Lend for Peace

wiseclerk 4 Comments

That’s the name of a microlending platform, where lenders can lend to palestinian entrepreneurs in the Palestinean territories. I have not used Lendforpeace.org, but from what I read, it works just like Kiva but targets a specific region. Lendforpeace launched 5 days ago. When I looked today there where 8 loan requests in various degrees of funding.

Lendforpeace is a US non-profit organisation founded by 2 Jews and 2 Palestinians: Sam Adelsberg, Andrew Dudum, David Fraga and Al Taj.

Our mission is to use micro-lending to promote economic opportunity and political stability in the Middle East.

At LendforPeace.org you can make a loan directly to a vetted micro-entrepreneur in the West Bank. We work with US government-approved microfinance institutions on the ground to deliver your capital along with training and guidance to low-income individuals who are interested in starting or expanding their own small businesses.

LendforPeace.org is supported by grants from the Clinton Global Initiative, Ashoka Youth Venture, Davis Projects for Peace.

For users with a specific interest in this region Lendforpeace may be an interesting supplement to using Kiva.

Need a loan at 2334 percent APR?

wiseclerk 6 Comments

No, that is not a typo in the headline. British Wonga.com offers small, short term loans online (short term= from 5 to 30 days).  The main advantage they advertise is, that the loan amount is transferred to the bank account of the borrower within minutes of the application, if approved. For that quick service Wonga charges 1% interest per day (!) plus 5.50 GBP transfer fee. According to the website that translates to an typical APR of 2334 percent.

British laws must be very liberal to allow this. In many other European countries interest rates like this would be illegal under consumer protection laws against usury. But Wonga does have a consumer credit licence from the Office of Fair Trading.

And naturally Wonga does not see itself as a loan shark. Read here, why they think their rates are appropriate. I do pity the borrowers that borrow at that interest rate.

EDIT: Interview in the Guardian with Wonga founder Errol Damelin states that Wonga had 50.000 customers during the testing phase.

EDIT Feb. 11th: See the comments for a discussion with John from Wonga.

(Photo credit: Demi-Brooke)

Prodigy Finance – p2p lending for MBA students only

wiseclerk 1 Comment

Prodigy Finance has an elitist approach. Only MBA students of selected schools are eligible as borrowers:

We have built our model with the specific profiles of top international MBAs in mind. Our close partnerships with the schools means that we are able to approve the vast majority of applications and are able to lend to participants from most countries (…). Provided you are accepted at one of our partner schools, it is very likely that we will be able to approve your loan in principle. However at this stage it is important to remember that we are still in pilot stage and thus our ability to provide funding is limited by the size of the funding pool that we have.

But that’s not all. Lenders are required to be alumni of the school, too. Minimum investment amount is 10,000 Euro. Loan term is 7 years with a 16 to 18 month grace period. Interest rates are tied to the underlying base rate.

Currently only  borrowers and lenders from INSEAD are accepted.

The interesting part is that Prodigy Finance aims for cross-border, multi-currency lending:

The currency of the loan balance is determined by the currency in which tuition fees for the university are paid. If you are only lending to one university, your funds will be held in that currency alone. If you choose to spread your funds to other universities, we will convert your funds at the best available rate (and with your consent).

Prodigy Finance was founded by Cameron Stevens (CEO), Ryan Steele (COO) and Miha Zerko (CTO).

P2P lending companies by loan volume – Jan 09

wiseclerk 1 Comment

P2P lending is spreading internationally. While the biggest loan volumes are generated in the US market, many p2p lending websites have been established in other international markets.

P2P-Banking.com has created the following overview table listing services that are in operation and ranked them by loan volume. The loan volumes are not directly comparable for they are cumulative since launch of each service and represent different time spans.

In total approx. 740 million US$ have been funded through peer to peer lending/social lending services so far worldwide.


This image may be reprinted on other internet sites, provided it is not altered or resized and the following text (including the direct link to this article) is given as source directly below the image:
Source: P2P-Banking.com

Since the previous version of this table especially Zopa (UK), Lending Club and Kiva thrived. With Prosper, Loanio and Fynanz halted, Lending Club profits from the situation.


This image may be reprinted under the same conditions as the first one.