P2P lending and the financial crisis

It has been said before – there might have been no better time to establish p2p lending. With the established system shaken and many consumers not getting loans as easily as before the market environment is good for peer-to-peer lending.

P2P lending gets good media attention. The Uncrunch.org initiative (in which Lending Club takes part) in the Change.org vote for new ideas finished in the Top 15.

On the demand site all p2p lending companies benefit from the crisis. On the supply site, in my opinion the effect is mostly positive too, but  some lenders are hesitant to invest their money in a new, innovative model and rather seek a save haven for it.

P2P lending sites that have demonstrated low default rates over a longer time and therefore low risk fared best – especially at Zopa UK supply rose strongly lately.

Bonmot from Spanish Comunitae:

Pues no sabemos si la crisis es buena para Comunitae, pero de lo que no cabe duda es de que Comunitae es buena para la crisis.

Translates to: “Well, we do not know if the crisis is good for Comunitae, but what is certain is that Comunitae is good for the crisis.”

MyC4 – first issue of CHANGE magazine

MyC4 has just published a quarterly magazine to accompany it's website. The first issue of Change has 20 pages, looks stylish and has lots of information (e.g. Senegal will be the next market, where loans are available to borrowers starting in June). Here is what MyC4 says about it's magazine:

We have just released the very first issue of CHANGE – the magazine that comes all way around MyC4: Vision, business model, partners, supporters, etc.