German p2p lending service Smava.de made some changes:
- Borrowing for business purposes is now allowed. The borrower still is an individual person but is no longer limited on private purposes of the loan
- Borrowers may borrow up to 25,000 Euro (approx 39,200 US$), previously the maximum was 10,000 Euro
- Maximum amount any lender can invest in the marketplace is raised to 100,000 Euro (previously 25,000 Euro)
- Loan terms are now selectable 36 or 60 months (previously only 36 months); the insurance pools (Anleger-Pools) are seperated by credit grade and term. This complicated construct will influence lenders when deciding to bid on loans that are otherwise comparable but differ in loan term, since the level reached in the insurance pools directly impacts each payment rate.
- Bad debt sales rates have been lowered for lower credit grades (previously it was 22.5% to 25%, now it is 15% to 25% depending on credit grade)
(Source: P2P-Kredite.com)
Since it's launch in February 2007 Smava has funded 457 loans with 2 million Euro (approx 3.14 million US$) loan volume. 8 loans have defaulted and currently 9 loans are late.