this week was the one on Daily Finance, the widely read site…
• This Financial Advisor is Very Bullish About P2P Lending – Brendan Ross is one of the few financial advisors who gets p2p lending. He is the principal of Ross Asset Advisors based in Los Angeles and I chatted with him recently about his practice and his p2p lending investments. An edited transcript of the interview is below. SLN: Tell me a bit about your practice….
• Mac or PC? Learn how one borrower made the call with Prosper.com – One of the great things about a Prosper Loan is that you can use it in a variety of ways.*Jay Julian is a great example of this. He used his first loan to upgrade his PC and purchase an iPad – and then he came back for a second loan to complete the switch to…
• Prosper and Lending Club Issue $53.7 Million in New Loans in April – The numbers keep rolling on. After posting just over $50 million in total new loans between them in March, Lending Club and Prosper continued their steady rise with $53.7 million in new loans issued in April. The growth remained very strong at Lending Club while at Prosper the growth rate has slowed down somewhat but volume…
• Roundup of Social Lending News – April 28, 2012 – Every Saturday I bring you the latest news from the world of peer to peer lending. These are the best of the news articles and blog posts from around the web that I shared on Twitter this past week. We have many great articles here for your weekend reading. One of the most interesting articles from this…
• Smava Changes Business Model; Brokers Bank Loans – German Smava, launched 2007, yesterday announced that it will offer more products and evolve into a marketplace where borrowers seeking loans get multiple offers. The site logo and layout have been redesigned to reflect this change. Smava said p2p loans will be continued to be on offer and the new products (bank loans) added will…

This article (This Week in Peer to Peer Lending: 5/6/2012) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

Here is the press release:

UNITED KINGDOM, April 11, 2012 /Myintroducer.com/ — Peer-to-peer finance website RateSetter.com has today released figures which show the trend towards consumers taking out loans on a peer-to-peer basis is accelerating.

The company has now matched over £20m in personal loans – a figure that has doubled in only six months.

RateSetter launched in October 2010, six years after the industry leader, bringing a crucial innovation in the form of the Provision Fund, a compensation pot which has ensured every saver has received every penny; a unique feat in peer-to-peer lending.

RateSetter’s figures suggest that growth is set to continue: RateSetter matched £10m in its first year of business, and the next £10m has followed in just six months, with the business now matching over £2m every month.  RateSetter has more than 100,000 registered users, with savers enjoying average rates between 4.3% for a monthly access account and an impressive 7.5% on its five-year fixed income product.

RateSetter founder and CEO Rhydian Lewis said:

“This exponential growth demonstrates that peer-to-peer is working. The traditional route to a loan of calling your bank manager is over: increasingly someone looking for a personal loan is more likely to check a price comparison site and then take out a peer-to-peer loan.

“RateSetter’s growth is a reflection of both shifting trends towards alternative finance as well as recognition of the value and service they can achieve borrowing and lending through RateSetter. “

This article (RateSetter.com Sees Significant Growth In 6 Month Period) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

Here is the press release:

BOSTON, MA–(Marketwire – May 1, 2012) – National Family Mortgage, America’s premier peer-to-peer lending solution for home loans between relatives, today announced that it has won a prestigious Communicator Award as judged by the International Academy of Visual Arts (IAVA). National Family Mortgage was selected from amongst over six thousand top creative organizations from around the world and recognized with an award of distinction.

“National Family Mortgage is disrupting the traditional banking system to help families save money and reduce taxes,” said Timothy Burke, National Family Mortgage’s CEO and Founder. “We look at family finance from a new perspective and created an innovative solution that builds family wealth. Our team is honored to be recognized by the Communicator Awards and to join a select group of America’s most trusted brands.”

National Family Mortgage helps families properly structure, document, and register tax-deductible mortgage loans between relatives. From down payment loans and home improvement loans, to one hundred percent financing or refinancing, National Family Mortgage’s technology eliminates the cost and complexity of the broken banking system to provide Borrowers with lower interest rates and Lenders with solid returns. Interest rates on mortgage loans through National Family Mortgage average 3.50 percent, with an average term of twenty three years. The company has surpassed $32 million in loan origination while protecting family relationships, reducing IRS tax issues, and keeping over $17 million of interest within families.

“The pool of entries we received for this year’s Communicator Awards serves as a true testament to the innovative ideas and capabilities of communications and marketing professionals around the world,” said Linda Day, executive director of the IAVA. “On behalf of the entire Academy, we congratulate this year’s Communicator Award Winners for their passion and dedication. We are humbled to be given the opportunity to recognize such amazing work.”

The Communicator Awards is the leading international creative awards program honoring creative excellence for communication professionals. The Communicator Awards are judged and overseen by the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA). The IAVA is an invitation-only member-based organization of leading professionals from various disciplines of the visual arts dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media. Current membership represents an acclaimed group of media, advertising, and marketing firms including: Time, Inc., Wired, Disney, Lockheed Martin, Yahoo!, and more.

About National Family Mortgage

National Family Mortgage is an online peer-to-peer lending company committed to offering consumers alternatives to traditional and costlier forms of home financing. National Family Mortgage has developed a safe and easy way for families to structure real estate loans with their relatives — thereby helping people arrange affordable loans, while reducing tax issues, protecting relationships, and keeping money in the family. With interest rates that are typically lower than rates charged by a bank, National Family Mortgage allows consumers to take major steps toward achieving their dreams with help from family, while saving thousands of dollars.

This article (National Family Mortgage Wins Prestigious Award) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

• Roundup of Social Lending News – April 28, 2012 – Every Saturday I bring you the latest news from the world of peer to peer lending. These are the best of the news articles and blog posts from around the web that I shared on Twitter this past week. We have many great articles here for your weekend reading. One of the most interesting articles from this…
• Smava Changes Business Model; Brokers Bank Loans – German Smava, launched 2007, yesterday announced that it will offer more products and evolve into a marketplace where borrowers seeking loans get multiple offers. The site logo and layout have been redesigned to reflect this change. Smava said p2p loans will be continued to be on offer and the new products (bank loans) added will…
• Lots Happening Here at the Social Lending Network – April has been a really busy month for me. I have just finished recording a brand new version of the P2P Lending Wealth System. This is my online video course covering all aspects of peer to peer lending that I first released late last year. In version 2.0 every video has been re-recorded and I…
• Zopa Will Offer More Loan Terms – Zopa will add more loan term selection for borrowers starting in the second half of May. So far Zopa was offering loan terms of either 36 or 60 months. In the future there will be Shorter Markets (24 and 36 months) and Longer Markets (48 and 60 months). While borrowers can elect the exact loan…
• The Difference Between a Default and a Charge-off at Lending Club – If you have a well diversified p2p lending portfolio then defaults are annoying but they are unlikely to do too much harm. Regardless, we want to minimize them as much as possible. But what is a default exactly? It has always been a little curious to me that defaults are treated differently at Lending Club…
• Renaming Auto Lend to Auto Top Up – We’ve decided to rename one of our popular lending features: Auto Lend will be Auto Top Up from now on. For those of you who aren’t aware of what this functionality does, here’s a little refresher: As borrowers make monthly repayments, lenders get money coming back into their holding account. By turning on Auto Top…
• Roundup of Social Lending News – April 21, 2012 – Every Saturday I bring you the latest news from the world of peer to peer lending. These are the best of the news articles and blog posts from around the web that I shared on Twitter this past week. We have had a few new p2p lending bloggers emerge in the last month and you will see…

This article (This Week in Peer to Peer Lending: 4/29/2012) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

Here is the press release:

PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 14, 2012 – MyAzimia.org, the Peer to Peer (P2P) and micro- lending platform provider and Launcht.com, the white-label crowd funding portal provider have entered into a collaboration agreement to enhance their existing businesses. This agreement creates clear synergies between the two companies in their provision of more options for high quality solutions to the P2P and crowd funding community.

”It makes perfect sense for our two organisations to collaborate in this exciting field’ says Kanini Mutooni, the founder of MyAzimia. ‘Our inherent competences in the provision of P2P platforms and crowd funding solutions will increase through the synergies created and help to serve our clients even better going forward.”

MyAzimia is a dynamic young company that develops highly customized technology solutions for companies in the online Peer to Peer, micro-lending and crowd funding space. Its software- as- a -service platform (SaaS) provides a top down solution from the front end user interface, a payment gateway as well as the back-end loan management tracking that is central to managing an online P2P lending platform.

The MyAzimia software was developed in collaboration with two of Europe’s leading P2P platforms and since the company’s establishment in 2009, it has helped companies in Europe, US and Africa launch their online P2P lending operations.

Launcht.com enables universities, foundations, businesses, and conferences to set up their own white labeled crowd funding and online voting platforms. Launcht also partners with emerging crowd funding portals to provide them with plug and play crowd funding technology that integrates with their sites and implements their vision.

Launcht makes it possible for institutions to connect funding to ideas within their existing network. ‘’We are making it as easy to set up your own crowd funding platform as it is to set up your own blog,’’ says Launcht Co-Founder Freeman White, “We enable you to customize a crowd funding platform to your specific context and choose the crowd funding parameters that are right for your network.’’ Its low-cost solution gives point and click control over platform fundraising duration, idea description questions, look and feel, participant registration process, and registration management.

Both MyAzimia and Launcht are excited to see their complementary SaaS offerings better cover the market by providing funding-based engagement software for any business application.

This article (MyAzimia and Launcht Announce Collaboration Agreement) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

It is the Forex market that allows companies in one country, for example the United States, to import goods from another country like Australia and pay for the product in Australian dollars, despite the first company’s business and revenue being based off of US dollars. If you are just learning about foreign exchange then you might want to have a look at this comprehensive summary of the Forex market as well as a short reference of related FX terms for those that are new to Forex.

It might surprise you to know though that the United States is not the top currency trader in the world or even in the top 3. The top spot would belong to a Deutsche Bank out of Germany with the first US bank, Citi, trailing behind in the number 4 position, immediately followed by JPMorgan at number 5. Despite that fact, the US Dollar is still the most traded currency by value by a margin of more than double any other currency with the Euro being the immediate runner up.

So what does all of this information mean for investors you might ask? Quite a lot actually, although in the simplest terms possible, those that can predict the trends in exchange rates between different forms of currency can leverage the differences in their favor by buying and selling at the right time. Buying and selling can mean either buying currency outright or buying products in a currency that will be worth more in another currency.

The foreign exchange market is one that rarely sleeps although it does enjoy the weekends off interestingly enough. While you are asleep there are thousands of people hard at work tracking changes and predicting trends as to what will go on in our foreign exchange market. It is this market that ties all of the economies of the world together seamlessly.

This article (Getting Started with Forex Trading) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

Here is the press release:

LONDON, 28th February 2012 – Leading online peer-to-peer lender Zopa today confirms that since it launched in 2005, more than 45% of the loans due to be repaid so far have been repaid early (either partially or completely) and all without the borrower paying any kind of additional fees or charges for doing so. This is in stark contrast to the banks, as not one offers a personal loan without additional early repayment charges – often of one or two month’s additional interest.

With APRs currently as low as 6.1%, loans from Zopa are some of the cheapest in the country. This is the main reason why Zopa loans are growing rapidly in popularity, with more than £180,000,000 now lent. But with so many Zopa borrowers wisely taking the opportunity to save even more money by repaying faster than they originally planned, it’s clear that the lack of any financial disincentive to early repayment is also important to the astute borrower.

Giles Andrews, CEO and cofounder of Zopa said, “In almost all circumstances, it makes good financial sense to pay off your debts as quickly as you can, including any personal loans. But banks stand in the way of this by including early repayment penalties in their loans which put people off from doing the right thing. We think that is fundamentally wrong.”

Zopa loans have always allowed borrowers to pay more than their agreed repayments to clear the loan faster or indeed to repay the whole thing off early one go – all without penalty. This could be one of the key reasons we have been voted by the public as the most trusted personal loan provider* for the last two years in a row.”

At Zopa, ordinary people bypass the banks by lending money to other creditworthy people at rates that they agree between themselves. This enables both borrowers and lenders to get a far better deal than they would get from a bank. Most borrowers accepted at Zopa get a loan around 20% cheaper than they can get from a bank, whilst lenders enjoy radically better returns than they can get from savings accounts. The average return enjoyed by Zopa lenders on loans made over the last 12 months has been 6.2% p.a. (after fees but before any default).

Notes for Editors

* Zopa has been voted by the public as the ‘Most Trusted Personal Loan Provider’ in the Moneywise Customer Service Awards for the last two years running (2010 and 2011).

About Zopa:

Zopa is a member of the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association and complies fully with all of the Association’s Rules and Operating Principles, which provide important additional consumer protection. Full details of the Association’s Rules and Operating Principles can be seen at www.p2pfinanceassociation.org.uk.

What is Zopa?

Zopa is the world’s first online marketplace where people meet to lend and borrow money. Lenders get great returns and borrowers get low-cost loans. With no bank in the middle, both parties get better rates. Zopa now has now arranged more than £180,000,000 in peer-to-peer loans in the UK. To find out more, please visit www.zopa.com.

What’s in it for consumers?

Lenders are enjoying a smart way of getting a return, alongside their savings and investments. The average return on all money lent over the last year is 6.2% p.a.

Borrowers are finding it a fair and human way of getting a low-cost loan. They are enjoying market-leading rates, with a representative APR currently of around 6.1% (based on £10,000 over 3 years), and the flexibility to repay their loan early at no extra cost. Unlike the vast majority of banks, borrowers at Zopa get their full personalized loan quote without leaving a mark on their credit file.

Anybody can become a member of Zopa for free, giving them access to the Refer-A-Friend scheme where they can earn £50 for each successful borrower they recommend and each lender they recommend who lends £2000 or more.

Risks are kept to a minimum

To protect lenders’ money, Zopa uses all the safety measures banks use, plus a few more. All borrowers are identity-checked, credit scored and risk-assessed. Lenders’ money is lent out in £10 packets, each to a different borrower, so anybody lending at least £500 has their money spread across 50 borrowers to achieve an ideal diversification. Lenders can override this feature if they wish to gain faster take up of their offers if they are happy with the greater exposure that will result.

Zopa holds Consumer Credit Licences from the Office of Fair Trading and uses the same processes and fraud prevention systems as banks (including Equifax, Experian and Call Credit for credit rating).

Charges are simple, clear and low

Zopa runs a simple and transparent charging model: lenders pay an annual fee of 1% on the money they lend, and borrowers pay a fee of up to £190 which is added to their loan and reflected in the APR figures quoted. There are no hidden charges or any form of early repayment fee.

This article (Nearly 50% Of All Zopa Loans Repaid Early) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

• Roundup of Social Lending News – April 21, 2012 – Every Saturday I bring you the latest news from the world of peer to peer lending. These are the best of the news articles and blog posts from around the web that I shared on Twitter this past week. We have had a few new p2p lending bloggers emerge in the last month and you will see…
• The Changing Face of 60-Month P2P Loans – There has been quite a shift in volume of 60-month p2p loans in the last few months. Both Lending Club and Prosper are showing different trends and interestingly these trends are in opposite directions. The above chart shows the percentage of all loans (I did exclude 12-month loans at Prosper to get an apples to…
• Small Business Spotlight: Prosper.com and Boutique Larrieux – In today’s economy it can be tough to get a traditional bank loan.
  Entrepreneurs like Lydia Hamilton-Monnie are turning to Prosper.com to start a business.
  Lydia posted her listing after being turned down by three banks – and then received more than 750 bids from Prosper investors to help get her company, Boutique Larrieux, off the ground.

  Lydia…

• Zopa’s time has come – Last month, a very senior figure at the Bank of England – Andrew Haldane – made an important speech in New York and put a number of very lively cats amongst the pigeons of banking. He said: “Small peer-to-peer lenders like Zopa could in time replace High Street banks.  These firms could be revolutionary.  At…
• Options for Accredited Investors at Lending Club and Prosper – Before I started writing this blog I had no idea what an accredited investor was. It sounded kind of official but what did it really mean? It is actually just a designation by the SEC that an investor has reached certain levels of income ($200,000 annually) or assets (more than $1 million excluding a home). Here…
• Roundup of Social Lending News – April 14, 2012 – Every Saturday I bring you the latest news from the world of peer to peer lending. These are the best of the news articles and blog posts from around the web that I shared on Twitter this past week. Well it was quite a big week for peer to peer lending coverage. We had the big story…
• How My Appbackr Experience Failed My Expectations – Appbackr is a marketplace where everyone can crowdinvest in IPhone apps and Android apps. The way it works is that investors prefund future sales of apps. The investor buys the copies at a lower wholesale prices and makes a profit later, when the copies actually sell in the app store. I described the…

This article (This Week in Peer to Peer Lending: 4/22/2012) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

Here is the press release:

(PRWEB UK) 20 April 2012

Current economic climate in the UK for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) businesses is dire with respect to getting working capital loans. It is increasingly important to have new sources of funds as promoted even within a Government sponsored Industry-led working group paper called ‘Boosting Finance Options for Business’, March 2012: This paper promotes support for alternative sources of funding in particular peer-to-peer lending.

encash has extended its lending scope to include SME businesses borrow money directly from its large social lending community! Since the social lending industry has begun to witness a higher quality of people willing to borrow, encash has brought down maximum lending rates to attract a fast growing number of borrowers. With stronger underwriting policies, encash ensures only serious borrowers succeed. Hence encash expects borrowers who are sound and stable and can repay on time. All-in-all encash has become a much safer and bigger marketplace for lenders and borrowers!

For business borrowing, SMEs with good trading history in the past three years need not go through the hassles of borrowing from banks anymore. Consumers and businesses can now get quick funds within a matter of days. Good news for all!

encash is a social and transparent marketplace where lenders see their money grow while helping peers in need. encash runs on a listing business model, which makes it transparent. Borrowers get to interact with lenders to share their financial circumstances.

Consumer and business borrowers are free to leverage social media to spread their message and achieve excellent APRs. encash allows borrowers with reasonable debt-to-income ratios to organise their debts sensibly through the availability of fixed repayment unsecured loans and borrowing rates typically ranging from 8% to 15% APR.

encash – a win-win for consumer as well as business borrowers and lenders!

Contact details:
PR Contact: Nitasha Jain, Marketing Manager, ext. 402,
marketing(at)yes-secure(dot)com
Phone: +44 – 871 – 221 – 8410
Checknet House, 153 East Barnet Road, Barnet, EN4 8QZ

YES-secure.com Limited registered in UK, Registered number is 06785381

YES-secure has received credit licenses from the Office of Fair Trading (Registration Number 631278), and is registered with the Office of the Information Commissioner (Registration Number Z1960081).

This article (Encash Provides Social Lending For Businesses And Consumers) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

Here is the press release:

BOSTON, MA, Apr 17, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — National Family Mortgage, America’s premier peer-to-peer lending solution for home loans between relatives, today announced that it has passed $30 million in total mortgage loan origination. This significant industry milestone continues a streak of six consecutive quarters of record acceleration, a category best 225 percent year-over-year increase in peer-to-peer mortgage loan volume.

“Our record breaking acceleration is a true reflection of our commitment to helping families save money,” said Timothy Burke, National Family Mortgage’s CEO and Founder. “Our Win-Win Mortgage product has already saved Borrowers millions of dollars, while Investors have earned solid returns. We look forward to a very busy summer.”

Approximately 49 percent of National Family Mortgage loans have been obtained by consumers to fund home improvement projects or to refinance institutional mortgage loan debt. Other consumers have used National Family Mortgage products to help fund the purchase of a home. Interest rates on tax-deductible mortgage loans through National Family Mortgage average 3.49 percent — well below the non-tax-deductible average APR of 9.13 percent offered by other peer-to-peer lending companies. This difference can mean thousands of dollars in savings for Borrowers. Intrafamily mortgage loans through National Family Mortgage offer unparalleled savings, flexibility, and protection.

“National Family Mortgage is a true peer-to-peer lending company; we’re not a bank in disguise,” said Burke. “Our innovative, transparent mortgage solution is changing the industry for the better. We’re empowering consumers to reach their financial goals, achieve their personal dreams, and keep their money where it belongs — with their own family.”

About National Family Mortgage

National Family Mortgage is an online peer-to-peer lending company committed to offering consumers alternatives to traditional and costlier forms of home financing. National Family Mortgage has developed a safe and easy way for families to structure real estate loans with their relatives — thereby helping people arrange affordable loans, while reducing tax issues, protecting relationships, and keeping money in the family. With interest rates that are typically lower than rates charged by a bank, National Family Mortgage allows consumers to take major steps toward achieving their dreams with help from family, while saving thousands of dollars.

This article (National Family Mortgage Sees 225% Increase In Loans Originated) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

• Roundup of Social Lending News – April 7, 2012 – Every Saturday I bring you the latest news from the world of peer to peer lending. These are the best of the news articles and blog posts from around the web that I shared on Twitter this past week. There were several big new stories this week. Funding Circle, a p2p lender in the UK specializing in…
• Get a Free iPad Every Year with P2P Lending – I read this article on USA Today earlier this week about Apple stock. Basically a reader sent in a letter asking if he could have Apple pay for a new iPad by investing $10,000 in Apple stock and using the gains to buy a new iPad in a few months. Are you kidding me? I…

This article (This Week in Peer to Peer Lending: 4/15/2012) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.

The way it works is that many airlines and hotels have booked their guests for up to a year in advance as many people try to do. The problem is most people can’t predict what they will be doing a month from now never mind what will be going on in their lives a year from now. A lot of these people end up cancelling their bookings leaving these airlines and hotels looking at taking a loss. Rather than keep the seat or the hotel empty for the entirety of the guest’s stay after they cancelled, it can be much more profitable for them to offer it up at a discounted rate. Getting something is better than getting nothing at all and you can take advantage of the fact that other people could not make the trip.

Trying to find these sorts of deals on your own can prove to be quite difficult however. There are many third party services out there though that can make getting a great deal on a holiday much easier. These companies are often in close communication with the people that need to fill their cancelled spots quickly and can do all the communication much more efficiently than you could on your own.

The good part about this is that since they have their finger on the pulse of things they usually coordinate all parts of the trip. They can figure out that a person cancelled not only their plane tickets but also their hotel and get you a super deal on both at the same time. You might have to be a bit more flexible with your timeframe but that is perfectly fine when you think about the fact that you get to go on vacation for a fraction of the price. So if you need a vacation and your budget is low, don’t worry, there is still hope for you!

This article (Great Places to Travel) was originally developed by and is property of Peer to Peer Lending News. Checkout P2P Lending News for the latest social lending, microfinance and financial innovation news.