The State of Montana signed an agreement with Prosper Marketplace Inc. to resolve matters relating to unregistered securities and securities fraud. Continue reading
Unithrive – P2P loans for Harvard students
Unithrive is a non-profits that allows alumni to help students by granting interest-free loans. Currently only alumni and students of Harvard can sign up, but Unithrive plans to expand to other schools in fall 2009.
Students can borrow between 500 and 2,000 US$ per semester. Repayment begins after they graduate.
The founders Joshua Kushner, Nimay Metha and Tanuj Parikh recently graduated from Harvard. For more on Unithrive read this recent New York Times article.
Boober Failure Hurts Lenders
As reported earlier Dutch site Boober.nl failed. Richard van den Toorn, speaking for the association of lenders PIVN, estimates that about 1,200 lenders are affected. While part of the total loan volume of 1.65 million Euro had been repayed over the loan term before the failure, overall borrower’s willingness to pay dwindled after the failure. Still PIVN hopes to recover 50-80% of the outstanding amounts on behalf of the lenders.
(Source: ANP via Nu.nl)
Australia: Lending Hub P2P Lending Service Launches
Today Lending Hub announced the launch of the p2p lending service aimed at loans between family and friends. Lending Hub is a private Australian company based in Sydney (Read earlier coverage by P2P-Banking.com on Lending Hub, including a guest article by Director Ivan Martelli).
Lending Hub loans are 3 year unsecured loans. Currently most loans listed seem to be example loans.
Lending Hub fees for borrowers are a listing fee of 30 AUS$ plus a settlement fee upon funding ranging from 1.25% to 4%, depending on credit grade. Lenders pay a fee between 1% and 3% of each repayment depending on credit grade.
Aqush Adds Business Loans
Aqush.jp adds support for business loans to it’s p2p lending platform for friends and family.
The new AQUSH TOMO Business Loans service provides users with a simple and secure means of creating documentation to formalize small business loans between family, friends and other business associates. This new service offers small business owners and entrepreneurs a viable alternative to risk-adverse and costly traditional lenders. Business Loans between individuals and/or corporate entities, with or without a guarantor, are fully supported by AQUSH TOMO Business. After loans have been made, both borrowers and lenders can manage repayment using the AQUSH online platform.
(Source: Aqush company management)
Matt Flannery’s recapitulation “Kiva at Four”
Matt Flannery has written a great article recapitulating the story of Kiva. “Kiva at four” centers on the developments in the past two years. Flannery shares his vision what Kiva might develop to.
I won’t even try to extract the highlights as the whole article is a fascinating read.