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Uppspretta – First P2P Lending Service in Iceland

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News from the far north: Uppspretta (engl. resource) launched the first Icelandic p2p lending service earlier this month. Uppspretta’s main goal is to allow startup companies to apply for microloans.

Uppspretta.is was founded by Björk Theodórsdóttir, Ingi Gauti Ragnarsson and Ragnheiður H. Magnúsdóttir. Uppspretta co-operates with Naskar, a group of Icelandic woman entrepreneurs, using them as a show-case for lenders and enabling a start with a secured supply of lender funds.

Iceland is a interesting market for p2p lending. While the market is small in size, the reputation of banks is nearing zero after the banking disaster last year. Theodórsdóttir told P2P-Banking.com: “There is definitely market for such a service as P2P lending in Iceland. We have been well received and in light of the bank‘s reputation, people celebrate the opportunity to bypass them. It‘s yet to be seen the impact Uppspretta will have on the lending market but we are optimistic that Uppspretta will be an real option beside the banks.”

Furthermore she pointed out that unlike other players Uppspretta is free of regulatory chains: “We worked closely with the regulators in Iceland and the conclusion was that Uppspretta would not require any licence to operate.”. Uppspretta charges a fee of 4 percent of the funded loan amount.

Unithrive – P2P loans for Harvard students

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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.

Australia: Lending Hub P2P Lending Service Launches

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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.

My First Unitedprosperity Loan Guarantee

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I just guaranteed $25 of a loan to Sakho Devi and group, Ritudih, India via Unitedprosperity.org. United Prosperity has launched on May 28th. See my earlier United Prosperity review including an interview with CEO Bhalchander Vishwanath for more information on the concept.

Signing up and selecting the loan went smoothly. For the requested loan of 1,052 US$ a guarantee of 579 US$ needs to be raised.

Sakho Devi has a grocery shop of her own, with which she earns her living. She has applied for a microloan to expand her small grocery shop, so that she can meet the demand from customers.

The listing also states some data about the partner MFI – Ajiwika Society – it’s interest rate, delinquency rate, default rate and target clients.

Aqush Launches Family and Friends P2P Lending in Japan

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Aqush.jp has launched Aqush Tomo, a p2p lending service to facilitate loans between friends and family members. Aqush is a service of Exchange Corporation K.K., which states it’s mission as “… to leverage innovation and international best practices to pioneer ‘Social’ financial services in Asia. Our goal is to bring transparency and choice to markets and assets that previously were illiquid, opaque and tightly controlled, by empowering people to legally and securely deal directly with each other.”

Aqush offers a framework that helps borrower and lender in creating loan documentation and repayment plans.

Features of the “Basic Service” are

  1. Creation of promissory notes and repayment schedules
  2. Interest rates mutually agreed between borrower and lender
  3. Three types of repayment supported – Amortized, Interest Only and Fixed Payment with Balloon.
  4. Repayment management and tracking using online tools, document backup and email-remainders

The fee for the “Basic Service” is 8,800 Yen (approx. 88 US$)

The “Plus Service” adds additional features:

  • Professional review by Aqush staff
  • Repayment processing – payments are made and tracked through an Aqush account
  • Annual reporting

The “Plus Service” is priced at about double the “Basic service” plus a small fee for handling each repayment.

Russell Cummer, Executive Director told P2P-Banking.com:

AQUSH TOMO, is a Family and Friends loan documentation and management service …. We are the first service of this kind in Japan ….

We will also be launching a full-service P2P lending exchange, “AQUSH Market”, this summer to cover both the friends and family and true P2P aspects of social finance in Japan.

Aqush is an alternative spelling of the Japanese word for handshake, “Akushu”.

(Sources: forum post, press release, company management)

Sobralaen brings p2p lending to Estonia

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Today Sobralaen.ee, the first Estonian p2p lending service, has launched.

Sõbralaen’s borrowers fill in a loan application for up to 15,000 EEK (approx. 1,200 US$), specify the loan length (up to 2 years), maximum interest rate and sign the loan application. This application will start an auction, during which Sõbralaen’s investors can bid for the right to invest in that loan. When making a bid, Sõbralaen’s investors specify how much they are willing to invest and how high interest rate they are looking to earn. The investment amount can be between 100 and 15,000 EEK. Before making the investment, the investors can see the borrower’s credit score, history of previous Sõbralaen transactions and also personal details. Investors also have the possibility to ask various questions from the borrower. In the end of the auction, the system will automatically pick the best bids and combine them into one loan. Sõbralaen’s system will thereafter manage the rest of the loan process from the payment of loan to debt collection.

Estonians are fast in adapting new internet technologies. This is reflected in the process of Sobralaen’s sign-up, too. Users identification is done at the moment of sign-up electronically. This is possible, because users can only sign up using a government issued ID-card (currently 80% of Estonians had an active ID card – but only 20% make use of its functionalities so far) and a smart card reader or Mobile-ID. Furthermore banking transactions and court documents are signed with digital signatures.

Sobralaen was founded by Pärtel Tomberg, Mikhel Tasa and Martin Rask.
I was invited to test-drive the platform in summer 2008 while it was still under development. The usability was good and I liked the detailed FAQs that explained everything to the point.

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